What Speed DDR5 Should You Buy? 

Always get the fastest, most expensive bleeding edge so you can be an unpaid tester and make things cheaper for me.

The only thing faster than my RAM is how fast I die in battle royales

"The answer to your question is so simple that it's only two words: 'It depends.'"

Finally i did transition from DDR3 to DDR4 🎉

That actually makes a lot of sense about the fact that if the CPU is busy then ram speed won't really matter as much. It's kind of like the fact that it doesn't matter how fast people in the queue move at the DMV, because it's more about how fast the person behind counter can work.

My DDR8 is still rocking since I bought it in 2049, 3 years old now. Not gonna upgrade to DDR9 yet, it has stability issues they say.

latency tends to be an issue in games like Dwarf Fortress and the like (Rimworld, Stellaris, etc), there's so much being kept track of that the amount of time the CPU spends talking with the RAM can actually build up and make an impact. In those situations it's not FPS but ticks per second.

please make a LTT video on pc servicing and maintainence which is very much needed to the average user who has to do it on their own , this include proper gpu cleaning with changing thermal pads ,thermal paste , cleaning the fans and heatsink by removing all the screws possible ( you can include this in advanced cleaning) , cleaning all the case fans , cleaning psu , cable manage , etc ,etc , would also like to know how LTT maintains their pcs across their office ??

Simple: You should buy what's on sale/makes sense for you in that moment. I bought a 32GB Kit DDR5-6400 for my AM5 (7800X3D) because it made sense. As in: other kits wouldn't have been cheaper but worse. So I got that because it made sense at the moment.

The real answer in 2024 is whichever RAM is listed on the QVL from the motherboard manufacturer. Have had compatibility problems too many times in the last few years not to check.

Good video, but I'd love to know how DDR5 speeds affect other tasks like code compilation. Some languages' compilation pipeline involve more memory intensive tasks / data structures. For example, Rust needs to access a data structure to figure out stuff with its trait semantics and ownership, and JavaScript (although not compiled) involves a lot of runtime type-checking. Web DOM manipulation (especially in React apps) also requires a lot of non-contiguous memory access.

My current rig has pretty slow memory so even though I am saving up and decking out my new rig, pretty much any speed bump is gonna be a noticeable improvement 😅🤣

Thank You! I was actually thinking about buying some soon

QVL lists exist for a reason. Buy a kit that’s on your MOBO QVL list. If you don’t then it’s on you. They did the leg work of validating those kits.

You failed to mention APU benefits with high speed Ram

Was expecting some meaningful graphs to show the difference between the DDR5 speeds in different games/ programs but I guess a vague "more isn't always better unless you need it" is the best you guys can do

Cheapest 32GB DDR5 kit I can buy is $75 while it's $85 for 6000MHz with a CL of 30, definitely worth the $10.

Thanks for the video!

does depend on why the cpu is busy. If it's using a bunch of cycles moving data in and out of ram to the disk/swap then adding more ram can help even with a pegged cpu.

that was helpful thanks bro!

Lol. Plot hole. Apparently they were gonna explain where the 6000Mts number comes from after the sponsor. Did I miss it or did they forget to add that part in? For those that are interested: In traditional SDRAM (Singe Data Rate) data is transferred once per clock cycle. But in DDR RAM (Double Data Rate) data is transferred on both the up and down signals of the clock cycle. So DDR5 6000Mts RAM runs @ 3000Mhz but transfers data twice every cycle. So two transfers, 3 billion times a second. ie 6000 million transfers per second or 6000 Mega Transfers per second. Hence the rating 6000Mts. So to work out the memory bandwidth we need to know how many bits of information is transferred. Typically DDR4 and DDR5 use 64 bit data buses. So with each transfer 64bits can be transferred. So 64bits, 6000 million times per second. Which 384 billion bits per second (384Gbs). Then you get into Multi Channel memory configurations. Most commonly dual channel and quad channel on consumer boards. Each channel allows for simultaneous transfers different memory sticks. Thereby increasing the memory bandwidth. Dual channel doubles the bandwidth, quad channel quadruples it and so on. These days, servers use 8 channel and even 12 channel configurations for memory allowing for incredible amounts of memory bandwidth.

