RAM upgrade - is it really necessary?

[guitarbloke]

Probably a bit of a noob questino so apologies in advance

I've currently got 8GB Mushkin Silverline 1333MHz in my present build (an old i5 760 system).
I'm about to pull the trigger and upgrade to a Z87 system with an i5 4670K and wondering if I should replace my RAM with something faster.

I may or may not OC my new system, I haven't decided yet (I've never tried it before), so figured I'd get the 4670K so I at least have the option.

If I replace the RAM with 2133MHz or 2400MHz will I notice much real-world gain? i.e will multi-tasking be noticeably better, or will games be smoother, as opposed to using the 1333MHZ sticks?

[watercooled]

Anandtech have an article investigating memory speed scaling on Haswell: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7364/m...ing-on-haswell

In general, memory speed tends to have a fairly minor impact on CPU performance, but there are areas where faster memory can have more notable gains. Whether it's worth the cost would come down to what you perceive as a worthwhile improvement, and depends on what applications you frequently use.

[l1ghtm4st3r]

I would say that there would be an improvement in some speeds, such as the multitasking and gaming but these would not be that noticeable until you complete task that are RAM intensive.

But then again, you're going to upgrade your RAM eventually and whether you do it for this build or the next, you have to ask yourself. If I buy THIS RAM now, will I upgrade again for my next build?
If the answer is no, then go ahead and upgrade, otherwise, if you're an avid builder of PC's then you may want to hold off until even faster kits come out, or even DDR4.

[Willzzz]

Certain application will show gains, others will barely change.
I wouldn't bother going above 2000mhz, the gains really start to drop off.

Your next build should be on DDR4 so this RAM will only last for your current build.

[Honosuseri]

Might make more sense to sell off your mobo bundle with that RAM when you upgrade.

The price between DDR3 1600Mhz and faster kits is pretty minimal so try and buy the fastest kit with the lowest CAS you can to your budget. Faster RAM kits tend to be CAS10 or 11 in the affordable price range.

Overclocking isn't something to be scared of providing you have adequate cooling and take your time, the stock cooler really doesn't cut the mustard for overclocking. There are plenty of video tuts on youtube to help walk you through it. I'd be looking to pair the 4670K with Gigabyte's Z87 ATX Sniper (~£120) it's an amazing value mobo. It's also possible to overclock RAM but this means slacking off the timings, so if you are on a tight budget you can try using your Mushkin kit and see if you can tweak a bit more out of it....no promises though I'm afraid as to what it can do.

All the best with it bud, I'm sure we would all love to see what you settle on in the end