3200 CL16 or 3600 CL19 ?

[Verbatim]

Hi! TechPowerUp forums....

Just a simple question which memory is faster ? Price difference is almost negligible.

DDR4-3200MHz CL16-18-18-36 or DDR4-3600MHz CL19-20-20-40 ?

 

[jmcslob]

I would check the forums of the manufacturer of the 3600 and see if it can match the timings of the 3200 @3200 and if so buy it

 

[27MaD]

DDR4-3600MHz CL19-20-20-40 is faster , but don't expect it to give you advantage over the DDR4-3200MHz CL16-18-18-36 , the difference in gaming is almost 1 FPS.

 

[infrared]

I expect they'd perform fairly similarly with those respective timings. And as jmcslob is saying, you will likely find that the 3600 CL19 kit can run at 3200 CL16 just fine (and vice versa), in which case you could run a few benchmarks and favorite games/apps to decide which configuration to stick with. If I was buying for myself I'd personally go for the higher frequency kit if price was similar.

 

[Tatty_One]

Pretty much unnoticeable but the correct answer may be software and platform/chipset dependant, some programmes and even games like high bandwidth, some prefer low latency and some platforms and chipsets may give you a high bench score with higher bandwidth with others vice versa. if it were me, I would go for the 3200 @ 16, I like lower latency and for me 3200mhz is still decent bandwidth.

 

[newtekie1]

I think people put waaay too much thought into how much memory affects performance once you go past 2933... So my answer, buy the cheapest one of the two, even if it is only $5 cheaper, because you won't actually notice the difference.

 

[cadaveca]

pretty much equal with those speeds and timings. Pretty sure one of my memory reviews shows this, but with 16-16-16 @ 3200 and 19-19-19 @ 3600.

3200 C14 is the best option, if you can find/afford it, second would be 4000 MHz, but many boards can't do that speed, making me go back to 3200 C14.

because you won't actually notice the difference.

Oh, I notice. Especially on my systems with no SSDs...every little bit counts there.

 

[cucker tarlson]

3600 c19 slightly faster than 3200 c16, best get 3200 c14.

 

[Verbatim]

Thanks for answers! I will go for 3600 CL19... 3200 CL14 costs way more than that!

System will be upcoming i9-9900k...

 

[cucker tarlson]

You can always try to OC too

 

[cadaveca]

3200 CL14 costs way more than that!

Samsung IC required for this does cost a fair bit, hence the price increase. You also then have the chance to hit some crazy OCs if you want to OC ram, but I know that's not everyone's cup of tea. 3600 MHz is a good middle ground in cost vs performance, yep, yep.

 

[Verbatim]

DDR4-3600 by default already is very high frequency right? Is it real to overclock it even further on z370 or z470 motherboard ?

 

[cadaveca]

DDR4-3600 by default already is very high frequency right? Is it real to overclock it even further on z370 or z470 motherboard ?

a little bit, but some sticks top out @ just 3733 MHz. And yeah, many boards don't go that high, even, most stop real memory support @ 3600 MHz. A guy like me that's into memory like to go for 4500 MHz+, but this requires expensive motherboards.

 

[sneekypeet]

Technically the 3200 kit has slightly better overall latency.

 

[John Naylor]

Each app responds differently to speed and timings so what is faster in one app might be slow than another.... but one broad "rule of thumb"

CAS x 1000 / Speed = lower is better

16 x 1000 / 3200 = 5.00

19 x 1000 / 3600 = 5.27

 

[las]

None of those are considered good memory in my book. 3200/C16 is best tho. You'll be looking at some cheap Hynix modules probably.

For "high end" mem
3200 should be C15 tops
3600 should be C16 tops

I don't like C17 or higher regardless of speed, because alot of programs and games does not like high latency. Balance is best.

 

[Vya Domus]

Get the 3600mhz, I reckon you should be able to lower the timings a bit.

 

[las]

Or just get 3200/CL14 or 3600/CL15-16 to begin with, yes they are more expensive than 3200/C16 and 3600/CL19.
If you're a high fps gamer, you'll notice the difference. 5-10% depending on game. Worth the price difference? For some