I’ve been a long time viewer, and I think that most of my PC knowledge, as well as general technology skills come from this channel. Certainly not all of my skills, but I think this channel has provided me an overview of most topics I’m interested in, anyone who agrees 👇

I noticed a difference just overclocking my current ram. It's 64gb of (16gb x 4) DDR5-5600MT/s CL32 @ 1.1v, however, I have it overclocked and tightened the timings to 6200MT/s CL28 @ 1.35v. The responsiveness is a noticeable difference between the 2 speeds. This is paired with my 13600k @ 5.5ghz all p-cores, and 4.4ghz all e-cores, with a 4.9ghz ring cache.

The Silicon Power XPOWER Zenith Gaming 32 GB kit is a beast!!!

Memory bandwidth is the only thing holding ai on CPU back (not the compute power), so it is Crucial to have as much data throughput as possible (therefore fast memory), btw you can approximate the speed of a llm using the memory speed

What about a video on memory swap? I am using Linux Mint and noticed on my "task manager" with the RAM usage graph, there is a second line called swap. I looked into it and learned it was just taking some of my storage, which I have a lot of, and using it like RAM when my real RAM overflows. Kinda cool, and potentially very useful for someone with low amount of RAM. While of coarse it's nowhere near the speed of real RAM, it could save your bacon in a particular situation. Also, apparently you can do it in windows, and presumably macOS, so that's cool. For no reason whatsoever, I have my swap file set to 64 GB. On top of my 24 GB real RAM (one of my 8GB sticks went and corrupted itself).

I built my new DDR5 system a few months ago and i lost the silicon lottery hardcore. Did my research and got a 6000mhz cl36 kit to go with a ryzen 7600, but i had big stability issues until i turned off EXPO. I am running at 5600mhz now without any issues (except for losing out on potential performance)

Thank you for pointing out max memory speeds of current cpus. I will be honest I made a blunder with my new pc part order, ordering 6000 mhz ram for the 7800x3d but watched this video again just to make sure I was getting the right speed and realised I should get 5200 since you pointed it out.

I've got a laptop that will regularly not turn on. Removing the battery and discharging the static build up works but not consistently. Could you do a tech quickie on why this happens and if one can fix it?

Frequency is crucial when doing AI inference with a CPU

i have 2x 16Gb DDR5 @ 6000Mhx, paired with my Ryzen 5 7600x and 1080 ti, felt 32gb was a good balance between minimum and overkill, 16gb in the past for me was barely not enough, its nice having the extra ram.

I got my ram during the LTT crossover with Lexar. The weird thing though is Lexars manufacturer name does not appear in the bios. All the timings and everything are correct and work properly but the manufacturer label says "unknown" dont know if thats cuz Lexar isnt one of the super big ram guys or what. Bios update didnt do anything either

Short question - does intel integrated graphics work on 6000? Context for my question: Intels integrated graphics is really helpful for video editing thanks to quick sync. But currently I am using i7 6700k and ddr4 memory with 2800 xmp profile. But as soon I am activating integrated graphics in bios - I am getting bsods. When I am dropping memory frequency to 2133 (which is listed in intel ark as standard) - it seems to work fine. For newer ddr5 processors - it is listed 4800 as standard, so again, will the iGPU work if I go higher? Thanks in advance.

So that shit has created his new RU-vid channel, now i have subscribed to this!

good info for people with 12 gen i5 that don't necessarily need faster speeds, I got mine with DDR4

got 6400 cl32 it will be blazing fast for the next decade

Be honest. Did you interview someone for LMG who was playing Counter-Strike in the other window?

It gets more complicated with AM5 platform now. It is still very young platform expected to last 4+ generations of processors where each processor is expected to support faster RAM than previous gen. So if you buy ram today for first gen AM5 processor you should take into account that the same RAM will be used by newer AM5 processors in the future, which will have higher RAM sweet spot than current AM5 gen.

Slight correction: RAM speed 100% would make a difference in AI performance if you are trying to run a model too large to hold in VRAM (so you offload model weights to RAM). AI is already bottlenecked by GPU Memory bandwidth and not GPU compute. Since the GPU memory bandwidth is more than an order of magnitude faster than CPU RAM and it’s a bottleneck, offloading to said RAM will DEFINITELY be improved by improving the memory bandwidth.

