→ How to know the speed of my ram memory [step by step]?

We continue with our small hardware tutorials, and this time we are going to learn how to know the speed of my RAM. Despite the fact that the speed in the components of a PC is something to take into account, precisely in RAM memory it is something so critical. Other elements such as quantity and channel configuration are also important when it comes to knowing the characteristics of our RAM.

Index of contents

What influences the speed of RAM

We all know the importance of the amount of RAM memory, and how it affects the performance of our equipment. For those who do not know, RAM is a type of random access memory that is responsible for temporarily storing all the processes and programs that are running in the operating system.

This allows us to allow the processor to access the instructions that must be executed at every moment more quickly. If there was no RAM, then the CPU should take the data directly from the hard drive, imagine the huge bottleneck that we enter our computer.

We should also know that more RAM does not make us have a faster computer, let's understand it, we mean more free memory. If for example, we have 8 GB and we still have 3 GB unused, although we introduce another 8 GB, these will be free, and we will not experience speed improvements.

Speed ​​is something different, although we must know certain nuances in terms of speed management. The faster the RAM memory, the faster it can handle the data, both to "catch" and "drop" it in the CPU. We are not really talking about significant improvements between for example a 2133 MHz RAM and a 4000 MHz RAM, in most cases, but something is always noticeable. Let's talk about those nuances that we have discussed.

XMP profile, overclocking and the limit of our motherboard and CPU

If we have ever seen the specifications of a motherboard, we will see that it sets a limit in terms of frequency of RAM. There are boards that support speeds of up to 4500 MHz of RAM. If we also see the specifications of our processor, we will see that it also offers us a limitation in terms of speed of RAM. In such a case, processors typically have a 2666 MHz limit in their specifications.

At this point we could say why do we want a 4000 MHz RAM if the CPU only supports 2666? This limit is not entirely correct, since if we install a 4000 MHz on a board that supports them, we are really going to notice performance improvements. We can understand this speed as an extra addition to the CPU data exchange, the more speed we have, the more data will be handled in each process cycle.

Here comes into play the so-called XMP (Intel Extreme Performance Memory) profile. What this system does is implement some operating profiles of the extra RAM memory modules in addition to the typical one that will come by default, which would be the JEDEC 2133 MHz profile. The manufacturer of the RAM memory introduces its own profiles in memory, OC profiles (overcloking) in which the memory can be faster and in a secure way, tested by the manufacturer. In this way, we will have that extra speed that the motherboard and the chipset of our motherboard supports. All this can be managed from the BIOS in the chipset equipment that allow overclocking.

We see that, scaling from 2133 MHz to 4000 MHz, we do not experience many improvements in general, if we consider that the speed has increased to double. In some titles it is more remarkable.

Effective frequency VS REAL frequency

When looking at the frequency of a RAM memory we are going to skip quite important doubts. Doubts about why we get a certain value if we are supposed to get a higher one. It is then when we speak of effective frequency, and real frequency.

• Actual frequency: this will be the frequency at which the RAM memory clock actually works. We will find this measure with the profile name JEDEC, or DRAM frequency. Effective frequency: the current RAM memories are DDR which stands for (Double Data Rate). This means that it sends data twice for each clock cycle, and that is why the effective frequency will be twice that of the JEDEC profile. If we had for example a JEDEC profile of 1066 MHz of real frequency, we would have an effective frequency of 2133 MHz.

How to know the speed of my RAM

After this sheet of theory, which we consider interesting, we will then see what speed our RAM has. As always we will have several possibilities at our disposal:

• Physically, looking at the specifications of the memory module. Through software, from our operating system.

Identify RAM speed on the label

To do this, obviously we will have to physically look at the RAM memory module of our computer. This method will be useful when we have several modules installed, and these are different. It does not happen often, but memory applications are sometimes seen by inexperienced users who do not know these parameters.

Every RAM memory module has product information on its package or on its chips. Take for example a G.Skill Trident Z Royal.

On its label we see the information of: DDR4-3200 CL… Look how simple, the number behind DDR4 represents the frequency, and therefore the effective speed of RAM. How do we know what this number is? Well knowing the frequency range available in the market, which are almost always 4 digits. For DDR4 memories these figures are: 2133, 2200, 2400, 2600, 2666, 2800, 2933, 3000, 3100, 3200, 3300, 3333, 3400, 3466, 3600, 3733, 3866, 4000, 4133, 4200, 4266, 4400, 4500, 4600 and 4800 MHz. Almost nothing.

In the rest of the brands, we will have exactly the same figures, less or more of them, but the same values. Note that this information is about the effective frequency of RAM.

Identify RAM speed from Windows

If we are lazy to disassemble our PC and look at the modules physically, what we will have to do is install a small software on our computer to know their speed.

A program that is used a lot to look at some CPU parameters is precisely CPU-Z, and in it we can find everything we need about the speed of our RAM. We are going to download it from its official page and install it in a simple way.

Let's go to the " memory " tab. There we will find a section that says " DRAM Frequency ", in which the real frequency of the RAM memory is shown. "NB Frequency" is the real-time speed of the memory at each moment, so we should not be confused.

But if we want to know the effective speed, we will have to go to the " SPD " section. In the left side area, we will have available all the DIMM slots on our board, choosing each one of them, we will be shown the information related to the modules installed on it.

In our case, the memories are installed in slots 2 and 4 to activate the Dual Channel. Let's see what is shown to us.

In the lower area we have information about the JEDEC profiles of our modules. We will see that there are several of them, until reaching the maximum of 1066 MHz. With this we could already know the effective speed, which would be 2 X 1066 = 2132 MHz.

If we continue to the top, we will see a section of " Max Bandwidth " in which the effective speed is shown. Which effectively is 2133 MHz.

Conclusion on the speed of RAM

Knowing the speed of my RAM allows us to know one of the aspects that mark the performance of our PC. While it is true that increasing speed does not significantly increase FPS for example, as we have already seen in the graphs shown above.

That is why the parameters of memory quantity, its architecture (DDR4) and the configuration in Dual Channel, are going to be very important aspects when it comes to improving performance.

Visit our guide to the best RAM memory on the market, to find out what manufacturers offer us.

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments or, if applicable, post them on our hardware forum where a whole community ready to help.