At 1080p though the results with the slowest RAM are interesting. 1080p gaming with a memory speed of DDR4-2400 appears to show a significant bottleneck. If you’ve got a 120Hz+ monitor, definitely. Before we talk about RAM speeds, let’s look at what the RAM is used for. RAM takes data from the hard drive, including data for programs and games, and it holds the data whilst you use those programs or games. This is because RAM memory is so much faster than your standard hard drive, or even an SSD.

We’re often asked questions about RAM speed, what we recommend, and how important it is for certain applications like gaming. The answer is a little more complicated than simply higher number = better. So what is it exactly and how important is RAM speed? Read on to learn more.

What is RAM speed?

To start, RAM speed is a bit of a misnomer, so let’s first clarify some terms. How fast your system RAM performs is actually dependent on several factors which include the frequency, bandwidth, total number of channels, quantity, dual data rate (DDR), latency, and even the speed/gen of your processor. When discussing “RAM speed” most users are actually referring to the frequency of the RAM – the number of commands it can process per second – so for the sake of this discussion, we’ll do the same. RAM frequency is measured in MHz and usually immediately follows the DDR version in the RAM spec. For example, 8GB DDR4-2400 RAM is running at a frequency of 2400MHz. Frequencies of RAM typically range from 800MHz in older DDR2 modules up to 4200MHz in DDR4. Current gen DDR4 modules start at 2133MHz.

What’s important to remember here is that system RAM is not handling command processes like the CPU does, so while a higher CPU frequency will almost always mean better PC performance, the same may not be the case for high frequency RAM. This is why though higher frequency RAM is technically faster, that additional speed often does not translate into better actual real world performance.

How Important is RAM speed for gaming?

Now that we’ve established that higher frequency RAM does not necessarily impact overall system performance, what impact does it have on gaming benchmarks and/or frame rates? Well, from what we’ve been able to find, very little. If you go back to a previous post on VRAM, you’ll recall that when using a discrete graphics card, it’s the video RAM – both quantity and speed – that directly impacts gaming performance. In many instances, system RAM will largely not be used when gaming. So in addition to the reasons mentioned earlier, this is another reason why RAM frequency has only the very smallest impact on gaming performance specifically, as the chart below illustrates.

What downsides are there to using faster RAM?

So the higher frequencies of some RAM are a flashy spec, and while they may not help the performance of most applications, it certainly won’t hurt, right? Well…because higher frequency RAM is often overclocked to reach those insane numbers, it may actually result in RAM related instability like crashes and freezes. Though this is not always the case, it’s always been our opinion that promoting system instability for the sake of a little extra performance, especially given how little extra performance you’ll actually see, is counterproductive. This is why we currently offer DDR4-2400 ECC and DDR4-2666 non-ECC RAM on most systems rather than higher speeds.

Note: If you’d like to learn more about RAM speed and other factors impacting RAM performance, check out this detailed article.

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Summary :

RAM speed impacts how fast our computer can run. However, not many people know how to check RAM speed. Do you know how to check RAM speed Windows 10? This post from MiniTool will show you two different methods to check RAM speed on Windows 10.

RAM is short for Random Access Memory. It is the physical working memory used by your PC to temporarily stores computer data. Your PC stores all open applications, files, and other data are stored in RAM for quick access.

The more RAM you have installed, the more programs you can run at the same time. And the RAM speed is vital too. RAM speed is measured in megahertz (MHz). The faster RAM is, the faster computers can store and retrieve the data stored in local memory.

Many people know how to check How Much RAM Do I Have Windows 10 but don't know how to find out the RAM speed on Windows 10.

How to check my RAM speed Windows 10? If you don't know, don't worry. The following contents will show you detailed steps to check RAM speed on Windows 10.

Ram Speed Vs Latency

Check RAM Speed via Command Prompt

Command Prompt, also known as CMD, is a command-line interpreter available in Windows operating systems. It can help users solve various Windows issues via commands. And many users don't know that they can check RAM speed via Command Prompt.

The command to check RAM speed is very simple. If you don't know how to check RAM speed via Command Prompt, you can try the following steps.

Step 1. Type cmd in the Windows 10 Cortana search box and then click the best match Command Prompt and hit Enter.

Step 2. Type the following command into the Command Prompt window and hit Enter. This is to check your RAM chip's speed.

wmic memorychip get speed

Step 3. When the command is executed successfully, you can get your ram speed test result.

You may be interested in this post: 10 Command Prompt Tricks that Every Windows User Should Know

Check RAM Speed via Task Manager

You can check the RAM speed via Task Manager. The Task Manager will show you a lot of useful information about the CPU, RAM and disk usage information. If you don't know how to check RAM speed via Task Manger, you can follow the steps below:

Step 1. Open Task Manager on Windows 10. You can right-click your taskbar and select Task Manager to open it.

Ram Speed Check

Step 2. Switch to the Performance tab and select Memory in the left pane.

Step 3. From here, you can see the total amount of RAM that you have installed. The Task Manager also tells you speed, slot used, form factor and so on. So you can check the RAM speed listed here is 1600 MHz.

Note that the Task Manager on Windows 7 doesn’t show you this useful information. If you want to check the total amount of RAM on Windows 7, you can go to Control Panel > System and Security > System page. If you want to check the RAM speed on Windows 7, it is recommended to download and install the RAM speed test utility CPU-Z.

Besides, if you have some spare slots on your PC, you can install more RAM on the computer. If you want to install or upgrade RAM on your PC, here is a post for your reference:

To obtain better performance, a great number of users are ready to upgrade their RAM. This post will walk you trough a full guide to install RAM in PC.

Ram Speed Tester

Conclusion

Ram Speed For Gaming

Now you should know how to check RAM speed on Windows 10. Does this post help you? Do you have better solutions? We are glad to have you share it with us.