This is why we currently offer DDR4-2400 ECC and DDR4-2666 non-ECC RAM on most systems rather than higher speeds. Though this is not always the case, it’s always been our opinion that promoting system instability for the sake of a little extra performance, especially given how little extra performance you’ll actually see, is counterproductive. So the higher frequencies of some RAM are a flashy spec, and while they may not help the performance of most applications, it certainly won’t hurt, right? Well…because higher frequency RAM is often overclocked to reach those insane numbers, it may actually result in RAM related instability like crashes and freezes. Image courtesy of What downsides are there to using faster RAM? So in addition to the reasons mentioned earlier, this is another reason why RAM frequency has only the very smallest impact on gaming performance specifically, as the chart below illustrates.
In many instances, system RAM will largely not be used when gaming. If you go back to a previous post on VRAM, you’ll recall that when using a discrete graphics card, it’s the video RAM – both quantity and speed – that directly impacts gaming performance. Now that we’ve 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’ve been able to find, very little. This is why though higher frequency RAM is technically faster, that additional speed often does not translate into better actual real world performance. What’s 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. Current gen DDR4 modules start at 2133MHz.
Frequencies of RAM typically range from 800MHz in older DDR2 modules up to 4200MHz in DDR4. For example, 8GB DDR4-2400 RAM is running at a frequency of 2400MHz. RAM frequency is measured in MHz and usually immediately follows the DDR version in the RAM spec. When discussing “RAM speed” most users are actually referring to the frequency of the RAM – the number of commands it can process per second – so for the sake of this discussion, we’ll do the same. 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. To start, RAM speed is a bit of a misnomer, so let’s first clarify some terms. So what is it exactly and how important is RAM speed? Read on to learn more. The answer is a little more complicated than simply higher number = better. We’re often asked questions about RAM speed, what we recommend, and how important it is for certain applications like gaming.
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