# Ram speed vs performance



## PerryD (Feb 1, 2019)

Would I see any noticeable performance difference between 32gb of Corsair Vengeance LPX _2400_ DDR4 and 32gb of Corsair vengeance LPX _3200_ DDR4? System has Gigabyte Z390 Designare MB with i7-8700k. No over clocking or gaming, just a music DAW PC. 

-Perry-


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## EvilDragon (Feb 1, 2019)

Probably not something you'd notice in a DAW workload. That said, 3000 MHz seems roughly the sweetspot.


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## PerryD (Feb 1, 2019)

EvilDragon said:


> Probably not something you'd notice in a DAW workload. That said, 3000 MHz seems roughly the sweetspot.


 Thank you. You are the most prolific provider of intelligent answers on every music forum I visit. Truly appreciated!


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## Robert_G (Dec 13, 2020)

EvilDragon said:


> Probably not something you'd notice in a DAW workload. That said, 3000 MHz seems roughly the sweetspot.



Just thought I'd revisit this topic.
Is 3000 still the sweet spot. Would I really notice a difference going down to 2666?


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## timbit2006 (Dec 13, 2020)

Always get the fastest ram possible for IPC related reasons especially on Ryzen platforms. Saving 40 bucks on inferior RAM isn't worth it. Another thing to consider is resale value if you ever upgrade to larger format DIMMs, 3200mhz and 3600hz will hold its value a lot more than 3000mhz, I've seen this many times on the classifieds.


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## Robert_G (Dec 13, 2020)

timbit2006 said:


> Always get the fastest ram possible for IPC related reasons especially on Ryzen platforms. Saving 40 bucks on inferior RAM isn't worth it.



Things is were talking about loading samples....not high speed gaming at 60 fps. Once the samples are loaded they are loaded. What type of time difference in loading are we talking about here?


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## Technostica (Dec 13, 2020)

Robert_G said:


> Just thought I'd revisit this topic.
> Is 3000 still the sweet spot. Would I really notice a difference going down to 2666?


You need to look at both the speed and the latency and see how your software scales with both. 
You also need to determine what the fastest RAM your system supports. 
I would ignore people who tell you to buy the fastest memory without giving you a link to supporting data. 
A lot of those are just gamers.


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## timbit2006 (Dec 13, 2020)

Robert_G said:


> Things is were talking about loading samples....not high speed gaming at 60 fps. Once the samples are loaded they are loaded. What type of time difference in loading are we talking about here?


CPU maxing and latency is always the issue for me in my work so I think that takes precedent especially considering the fast rising popularity of DFD streaming which takes more CPU.
If anyone's done any genuine statistical analysis of this I'd be very curious to see the results but until then I'll believe what I believe. If I didn't have to put in so many stupid custom settings into my BIOS to get my RAM timing right as I'm using mismatched and different sized sticks I'd be more than willing to disable my XMP profile and run the ram at 2666mhz and let you know. Hopefully someone else with a more stable setup can do this and compare common library load times.


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## JohnG (Dec 13, 2020)

I have never seen a study that reveals a meaningful difference between composing with higher or lower RAM speeds making any difference at all.

Anecdotally, I have some new computers and some old ones. SSDs - big difference. Thunderbolt -- big difference.

RAM speed? Can't tell any difference.

However, I trust @EvilDragon 's opinion on anything like this.


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## AceAudioHQ (Dec 13, 2020)

I read a test a while ago where they tested memory from 2933 to 3600mhz with ryzen processors and they concluded that 3200mhz memory has the best price-performance ratio, but that the performance boost with faster ram occurs mostly in games, while testing with cinebench, blender and x264 encoding different speeds didn't give any major differences. I'd suspect it's pretty much the same thing with a bit slower ram, but I'd personally go for 3200 and no less than 2933 since I also game a bit.


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## Robert_G (Dec 13, 2020)

Appreciate the opinions....but I'd really like feedback just for DAW and sample performance. There are a thousand site reviews for PC gaming hardware. 
Benchmarks for DAW and sample performance is nowhere near as abundant.


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## Orchestrata (Dec 13, 2020)

After my workstation was stolen I pulled my old PC out of storage with 24 GB of RAM at 1333mhz and a 4770k. Happily scored several trailers and a video game while waiting for a replacement rig. Of course I'll always invest in the best hardware I can afford but sometimes a little perspective is a good thing


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## Jeremy Spencer (Dec 18, 2020)

JohnG said:


> I have never seen a study that reveals a meaningful difference between composing with higher or lower RAM speeds making any difference at all.



Same here. I have "El Cheapo" Kingston RAM and it served me just fine. I'm highly skeptical that RAM speed (or brand) matter at all for DAW (and VEPro) use.


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## AudioLoco (Dec 19, 2020)

JohnG said:


> I have never seen a study that reveals a meaningful difference between composing with higher or lower RAM speeds making any difference at all.
> 
> Anecdotally, I have some new computers and some old ones. SSDs - big difference. Thunderbolt -- big difference.
> 
> ...


Thunderbolt for external HDs?? Cheers


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## JohnG (Dec 19, 2020)

AudioLoco said:


> Thunderbolt for external HDs?? Cheers



yes, a chassis of SSDs, specifically.


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## AudioLoco (Dec 19, 2020)

JohnG said:


> yes, a chassis of SSDs, specifically.


Thanks, do you find the chassis fast and reliable as internal SSDs?


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## JohnG (Dec 19, 2020)

AudioLoco said:


> Thanks, do you find the chassis fast and reliable as internal SSDs?



I think so, although honestly I couldn't compare because it is a new setup and never had internal drives on that computer (speedy iMac) apart from the "main" drive.

I can answer this way: I can record about 30 stereo tracks simultaneously using Pro Tools at 48k. IDK if that's enough!

Another way to think about it: I may be mistaken but it's possible that my internal bus on my main DAW is slower than the external transfer speed of Thunderbolt.


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