Best ram to pair with a i9 14900k

[Ripper-X-]

Looking for recommendations for 32gb of DDR5 to pair with an i9 14900K on a MSI MAG Z790 Tomahawk WIFI motherboard (& an RTX 4900 FE).
I think the specs for the mobo says it can use DDR 7200mhz, is it best to go for that speed or is there a reason to get something slower?

 

[Wing-Man]

you want to balance speed and CL

I would look for a 6600mhz cl30 kit if you can fine a good price. I don’t know how 14th gen is with ram, but just because the box say you can do XXXX speed doesn’t mean you can.

 

[Ripper-X-]

On the MSI website for my mobo it gives the memory info below, does anyone know what the figures with the bullet points mean, like the • 1DPC 1R etc.

4x DDR5, Maximum Memory Capacity 192GB
Memory Support 7200+(OC)/ 7000(OC)/ 6800(OC)/ 6600(OC)/ 6400(OC)/ 6200(OC)/ 6000(OC)/ 5800(OC)/ 5600(JEDEC)/ 5400(JEDEC)/ 5200(JEDEC)/ 5000(JEDEC)/ 4800(JEDEC) MHz
Max. overclocking frequency:
• 1DPC 1R Max speed up to 7200+ MHz
• 1DPC 2R Max speed up to 6600+ MHz
• 2DPC 1R Max speed up to 6400+ MHz
• 2DPC 2R Max speed up to 5600+ MHz

I don't see any CL30 6600mhz ram? But done a bit of reading & found an article that says the best performing ram to go with a i9 14900k is Corsair Dominator platinum DDR5 7200MT/s CL34 memory kit, (but apparently there is newer Dominator Titanium that's supposed to be even better). And seems quite reasonably priced.

 

[Tetras]

does anyone know what the figures with the bullet points mean, like the • 1DPC 1R etc.

1 dimm per channel, single rank
1 dimm per channel, dual rank

Like Wing-Man said though, you need to check what the CPU you're buying is likely to top out at, because these numbers may not mean much in reality.

 

[dave28]

my i5 12600k works with 6600mhz c32 on a z690 mobo but i think i got really lucky.

i would try a step up from that if i bought a 14th gen i9

 

[Rroff]

Went with 6000MHz CL32 (Kingston Fury Renegade) with my 14700K, would have gone CL30 (if at the same price) if it was available and/or at the time what was available with tighter timings was a lot more money so just not worth it. For the 14900K I'd probably err on the side of a little more bandwidth so 6400MHz CL30-32 or so.

Personally went for the RAM as much as anything due to fitting in with the somewhat monochrome colours of my build LOL, some alternatives are potentially slightly higher performance though won't really be noticeable.

 

[Ripper-X-]

1 dimm per channel, single rank
1 dimm per channel, dual rank

Like Wing-Man said though, you need to check what the CPU you're buying is likely to top out at, because these numbers may not mean much in reality.

That doesn't mean that it will only run 6600mhz with 2 sticks or ram in does it? I'm looking at the Corsair Dominator Titanium rgb 32gb DDr5 7200MT/s CL34 Intel xmp memory kit as being my best choice atm, will it run at full speed with 2 sticks?

 

[Wing-Man]

That doesn't mean that it will only run 6600mhz with 2 sticks or ram in does it? I'm looking at the Corsair Dominator Titanium rgb 32gb DDr5 7200MT/s CL34 Intel xmp memory kit as being my best choice atm, will it run at full speed with 2 sticks?

You would need a magic ball to know that.
You would have to buy and try….

The sweet spot right now is 6000 cl30

 

[Ripper-X-]

You would need a magic ball to know that.
You would have to buy and try….

The sweet spot right now is 6000 cl30

What I mean is in the figures below, is that saying that with one stick its 7200mhz, & with 2 sticks its 6600mhz?
I already have ddr5 6000mhz cl30 just looking for something better to go with a i9 14900k.

• 1DPC 1R Max speed up to 7200+ MHz
• 1DPC 2R Max speed up to 6600+ MHz
• 2DPC 1R Max speed up to 6400+ MHz
• 2DPC 2R Max speed up to 5600+ MHz

 

[Wing-Man]

If the sticks are single rank then the motherboard will support that speed
But don’t forget the cpu are a massive part in this and….

Memory Types
Up to DDR5 5600 MT/s
Up to DDR4 3200 MT/s

That is all that Intel will say the memory controller will support

 

[Tetras]

What I mean is in the figures below, is that saying that with one stick its 7200mhz, & with 2 sticks its 6600mhz?

single (1R) or dual rank (2R) is the memory chips on the module, not the number of sticks. 32GB (e.g. 64GB kit, 2x32) is dual rank, I believe the other capacities are single rank. I haven't checked 24GB or 48GB.

 

[Ripper-X-]

single (1R) or dual rank (2R) is the memory chips on the module, not the number of sticks. 32GB (e.g. 64GB kit, 2x32) is dual rank, I believe the other capacities are single rank. I haven't checked 24GB or 48GB.

Ah ok thanks, so in theory the Corsair Dominator Titanium rgb 32gb DDr5 7200MT/s CL34 Intel xmp memory kit should be able to run at 7200mhz all being well seeing at my mobo says it supports 7200mhz?

