Is anything faster than 1333MHz a waste of money on Sandy Bridge?

U

Ultra Wide

[H]ard|Gawd
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Since you don't have to overclock the bus speed on Sandy Bridge, it seems that exotic ultra high speed RAM is somewhat a waste of resources. Funds could be better allocated towards higher capacity 2 x 4GB or maybe a better GPU or heatsink. It looks like higher speed RAM is quickly hitting steep diminishing returns.

These 2 articles seem to be good indicators of new trends to come:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/memory/2011/01/11/the-best-memory-for-sandy-bridge/1

http://techreport.com/articles.x/20377
 
Ultra Wide said:
Is anything faster than 1333MHz a waste of money on Sandy Bridge?
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this is the conclusion i came to after reading the same articles you linked. regarding SB, faster ram speed is most noticeable when benchmarking. you won't see much of a difference with real-world everyday tasks and gaming.
 
Fast ram has always been nice to have, but not worth the money for the performance gain. Even with bus overclocking you could always use a lower ram divider. DDR3 1600 isn't a bad deal though at $100 for 2x4GB and may have better resell in the future.
 
after looking at those reviews i'd just stick with 1333 ram and save your cash.
 
Yea, their is so much bandwidth SB offers that memory speed is irrevelant. I'd still go for DDR3 1600mhz though.
 
What about running 1600mhz ram at 1333mhz but with tighter timings than standard 1333mhz?
 
Well I have 8gbs 1600mhz DDR3 at 9-9-9. It wasn't too much more expensive than it's 1333mzh cousin. So why not go faster?
 
High speed ram seems more like a bragging right now more than anything. I could never tell a difference between ram running at 1333mhz or 2000. Even in the benchmarks I've run there was little performance increase to be worth the cost.
 
Thank you for posting this. This was the exact question I was looking for :D!
 
From what I noticed. 1600hmz at CL9, performed as good as 1333mhz at CL7. Yet the price seems better on the 1600mhz models. But 1333 at CL9 was worse. I guess id go 1333 CL7, or 1600 CL9
 
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