Can you make a all you need to know about rack servers pls

3666MT CL16 on DDR4, 6000MT CL30 on DDR5 for now.

When recently buying ram for a new system, I was confused why the builder was suggesting 6000 when the system says it only supports 5200.

I thought First Word Latency was more important according to the LTT Video 'Does RAM Speed REALLY Matter?? (DDR5 Edition)' (starting around 7:15).

ddr5 8400 cl38 with the 8700g gives very similar performance as the rx 6500xt with the igpu for more then double the cost so thats why its worth it

I have a question about this, I have Kingston FURY DDR5 32 GB kit that runs on 6000 CL36 and I'm not a huge fps gamer, I prefer RPGs and slower games in general, would there be any benefit for me from switching to a 6000 CL30 kit?

Watching this knowing my pc is still on ddr4 gonna get a 64gb kit today the upgrade to ddr5 would be hella expensive given you need to change your motherboard and cpu(am5 is the only one that supports ddr5 right) alongside the ram i mean and at that point id just build a new pc but I might do that next year

Wish you would address about using 4 dimms. Alot of people seems to discourage from using 4pcs. But how bad is it really? Especially when "speed" is less important for x3d chips for example.

Should really bring up the current issues with xmp on more than 2 sticks of ddr5 on motherboards

Good video indeed

Well here is what I learned for AMD zen 5 processors the Max speed you should consider for dual channel is 6000MHZ, anything more and the controller will get stressed (ideally I would go with 5200MHZ as recommended by AMD to ensure best stability, however 6000MHZ seems to work well). If I were prehaps maxing out all the ram slots with DRR5 then I would get the slowest one possible at 4800MHZ knowing that the controller is going to most likely downclock it down to around 3600MHZ. Hopefully zen6 will have better memory controllers.

Megatransfers per second!?😮 I called it millitransfers per second this entire time, i learned something new today thanks.😅

The fastest possible ram is most important, my Windows Word is running so hardcore, well worth it.

but when I ran ddr5-6400 cl32 it blew out my Internal Memory Controller on my 7800x3d and they said running expo caused it to happen. So what do i do then?

I allways buy 1 step,up that the next cpu (intel) w I'll need as default, ie 6500, or 6300 ddr5. When ddr4 2133 was out I'd get 2666, next intel cpu was 2666 ram speed etc... At least when your re use your ram, on next upgrade, your faster ram will run default on next cpu. (When first 2nd and 3gen ram speeds come out.)

0:09 holy shyte, and I'm the only one rocking DDR6?

RAM speed is most important in APU builds, its the only case where 8000MT/s and higher RAM make sense.

Ok, this is just a techquickie, but still: - You cite AI workloads. AI training is likely to run on a dedicated GPU, and system RAM is there only to feed the VRAM in that case. If you use an NPU, though, or even integrated graphics, the system RAM throughputs contribute to feeding the processor with minibatches, so I guess you'd want good throughput there to get as close to VRAM as possible. - RAM latency and real-time audio. So, presumably the sound card will populate a buffer that lives in system RAM. Assuming that an audio buffer can stay within a modern processor's cache, the initial transfer will still carry a penalty of 10-18 ns depending on the memory timings. 8 ns isn't negligible when you're trying to meet a real-time latency of 2-3 milliseconds. I'd like this use case to receive a bit more airtime, as it's all but niche. Loads of people record stuff at home, and they struggle with crap latency and buffer underruns.

I've been getting 6400 CL32 for the few AM5 systems I've built, but it doesn't run at full speed on all of them.

Love this videos.

Oh I guess this was meant to come out last week or weekend.

This is probably a me issue, but Every single time I’ve tried to enable higher RAM speeds, its has always caused issues. Crashes, blue screens and general instability every time with every computer I’ve ever used. Ive just decided the default speed is good enough and i get way more capacity instead. Currently running 64gb with two sticks, so i can go to 128gb when i get some extra money.

why has nobody in James' life ever taught him how to line up his beard? It's brutal, dude.

