APC Australia - September 2019

thelab » memory buyer’s guide

W

henyou’rebuildinga new

PC,sometimesthe

memorycanbealmostan

afterthought.Many

buyersdon’tlookbeyondthreekey

parameters:capacity,speedandprice.

Theseareobviouslyimportant,but

there’smoretoitthanthat.Readonas

wetakea deeperlookatsomeofthe

thingsyouneedtokeepinmindwhen

purchasingthatshinynewkitof

R AM.We’vealsogota roundupofkits

fromthebiggestnamesinthemarket.

HOWMUCHRAM

DOYOUREALLYNEED?

Thisisanageoldquestionfrequently

foundontechforums.AsDR AMprices

continuetofallin2019,16GBis

becomingthestandardamountbeing

equippedinnewsystems.Laptopsor

lowerendsystemswillbefinewith

8GBforthemostpartifyou’renot

doinganythingtoodemanding.If

you’reusingyourPCforeveryday

tasksandgaming,16GBisfine,butif

you’reonetohavebrowseropenwith

lotsoftabs,productivityappsetc,and

gameallatthesametime,andalt-tab

betweenthem,thenyoumightwantto

considermovingupto32GB.Takingita

stepfurther,ifyou’reusing

professionalappsorrunningvirtual

machines,then16GBisprobablygoing

tobea genuinelimitation.

Notethatthe32GBkitswetested

here have twice the number of memory

chips as the 16GB kits (dual sided vs

single sided) and this can lead to some

performance gains as you can see on

the benchmarks page.

Whether you go for 32GB depends on

your usage habits. 32GB is cheaper

than ever and we aren’t far away from

32GB offering a better dollar per GB

ratio. Some applications will love it, but

for the regular desktop user, it remains

overkill.

SPEED AND TIMINGS:

WHAT EFFECT ON PERFORMANCE?

The primary performance metric after

a memory kit’s speed is its CAS latency

or CL. CL ratings are something of a

misnomer as many consumers assume

that a kit with a speed and CL of

DDR4-3200 C16 is the same speed as a

kit that’s DDR3-1600 C8. While it’s true

that effective CAS latency remains the

same between the two kits, it’s just one

timing and any latency losses that

occur are offset by the overall increase

in speed.

As you can see on the benchmarks

Memory buyer’s guide

Chris Szewczyk takes a look at a range of DDR4-3200 memory kits

and breaks down the things to look out for when shopping for a new kit.

“Whether you go for 32GB depends on

your usage habits. 32GB is cheaper than

ever and we aren’t far away from 32GB

offering a better dollar per GB ratio.”