Difference between CL 4-4-4-15 and 4-5-4-15 RAM?

[spinbot]

I just noticed I have writen down two, almost identical, Ram kits to purchase for my new PC:

Ocz Platinum Xtc PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL4-5-4-15 240PIN Dimm Dual Channel Memory Kit

OCZ Platinum XTC REV.2 PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-15 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit

The later is $30 more.


For those more familiar with RAM, could you let me know what the one number variance "4" instead of "5" means and if spending another $30 is worth it?

Thanks!

[champ91]

those are the timmings for ram. the lower or "tighter" timing, the better.

for that specific number it is
RAS# to CAS# delay
This refers to the Row Address Strobe to Column Address Strobe delay time.

but out of the two I've heard that the rev. 2 is better

[ShadowVlican]

probably not worth the extra $30

i say this without knowing the overclocking potential improvement from the original to revision 2

[silentio]

Retailer I bought it from said dont bother paying more for the 4-4-4-15, as you will not see any difference.

If you're so anal about it, then may I suggest you go all out and get that G.Skill ram which is $100 more but will overclock well.

[champ91]

that slight change in timings I don't think will make a difference, but I just heard that the Rev. 2 is better, but then i heard it from a OCZ tech so he just might but pushing the more expensive product....but it also might be with compatibility

[importpsycho]

you should always try to buy newest reversion

[PennyArcade]

I doubt you'll notice any difference in performance between the two types of ram, especially since you do not know what the numbers mean.

[Aske001]

Read a few performance test reports.

In general high-performance RAM upgrades of any kind are not worth your money. At most you will see a 5% performance increase on memory-intensive tasks, which is pretty much undetectable without a stopwatch. Your dollars would be better spent on any of:
a) more memory
b) bigger and faster disk drive with a bigger cache
c) faster graphics card
d) faster CPU
e) faster motherboard

[Oversized Rooster]

In terms of performance increase, I agree that you will not see anything. Even if you measure the difference through benchmarking, we're talking about a difference of 1-3%.

However I would recommend investing this $30 in the newer revision anyway. My reasoning is that when you go to re-sell this RAM kit one day, you'll sell quicker with a later revision.

[mebiuspower]

I got the Rev2 more because of better compatibility. You only need to really worry about the first number anyway, the rest don't make much of a difference from what I understand.

[Amourek]

In terms of performance increase, I agree that you will not see anything. Even if you measure the difference through benchmarking, we're talking about a difference of 1-3%.

I doubt you'd be able measure even 0.5% difference. At least not with real-world application tests.