will I notice an increase in speed if I upgrade to 7 CAS Latency?

Question

So I am considering upgrading my RAM from G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB to Mushkin Enhanced Radioactive 8GB. The main differences are that the Mushkin RAM is higher quality RAM, and it has a CAS latency of 7, which is better then the CAS Latency of 9 that the G.SKILL RAM has. What I want to know is how much of an upgrade this will be, and if I will notice any change in speed. I would also like to know what CAS Latency effects as far as the computer is concerned. I realize that this really won't be that much of an upgrade, but to put it simply, I want to make sure that my computer has the highest quality components in it. Here are my system specs in case for some reason you want them:

Intel i5-3570k
EVGA GTX 660 Ti
ASRock Extreme4 Z77 Motherboard
Corsair CX600 PSU
G.SKILL Ripjaws 8GB 1600MHz RAM
COUGAR Evolution-W ATX Full Tower Case

Answer 1

It will be faster, but probably not very noticeable. If the MHz speed of the Mushkin is slower than the G Skill, it will cancel out any boost a reduced CAS latency would have. Even if they are the same speed, this would be a very very minor upgrade.

Answer 2

I agree with the first answer - you'd be much better off putting that money towards a processor upgrade if you aren't interested in adding additional RAM. You'd never notice any practical difference in a CAS latency of 7 vs. a CAS latency of 9.



That being said, if it will make you feel better knowing that you have a nicer component, then go for it :)

Answer 3

cl7 you would notice speeds in memory transfer in some games that are heavy threated or use up 4 cores



e.g dragon age games tend to be heavy on the ram and cpu as well as the graphics



however dropping from 1600mhz is considered a downgrade as youd lose 5 frames



now to keep it in balance



1600mhz latency 8



i vote 1 down from 9 for a major reason



some games perform terribly on 7



8 isnt to much of a drop and not as noticable in games that demand a longer time to travel





heres how latency works in terms of gaming



info travels faster between the cpu and ram the lower the latency this can increase frame rate or hinder it in some ways example very big games like skyrim will make use of it



as its a huge world but some games that are smaller wont like it as much if its latency 7 and may drop frame rates



hence why cl8 would be better it doesnt take as long but it wont hinder it to badly either



latency cl7-cl8 is mostly used in online gaming this is were data is transfered constantly



taking full advantage especially in crowded mmo the faster your latency the better it can process the junk of all the loggers



to both cpu and gpu



think of it also like a washing machine 9 cycles of data 3 times then 24

8 cycles of data 3 times then 24



it will grant on average 3 frames more on some games



online probly like 10 frames



this is of course with latency 8 its more suited to gaming



60 dollars free shipping



http://www.amazon.com/G-SKILL-Ripjaws-1600MHz-PC3-12800-F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM/dp/B004KY719A/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1355451995&sr=1-6&keywords=g+skill+cl8





its good for like i said very large mmos or very large games



going to cl7 some games hate it and crash or hang. cl8 is less noticable and less taxing

Answer 4

im not too sure but if higher quality components are what you want then i would save up for an i7 processor as that would be much better boost than a slight ram increase.