Reduce RAM speed for better performance or lower power consumption.
Reduce RAM speed for better performance or lower power consumption.
I discovered a 4000Mhz CL14 kit, but it should work in Gear 2. If I lower the RAM speed to 3200Mhz, could I possibly achieve CL12 or CL11? The original voltage is already set at 1.55V, so I’m not sure about raising it further—lowering it might be better, though that seems unlikely.
That’s a really high budget, huh? I imagine you’re thinking Tridentz royal elites—those are mainly for top-tier builds, since they look premium but actually deliver solid value. They’re not cheap compared to lower-range kits like 3200c14, so it’s a waste of money for most people. You won’t notice much difference in performance, and the rest of the options (except some Intel CPUs) aren’t as impressive. The real strength here is in tightening secondary and tertiary stages, especially subtimings like TRFC. It’s not worth spending extra on voltage just to squeeze out a tiny latency gain; focus on TRFC first. Also, most chips can handle 4000GHz with VCC, CC, and core staying solid at around 1.45V. Just keep it under 1.7V if you’re sensitive to heat, and don’t forget a fan when pushing close to that limit. For top-tier performance, stick to 3200/3600 CL16 and 3600 CL18—avoid the cl16 unless you’re sure about cooling.
I mean yeah I never overclocked anything but I have good motherboard for memory overclocking so I thought it would kinda be a waste not to get the extra mileage from the feature. I already bought TeamGroup Nighthawk 3200Mhz CL16 but was considering buying some of those G.Skill 4000Mhz CL14s. I have good voltage regulation in the motherboard to prevent any over voltage or electrical surges. Has good VRMs with copper heatsink that also has built in fans and using a very high end AIO that also cools VRMs so idk. Planning to overclock CPU at least. But since this will be a "daily gaming setup" I'm kinda worried about 1.55V being too much since PC Part Picker for example gives a warning about that. There were some DDR4 5600Mhz kits from V-Color but I can't find them with the product code. Ideally would've wanted those. But idk. I hear a lot of contradictory information. Some people say CAS and first word latency aren't that important meanwhile others say it is very important.
What motherboard? Which CPU? Cas matters less, I think BuildZoid also mentions this in DDR5 OC video. Not recommended to exceed 1.7V daily (on solid ICs that don’t lose voltage like Bdie or other good ones such as micron rev e/j). Be careful not to push it too high since even small imc issues could matter. Although Bdie caps around 1.75V before needing max memory (which halves RAM capacity), you probably won’t need that much voltage for regular use. Running above 1.6V just for a 4000-4200 gear1 OC might mean you’re making a mistake and getting diminishing returns by tightening timing too much. Even trfc will start drawing more volts at some point, like with Cas, but it’s not dangerous—just pointless for the tiny gains you get. For example, I can run 4000 uncore on my x5660 now at 1.55V, but 3900 only needs 1.45V, so I chose a lower voltage because wasting power isn’t worth it for such small improvements. Bdie is sensitive to temperature, so if it gets too hot it just fails, so it’s better to keep it cooler for extra margin, especially on a hot day.
Z590 Valkyrie paired with 11900K seems reasonable. It’s unclear if tweaking the RAM would make a big difference. Comparing 3200 gear 1 versus 5600 gear 2 (DDR4) isn’t straightforward.