1
I have 2 sticks of RAM with frequency 667MHz and 1 stick with frequency 1600Mhz. As a result my all sticks are at 667MHz. How does it affects performance. I mean, we all know how all other components can affect performance but what about RAM Frequency? I need very detailed answer because I want to know that and understand.
Fairlight
Posted 2014-12-23T23:39:41.820
Reputation: 36
3
Basically 1600mhz is 1.6 billion operations per second and 2133 is 2.133 billion operations per second. There are delays like RAS,CAS, and etc that are overhead that reduce the effective speed. The speed of memory intensive programs will runs faster with faster memory.
cybernard
Posted 2014-12-23T23:39:41.820
Reputation: 11 200
What kind of operations? I thought that CPU is for computation, operations etc. – Fairlight – 2014-12-24T00:15:26.973
1
Yes CPU is for operations. But most operations are performed with data. And data has to be stored somewhere. Leave alone cache for simplicity. The frequency of RAM defines how fast CPU can store and retrieve data it needs for operations. For additional info I recommend reading about memory bandwidth. RAM frequency is major criteria in defining total memory bandwidth.
– Art Gertner – 2014-12-24T00:16:42.5071The CPU depends on the memory for mass storage, as it only has a (think 8mb or less) tiny amount of super fast memory embedded. The CPU fetches everything it needs from memory and puts it back when its done. The faster it can do that, the faster the work gets done. – cybernard – 2014-12-24T00:17:41.890
OH GOD, I AM ENLIGHTENED? If I for example during hard usage. Memory frequency can be a bottleneck when CPU usage isn't 100% while it should be? I am not talking about 1 core programs. For example I record gameplay. GPU usage 80% (should be 100% since I do not have 60 FPS and without recording it's always 100) + CPU usage is below 100%. That is the reason? Slow memory? – Fairlight – 2014-12-24T00:28:13.543
2Could be. That is one possible explanation. But it is never that simple. There are other factors to consider. For example graphical processor speed/performance and also non-volatilse memory read/write speed. – Art Gertner – 2014-12-24T00:34:07.283
It probably is not be the only reason, but it definitely has an effect on it. For example it could be 50% memory and 50% how the program was written. – cybernard – 2014-12-24T00:34:18.787
Maybe it's a part of the reason. BUT lots of games don't utilize all cores, don't use advanced multithreading techniques, so a part of CPU and GPU power remains unused. Good written games utilize up to 99% of CPU, so I don't think RAM speed matters here. – Jet – 2015-01-14T13:33:57.817
2Memory clock frequency, in part, determines the memory transfer rate. The higher the memory transfer rate, the better the performance. I think we need more specifics from you to answer this question more concisely. What have you researched so far and what specific questions do you have? – None – 2014-12-23T23:53:58.713
If RAM frequency determines the memory transfer rate what influence memory transfer rate has on performance? What exactly is transfered in memory and to where? In which cases slow memory transfer rate could be a bottleneck? – Fairlight – 2014-12-24T00:04:31.613
Memory transfer rate becomes a bottleneck when you are running a memory intensive-process. In other words, when CPU is processing data faster then it is being transferred in and from RAM. In this case RAM frequency will have major impact on the performance of the application. – Art Gertner – 2014-12-24T00:24:37.450