You may have heard that AMD Ryzen CPUs are sensitive to memory speeds, but how much of
a performance difference can we actually expect in games with higher memory speeds?
To test this I’ve benchmarked a few games at 5 different memory speeds to show you just
how much this affects gaming, and help you decide if it’s worth buying faster memory.
The test machine I’m using has the AMD Ryzen 7 2700 CPU along with an Nvidia 1080 graphics
card, no overclocking was done with either of these components.
Most importantly I was testing with 16GB of G.Skill Sniper X memory running in dual channel,
and all games have been tested at these 5 different speeds, so let’s get into the
benchmarks and see how the memory speeds affect game performance.
Starting out with Far Cry 5 I’ve tested it using the built in benchmark, and we can
see straight away that every time the memory speed was increased both the average frame
rate and 1% low rises up.
In this test we’re seeing an 11% improvement to the average frame rates going from 2400
to 3400 speeds.
Assassin’s Creed Origins was also tested with the built in benchmark, and again the
frame rates are rising every time the memory speed increases.
The difference between the lowest speed test and highest 3400 speed was again 11%.
Rise of the Tomb Raider was again tested with the built in benchmark, and once more the
average frame rates follow a slight upwards trend as the memory speed increases.
This also results in the same 11% improvement at 3400 compared to 2400.
Ghost Recon was also tested with the built in benchmark, and the differences in this
game are a little lower, at least in terms of the averages, where 3400 speed was just
6% faster than 2400, but when it comes to the 1% lows there was a 15% improvement between
them.
Watchdogs 2 saw one of the largest increases out of all games tested, with a 21% improvement
to the 1% lows going between 2400 and 3400 speeds, and a 26% improvement to the average
frame rates between those same two speeds.
Rainbow Six Siege was tested with the built in benchmark, less of a difference here but
still an 8% improvement to average frame rates at DDR4-3400 compared to 2400 and a 10% improvement
to the 1% lows.
For the final game Ashes of the Singularity was, yet again, tested with the built in benchmark.
The differences here were also quite large, with a 22% improvement at 3400 speeds when
compared against 2400 speeds for the average frame rates, and a 19% improvement to the
1% lows.
In the games tested we can see that the difference between each speed level were only a few frames
per second in most cases, but when going from say DDR4-2400 to DDR4-3400 the differences
add up to a notable improvement, although it does of course depend on the game, and
likely even the setting level too, in all games tested I only tested at high settings.
Although there is a trend of improved performance with higher memory speeds, it’s important
to consider the price of high speed memory, as it does cost more, unfortunately improved
performance is not free.
Memory in general is quite expensive at the moment, and you’ll be paying a premium on
top of that to get higher speed memory.
It depends on the memory, but in some cases you’re looking at around $10 or $20 increases
to go up 200MHz for a 16gb kit, assuming everything else is the same, like the size and timings.
So is it worth paying the extra money for the performance improvements associated with
higher memory speeds?
I think it depends on the prices and what you can afford.
As shown there are little differences between each speed level, but when you aggregate this
from low end to high end the difference is larger, so picking somewhere in the middle
could be a good option.
Just keep in mind that money not spent on top of the line memory may be instead better
invested into a better graphics card for example, which would give you even larger improvements.
If you’re building a high end system though and have already picked out a high tier CPU
and GPU combination then yeah sure spending extra for the memory could be worth it for
you, it really depends on the system you’re building and budget.
Let me know which speed memory you’re thinking of buying for your next system down in the
comments, and don’t forget to subscribe for future tech videos like this one.