{"id":1560,"date":"2022-12-28T15:51:47","date_gmt":"2022-12-28T15:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/?p=1560"},"modified":"2023-05-08T19:09:56","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T19:09:56","slug":"important-ram-speed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/important-ram-speed\/","title":{"rendered":"How important is RAM speed?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full\" src=\"\/images\/upload\/ram-blog.jpg\" alt=\"How Important is RAM speed for gaming?\" width=\"640\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re often asked questions about RAM speed, what we recommend, and how important it is for certain applications like gaming. The answer is a little more complicated than simply higher number = better. So what is it exactly and how important is RAM speed? Read on to learn more.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is RAM speed?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>To start, RAM speed is a bit of a misnomer, so let\u2019s first clarify some terms. How fast your system RAM performs is actually dependent on several factors which include the frequency, bandwidth, total number of channels, quantity, dual data rate (DDR), latency, and even the speed\/gen of your processor. When discussing \u201cRAM speed\u201d most users are actually referring to the frequency of the RAM \u2013 the number of commands it can process per second &#8211; so for the sake of this discussion, we\u2019ll do the same. RAM frequency is measured in MHz and usually immediately follows the DDR version in the RAM spec. For example, 8GB DDR4-2400 RAM is running at a frequency of 2400MHz. Frequencies of RAM typically range from 800MHz in older DDR2 modules up to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/what-is-ddr5\/\">6800MHz in DDR5<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s important to remember here is that system RAM is not handling command processes like the CPU does, so while a higher CPU frequency will almost always mean better PC performance, the same may not be the case for high frequency RAM. This is why though higher frequency RAM is technically faster, that additional speed often does not translate into better actual real world performance.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How Important is RAM speed for gaming?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Now that we\u2019ve established that higher frequency RAM does not necessarily impact overall system performance, what impact does it have on gaming benchmarks and\/or frame rates? Well, from what we\u2019ve been able to find, very little. If you go back to a <a href=\"\/blog\/video-card-ram\/\">previous post on VRAM<\/a>, you\u2019ll recall that when using a discrete graphics card, it\u2019s the video RAM \u2013 both quantity and speed &#8211; that directly impacts gaming performance. In many instances, system RAM will largely not be used when gaming. So in addition to those mentioned earlier, this is another reason why RAM frequency has only the very smallest impact on gaming performance specifically, as the chart below illustrates.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 750px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pcsteps.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/%CE%A0%CF%8E%CF%82-%CE%A5%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%B3%CE%AF%CE%B6%CE%B5%CF%84%CE%B1%CE%B9-%CE%B7-%CE%A0%CF%81%CE%B1%CE%B3%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE-%CE%A4%CE%B1%CF%87%CF%8D%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%84%CE%B1-%CE%BC%CE%BD%CE%AE%CE%BC%CE%B7%CF%82-RAM-10.png\" alt=\"How important is RAM speed?\" width=\"750\" height=\"426\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image courtesy of PCSteps.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><strong>What downsides are there to using faster RAM?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>So the higher frequencies of some RAM are a flashy spec, and while they may not <em>help<\/em> the performance of most applications, it certainly won\u2019t <em>hurt<\/em>, right? Well\u2026because higher frequency RAM is often overclocked to reach those insane numbers, it may actually result in RAM related instability like crashes and freezes. Though this is not always the case, it\u2019s always been our opinion that promoting system instability for the sake of a little extra performance, especially given how little extra performance you\u2019ll actually see, is counterproductive. This is why we currently offer DDR4-3200 or DDR5-5200 on most systems rather than higher speeds.<\/p>\n<p>Note: If you\u2019d like to learn more about RAM speed and other factors impacting RAM performance, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcsteps.com\/7932-real-ram-speed-mhz-cas-latency\/\">this detailed article<\/a><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Configure your next <a href=\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/gaming-pc.php\">Gaming PC<\/a> right here!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re often asked questions about RAM speed, what we recommend, and how important it is for certain applications like gaming.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>How important is RAM speed? | Velocity Micro<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How important is RAM speed for gaming and other applications? Does faster mean better? Don&#039;t choose RAM speed before reading this first.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/important-ram-speed\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How important is RAM speed? | Velocity Micro\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How important is RAM speed for gaming and other applications? Does faster mean better? Don&#039;t choose RAM speed before reading this first.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/important-ram-speed\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Custom Gaming &amp; Workstation PC Blog | Velocity Micro\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/VelocityMicro\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-28T15:51:47+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-08T19:09:56+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/images\/upload\/ram-blog.jpg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Josh Covington\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Josh Covington\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/important-ram-speed\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/important-ram-speed\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Josh Covington\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d3ac563e7ca9fa3b457633628d81aed9\"},\"headline\":\"How important is RAM speed?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-28T15:51:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-08T19:09:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/important-ram-speed\/\"},\"wordCount\":537,\"commentCount\":3,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Hardware\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/important-ram-speed\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/important-ram-speed\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/important-ram-speed\/\",\"name\":\"How important is RAM speed? | Velocity Micro\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-28T15:51:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-08T19:09:56+00:00\",\"description\":\"How important is RAM speed for gaming and other applications? 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