Memory timings real world usage impact

[planetkrypton]

Hello all. I’ve been looking at a multitude of memory offerings and wonder if anyone could share some insight on timings? For example what difference does cl15 vs cl22 make (if everything else is the same)? And does it impact overclocking in any way? Thanks!

[kalniel]

It depends on the system (especially CPU) and your usage.

Assuming you're talking about Zen2 since that's the system du jour then techpowerup did an analysis:
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/a...ing-benchmark/

[planetkrypton]

Thanks for the pointer.

[Ttaskmaster]

Way I generally see these things - If you need benchmarking software, Fraps or anything similar in order to tell the difference between different kit, it makes no 'real world' difference.

1080 vs 1440 I can see a difference. 50 vs 120fps, I can see a difference. 30 seconds vs 3 seconds to fully initialise an app, I can see a difference.

[planetkrypton]

Way I generally see these things - If you need benchmarking software, Fraps or anything similar in order to tell the difference between different kit, it makes no 'real world' difference.

1080 vs 1440 I can see a difference. 50 vs 120fps, I can see a difference. 30 seconds vs 3 seconds to fully initialise an app, I can see a difference.

I hear you.

[Ttaskmaster]

I hear you.

Really?

From all the way over there?

But I'm typing really quiet, as well....

[Corky34]

All things being equal a lower CAS (CL) results in lower real-world latency, majority of the time you're only talking about nanosecond, if that.

There's a bit of math you can do to workout the real-world latency but i can't remember what it is so normally use a ram latency calculator like this one.

Using the example you gave with 3200Mhz DDR CL15 gives a real world access time (time taken from memory controller issuing a request, of 9.375ns versus CL22 being 13.75ns, if however we increase the clockspeed of the RAM to 4800Mhz that same CL22 achieves 9.166. As others have said though .you probably won't notice the difference that 4-5ns brings in the real-world

[Ttaskmaster]

I once read up on timings, and still had this in my bookmarks - Might be of some interest?
https://www.hardwaresecrets.com/unde...ng-ram-timings

[Hoonigan]

"Real world usage" - basically nothing.

That's my TL;DR on memory timings.

[AGTDenton]

The only time I ever noticed a visual performance boost was with my Pentium III Tualatin. I believe I went from CAS3 to CAS1 and it was noticable on my ABit board. (SDRAM) From booting to gaming it was a significant improvement.

Since then I have not noticed a difference, but have strived to get the lowest regardless for two reasons, one it might make a difference in real world use & give me the edge, and second it has a better resale value.

[planetkrypton]

Really?

From all the way over there?

But I'm typing really quiet, as well....

It’s an ability I’ve had to develop as the kids are at the quieter-they-are-the-more-trouble-they’re-up-to stage!

[planetkrypton]

The only time I ever noticed a visual performance boost was with my Pentium III Tualatin. I believe I went from CAS3 to CAS1 and it was noticable on my ABit board. (SDRAM) From booting to gaming it was a significant improvement.

Since then I have not noticed a difference, but have strived to get the lowest regardless for two reasons, one it might make a difference in real world use & give me the edge, and second it has a better resale value.

I sold up my 3770K rig a couple of months ago in anticipation of moving to more current technologies. I can’t imagine that it will be an overall slower experience unless I mess around/up when I get to the tinkering stage.