RAM (Memory) Overclocking

[PeterTaylor]

I am overclocking my system and I have just come to the RAM.

I can run my RAM at:

1333mhz @ CL9-9-9 (Stock)

1866mhz @ CL9-11-9 (Built in OC profile #1)

2400mhz @ CL11-11-11 (Current)

I have not started tightening the timings but I wanted to know what is best for KSP.

Higher speed or lower latency in the RAM?

RAM is KHX18C9T2K2_8X

Thanks

Peter

[Xetalim]

You could overclock your RAM for KSP, but that would not make that much sense as the maximum amount of RAM KSP can use is 4 gigh.

[Murph]

You could overclock your RAM for KSP, but that would not make that much sense as the maximum amount of RAM KSP can use is 4 gigh.

Overclocking has absolutely nothing to do with the 4Gb limit.

For the OP, the best thing is probably to just experiment and see what happens, and to remember that if it starts getting glitchy, it could well be due to components being pushed too hard.

[Xetalim]

Overclocking has absolutely nothing to do with the 4Gb limit.

I meant that overclocking RAM for KSP does not make sense, for other things it indeed does make sense.

[PeterTaylor]

Thanks Murph,

I'll just keep playing with KSP and RAM and see what happens.

I have been running 2400mhz for a few weeks and had no issues, but I have not built anything huge that could stress the system yet.

[nine_iron]

I pretty much stick to a rule of OCing for benchmarking most things only. My CPU is at 3.8 atm tho but everything else is untouched.

I have tried to OC my graphics card but I suck at it and I get artifacts everywhere in games, even if it benchmarks fine.

[vidboi]

I meant that overclocking RAM for KSP does not make sense, for other things it indeed does make sense.

No, you still don't quite understand. Overclocking RAM doesn't increase the amount of memory it has (that's entirely hardware dependent) but increases the speed at which the memory can be accessed. I'd expect that running at a higher frequency would give the best results still, but I don't expect it to have much of an effect on overall performance due to the main limit being processing power.

[Nao]

On my old PC (DDR2) i did some Ram testing in regards to KSP and Ram timings. Since low timings give quite big performance increase for Dwarf Fortress, (even to a point where DDR2 is faster than DDR3 due to lower innate timings) I thought it could help with KSP too.

After several tests one thing noted was that lowering the timings (and frequency a little to keep it stable) did not give any noticeable performance changes. So in your case 2,4 GHz CL11 seems pretty good.

Still i didn't see anybody post actual results of changing timings on modern ram for KSP so you can be the first! Go forth and do science!

[_Aramchek_]

I meant that overclocking RAM for KSP does not make sense, for other things it indeed does make sense.

Which is simply not true AND not how ram works.

I'm guessing from the little bit of evidence I have seen, that better memory throughput will make a difference in this game.

[Umlüx]

i too can't see how oc'ing your RAM would improve performance in KSP...

the bottlenecks in KSP are the 4gig memory limit if you use many mods and of course CPU power for the physics calculations.

[_Aramchek_]

i too can't see how oc'ing your RAM would improve performance in KSP...

the bottlenecks in KSP are the 4gig memory limit if you use many mods and of course CPU power for the physics calculations.

.........

..........

Do you understand how memory bandwidth affects cpu performance?

I'm guessing "no" if you don't understand how a memory oc could affect the game......

And this people, is why I have tried to quash the misconceptions people on this forum have about "ram".

[vetrox]

.........

..........

Do you understand how memory bandwidth affects cpu performance?

I'm guessing "no" if you don't understand how a memory oc could affect the game......

And this people, is why I have tried to quash the misconceptions people on this forum have about "ram".

Better get dat faster ram for that 1 extra fps

[PeterTaylor]

I did some tests and have come up with the following data.

Tests:

3 ships launched twice each with fraps capturing 60 seconds for the flight with no user input.

Total of 12 data points taken, 6 data points per RAM setting test.

RAM settings used during the

1600mhz @ 9-9-9

2400mhz @ 11-13-13

Results (FPS):

RAM , Avg - , Min - , Max

1600, 31.43 , 19.83 , 45.17

2400, 32.88 , 23.33 , 49.00

Diff, 01.45 , 03.50 , 03.83

Diff, 04.61%, 17.64%, 08.49%

So it looks like the result is KSP benefits more from faster RAM than Latency.

[_Aramchek_]

Better get dat faster ram for that 1 extra fps

Mocking free extra performance is kind of weird, don't you think?

Your comment also displays ignorance in the way/and by how much added memory bandwidth might help this particular game.

Looking at the tests done on the forum thread started by Dmagic, memory bandwidth certainly seems to have a decent effect on launching, and to extrapolate, flying large part count ships.

You know those things people always want to be building and flying?

[Nuke]

No, you still don't quite understand. Overclocking RAM doesn't increase the amount of memory it has (that's entirely hardware dependent) but increases the speed at which the memory can be accessed. I'd expect that running at a higher frequency would give the best results still, but I don't expect it to have much of an effect on overall performance due to the main limit being processing power.

when you consider that your cpu has to wait hundreds of cycles to get data out of ram, then it starts making sense. big thing to get memory latency down. this reduces the number of cycles needed to talk to the ram so the cpu spends less time waiting on data. there are several clever tricks cpu architecture designers and compilers and programmers can do to speed things up. things like using vectors extensively (its faster to load a block than a single value), predicting what the data will be (by running the op on ever possible value so its result is ready when you get the actual value), optimizing machine code to load data long before operating on it. i actually had a good source for this, but its 404. meh.

warning very technical and aimed at programmers but covers complexities of memory access.

that said its a slight improvement. when i build a new computer i will spend a day or two just tweaking memory settings to get every scrap of performance out of my ram as possible. but if you do this on an older machine, dont expect a lot.

Edited December 28, 2013 by Nuke