What to look for in RAM

[Minibiker]

Hi all

So im getting more knowledgeable with PC's as the weeks go by, im always looking to learn more in depth as my wish is to work on PC repairs/maintenance....

I know abit about RAM with speeds etc but im not sure about the finer details... Can anyone explain what else to look for, ive heard about timings but have no idea whats best etc

Cheers

 

[eddiew]

The two big ones are frequency (MHz) and latencies/timings (nanoseconds, maybe). Higher frequencies are good, lower latencies are good.

Usually you'll see something written like 3200 14-14-14-34 which is an indicator of 3200MHz with the four most relevant latency settings. The actual number of latency settings is gigantic and for most people the best thing to do is not worry about them! Care about the first 4. You don't have to name them, just know that usually it's three low numbers and a higher one.

Sometimes they can cancel out, e.g. (pulling numbers out of the air) 3200 14-14-14-34 vs 3466 16-16-16-37 may not actually net any performance gain because you've increased both frequency and latency. It may even be worse in this particular example.

There's been a lot of talk of late about memory using Samsung b-die; this is a specific type of memory chip that works well with AMD Ryzen systems. Intel you can pretty much throw anything in and it works as rated, but Ryzen is much pickier and many systems simply will not get what it says on the memory label no matter what you do. Unfortunately that's just a weakness of Ryzen, though the newest refresh does seem to be much better in that regard.

And now you know everything I know. Go now and find your own way with the force, young padawan!

 

[Slam]

the amount of memory in each ram stick is most important