I might skip this generation. Meet me at ddr6

As a ddr 3 user I have a hard time seeing the value of overclocking ddr5 20%.

i think 6000 CL30 is the sweet spot. Even though i went with 6400 CL32. which isnt needed and a little more expensive

If there's ever another LTT roast I want it to be known that it absolutely grinds my gears how this guy says PROcessors

I just hate that with ECC ram, it's "supported but depends on your motherboard manufacturer". The only way to know for sure is to buy and test.

Should have touchdd on timings. That seems to matter a lot from wha ti have seen in benchmarks

It might be over 6000, but...is it *OVER 9000?!?* 😏

For DDR5 5200, 5400 is totally fine, 6000 seems to be the sweet spot and everything over that gives you slightly better numbers in some games but it's a 4090, you pay way more for a little more speed so to speak. Well depending on where you live of course. Generally; US = "cheap" and EU = very much Not cheap LoL. Oh and RAM that is faster than 6000Mt/s (and especially even faster than that) is generally not recomended if you don't have a motherboard + cpu combo that can handle it. Well, even then it's almost like the silicon lottery. Edit: Latency is good and all but when it comes to DDR5 speed is more important than Latency ( CL 32, 36, 40 etc... )

6000 cl30. If you are lucky ypu can overclock to 6400 or even 6600 on 1:1 mode on amd. I'm currently running 6400 cl30 myself and gonna attempt 6600 soon

Where's Mr Cool Mustache ?

Lower resolution is good mostly to save on power resources. I would always rather have better frame rates.

Me watching this with DDR4 not planning to move in years: interesting

Even the ddr5 5600 cl36 I got in Oct ‘22 is good enough. I lose a few fps compared to 6000-6400. It’s fine n

the last sentence was elite imagine having 8 monitors if 16GB ram is utilized in windows ca 90% with iGPU i think for gaming you will have to think about 256GB cause it is not just the game you are running also ram usage depends on the platform

13900KS and Asus ROG Extreme still cant run above 7000 stable, 7200 works most of the time but gets random BSOD. This is on a T-force 7600 kit and yes i am only using 2 sticks.

....as someone still on ddr3, this video is important to me, honestly... uhh... yeah...

Still waiting on the UDUMB socket….😂

Also... 4:44 - a stab at SBF? :P

If only this video came out like 2 weeks ago when I bought ram for my new PC, luckily I got 6000MHz!

I still can’t figure out why my system won’t do 5600 and caps at 5200

It also depends on the board you're using why don't take ddr5 any faster than 5200😢

Memory is the last thing you should upgrade in my experience if you're talking performance. Speed that is, not amount.

I have DDR5 6400, I didn't even knew it was technically unsupported, anyways it was almost the same price as the 6000 and same timings so it made sense to get the 6400 instead of the 6000

That feeling when 8000Mhz RAM exists, but my old-ass motherboard only supports up to 2666Mhz... 😥

Here am I on DDR3 3200Mhz 32GB. I will upgrade, obviously when I get my my new CPU.

When it comes to gaming it is only importent that your system is better than your friends systems. Only better is better here

Your RAM is fast, or is it?

3:41 Why AMD drop their speed if used with 4 memory slot, while Intel is ok?

You didnt even give an awsner on what latency ram to buy as someone could now go out and buy 6000 ram with super high latency which will in a way make it pretty much the same as lower clocked ram.

thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Here I am with my laptop using DDR3 RAM

You upgrade your pc, when you "need" to. I upgrade my pc, when I NEED to. We are not the same

why do his eyes have an orange/yellow tint around them? Should he be tanned and not his eyes if he uses tanning goggles?

Why do you need to multiply by 8?

Since 3200 mhz was ddr4 sweet spot, then 6400 mhz should be sweet spot . Its exactly 2ble than ddr4 speed & not super expensive like 7000 mhz ram

My question is = Is there really a difference in ram marketed as intel vs amd when the motherboard software is responsible for setting the speed and timing. I think it is just marketing.

I have 64 GB of DDR5 6000MHz cl30 (2x32). Yesterday, I noticed post codes on my mobo. its apparently the ram... and a new kit is 230.00+tax. F*ck. Anyone know what happens if I just ignore post codes for a few months???

Is James confusing megabits and megabytes...?