 

[Wing-Man]

Ah ok thanks, so in theory the Corsair Dominator Titanium rgb 32gb DDr5 7200MT/s CL34 Intel xmp memory kit should be able to run at 7200mhz all being well seeing at my mobo says it supports 7200mhz?

Buy it, you can always return it if it doesn’t, that’s why B Grade is full of ram kits

 

[Tetras]

Ah ok thanks, so in theory the Corsair Dominator Titanium rgb 32gb DDr5 7200MT/s CL34 Intel xmp memory kit should be able to run at 7200mhz all being well seeing at my mobo says it supports 7200mhz?

The sticks are rated for that speed and the motherboard manufacturer claims it can support it:

But don’t forget the cpu are a massive part in this and….

Memory Types
Up to DDR5 5600 MT/s
Up to DDR4 3200 MT/s

That is all that Intel will say the memory controller will support

In other words: you're asking for a 30% overclock on the CPU's memory controller. I don't know if the 14900K achieves this (or more), on average. This video may be of interest:

intel XMPs and motherboard QVLs are a useless mess.

My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/buildzoidTeespring: https://teespring.com/stores/actually-hardcore-overclockingBandcamp: https://machineforscreams.bandca...

www.youtube.com

 

[Ripper-X-]

The sticks are rated for that speed and the motherboard manufacturer claims it can support it:

In other words: you're asking for a 30% overclock on the CPU's memory controller. I don't know if the 14900K achieves this (or more), on average. This video may be of interest:

intel XMPs and motherboard QVLs are a useless mess.

My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/buildzoidTeespring: https://teespring.com/stores/actually-hardcore-overclockingBandcamp: https://machineforscreams.bandca...

www.youtube.com

Thanks I'll take a look. I was basing my opinion on the article I read here --> https://tech4gamers.com/best-ram-for-i9-14900k/#:~:text=Here is a selection of the best RAM,Ripjaws S5 32GB (2x16GB) 6000MHz CL30 More items They do have a typo tho, it should say best performance ram not best white ram in their chart.

 

[Tetras]

They do have a typo tho, it should say best performance ram not best white ram in their chart.

I'm not interested in overclocking memory, but the sources I use most of the time (for memory) are buildzoid (linked you his video), this video, this article and Puget for non-gaming stuff, here. There are also videos on YouTube like this one:

DDR5-7200 vs DDR5-6800 vs DDR5-6400 w/ i9-13900KF + RTX 4090: Tets in 4 games at 1080p

- Test Bench -- Intel Core i9-13900KF- ASUS PRIME Z790-A WIFI- Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC - DeepCool LS720- Kingston KC3000 1TB- Kingston FURY Renega...

www.youtube.com

My impression from what I've seen is that for 4K gaming with a 4090, the impact of memory on FPS is not worth worrying about (i.e. just buy any half-decent kit that suits your needs).

 

[Ripper-X-]

I'm not interested in overclocking memory, but the sources I use most of the time (for memory) are buildzoid (linked you his video), this video, this article and Puget for non-gaming stuff, here. There are also videos on YouTube like this one:

DDR5-7200 vs DDR5-6800 vs DDR5-6400 w/ i9-13900KF + RTX 4090: Tets in 4 games at 1080p

- Test Bench -- Intel Core i9-13900KF- ASUS PRIME Z790-A WIFI- Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC - DeepCool LS720- Kingston KC3000 1TB- Kingston FURY Renega...

www.youtube.com

My impression from what I've seen is that for 4K gaming with a 4090, the impact of memory on FPS is not worth worrying about (i.e. just buy any half-decent kit that suits your needs).

Thanks I'll take a look. What in your opinion would be a good choice of kit to go with a i9 14900k? Bearing in mind I already have a Kingston Fury Renegade ddr5 6000mhz cl30 kit & would want a bit of an upgrade from that?

 

[Rroff]

Thanks I'll take a look. What in your opinion would be a good choice of kit to go with a i9 14900k? Bearing in mind I already have a Kingston Fury Renegade ddr5 6000mhz cl30 kit & would want a bit of an upgrade from that?

You are well into diminishing returns beyond that - 7200 is like ~5FPS at 1080, 2-3FPS at 1440p, 1-2FPS at 4K better performance in games than a 6000MHz CL30 kit.

 

[Wing-Man]

Thanks I'll take a look. What in your opinion would be a good choice of kit to go with a i9 14900k? Bearing in mind I already have a Kingston Fury Renegade ddr5 6000mhz cl30 kit & would want a bit of an upgrade from that?

genuinely 6000 @ cl30 is the sweet spot. i'd keep what you have. i just would.

Based on this:

You are well into diminishing returns beyond that - 7200 is like ~5FPS at 1080, 2-3FPS at 1440p, 1-2FPS at 4K better performance in games than a 6000MHz CL30 kit.

 

[JollyJamma]

You are well into diminishing returns beyond that - 7200 is like ~5FPS at 1080, 2-3FPS at 1440p, 1-2FPS at 4K better performance in games than a 6000MHz CL30 kit.

Yes, agree with this. Intel loves faster RAM but RAM pricing as you go past 7200 and closer to 8000 gets really high and makes little difference to most peoples gaming experience.

OP, If you're an extreme overclocker like Buildzoid or K|ngp|n who are chasing points on 3D mark, you know what RAM you want, will use LN2 and will buy multiple sticks of the best to bin modules until you can run insane speeds.

Any Hynix module with good enough speeds at a reasonable price will be great, realistically.