Ram Speed vs. Latency: What Matters for Gaming PC Performance?

[rollcast]

What should I be looking for if I'm buying ram for a gaming pc, higher speeds or lower latency or is it all just a bit academic and doesn't make that much real life difference apart from benchmarking?

 

[Routaran]

My preference is higher speeds, I don't overclock my systems anymore so I don't really worry about having the best timings to get every point out of a benchmark. As you said outside of benchmarking, its hard to see any real difference in day to day use. Your GFX card is going to be the biggest decider on how good your games run, significantly more than RAM.

So if you have a choice, $50 more for tighter timings or higher frequency or $50 more on the video card, chances are the video card will give you better bang for buck

 

[wuliheron]

I recommend the Steam Hardware forums for anything gaming related.

Routaran is correct in my opinion. These days almost any decent quad core processor and 8gb of ram will do the trick and the real decision is what graphics card to buy and how to balance the system for whatever budget you have and games you prefer to play. That's why I recommend the Steam Hardware forums because the prices and quality on parts can change dramatically every few months and they tend to keep on top of such things and maintain a well moderated hardware forum.

 

[warunasanja77]

You should look for when considering from RAM capacity side, maximum capacity your pc's motherboard support for one RAM slot on motherboard.Also there is a posibility that your pc's motherboard has more than 1 RAM slots.You have to install all RAM slots with the RAMs with the capacity for 1 RAM I explained earlier. Also each RAM should have highest data transfer rate which will compatible with your PC motherboard.If RAM's data transfer rate is lower than that you motherboard supports then you can not get the maximum performance.Because of that each RAM should have highest data transfer rate which will compatible with your PC motherboard.

 

[winipad]

you need to graphics card for gaming pc also.

 

[rcgldr]

higher speeds or lower latency?

You can do the math yourself. Multiply the latency numbers by (1) / (frequency) to get the total cycle times. Also you're limited to what your motherboard / cpu allows for voltage, speed, and latency settings. In the case of LGA 1155 motherboard / cpus, the cpu's drive the memory bus and Intel processors like the 2600K limit the voltage to 1.5 volts (+/- 5%). Intel link:

http://www.intel.com/support/processors/sb/CS-029913.htm#4