Corsair Vengeance 8GB 1866MHz C9 Review

[AMDforME]

As discussed here in other threads and in extensive software bench testing at PC hardware review sites, there is no tangible gains with DDR3 RAM running above ~1600 MHz. on typical desktop PCs other than those with APUs where the GPU section can use the added bandwidth.

It's fun to play to see what your RAM will do but unfortunately there isn't any significant system gains even with overclocked CPUs other than in RAM benches which exaggerate the potential gains. If 1600 MHz. RAM were a system bottleneck, then increase RAM frequencies would show a significant gain as they did with DDR/DDR2 but not with the added bandwidth and frequency of DDR3.

Tighter timings make even less change than frequency increases with DDR3. When you increase the frequency, the real time for one cycle becomes less so when you lower the timing one cycle you've made a smaller change in real time than with slower RAM like DDR/DDR2. Unfortunately there just isn't anything of substance to be gained by using higher frequency than 1600 RAM on typical desktop PCs be they Intel or AMD powered, other than the entertainment factor of tweaking it to see what it will do.

People should buy what makes them happy but if you're buying faster than 1600 MHz. DDR3 RAM expecting to see a visible improvement in system performance, you will be surprised to find it simply does not happen. The RAM makers don't want you to know this but all you need to do is run your own test with real applications and see with your own eyes. Eventually we'll all be using APUs and then there should be a significant advantage to using faster RAM up to a point at least.