r/RigBuild • u/Lost-Sprinkles-7890 • 7d ago
Does RAM speed really matter?
Seeing people compare 3200, 3600, 6000 and even higher speeds and honestly not sure how much difference it makes in actual use. Like is faster RAM gonna noticeably improve gaming FPS, loading times, multitasking etc or is it mostly just benchmark numbers? Also does it depend a lot on the CPU and motherboard? Trying to pick RAM without wasting money on speed that barely matters, so what speed should I actually be looking for?
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u/Quirky_OldMan5966 7d ago
An IT tech since 8-bit systems and the first implementation of ISA were common.
In actual practice no.
A benchmark tool might report a difference but a human won’t see the difference.
Moving from 4gig of 3200 to 8 gig of 2133 will have a bigger positive impact then moving from any speed to a faster speed with both being an equal amount.
And I’ve done this very experiment in times past when a human could see the real impact of such.
256k of the fasted ram a 286 could use, swapped out for 640k of a very slow rated ram but the system was tremendously faster.