DDR4 Ram Overclocking Informative Guide 2023

There’s no question that Overclocking RAM is important for PC fans and gamers. You can’t get the most out of your expensive RAM unless you speed it up.

But maybe you’re wondering:

Does overclocking the ddr4 Ram modules in a PC make a big difference in how well it works?

The easiest answer to give is:

Yes, it does, and I will justify why in a bit.

You might need help understanding what overclocking is all about.

But here’s the truth:

After reading this great guide to DDR4 RAM Overclocking, completing the job will only take 5 minutes.

This tutorial will show you the easiest way to overclock your RAM DDR4 to a good speed.

I’ll also tell you if it’s worth it to overclock your RAM or not.

Be sure to check out our many other buying guides, including the Best Gaming RAM, Best RAM for Ryzen 9 3900X and Best RAM for Ryzen 7 5800X.

I know the answers to all the questions you have. So, please take a seat, relax, and let’s start.

At the end of this post, I’ll tell you what RAM Overclocking has going for it and what it has going against it.

Why Should I Overclock RAM?

RAM is now available at a variety of speeds or frequencies. But you need to get that speed with the settings that come with it.

If you test the RAM speed, you’ll see that the RAM is locked at a specific frequency. It’s using only some of that speed. To make that speed faster, you have to overclock the RAM.

Also, check out our separate post on Does Ram Brand Matter

There are many good things about speeding up RAM.

Some benefits include more FPS (Frames Per Second) in games and more stability when switching between tasks, among other things.

No matter what you do, make sure your PSU can handle overclocking.

Which is Good? RAM that is faster or more RAM?

The most common issue a person has before buying RAM. But the decision is based on a lot of different things.

If you have enough money, you should buy faster RAM. Or, you could buy a slower-rated ram with the memory I just talked about.

You only need 8 GB of RAM if you are a normal user. On the other hand, 16 GB is good for you if you do random heavy things on your computer, like many open tabs in your web browser or play hard games on your PC, etc.

Again, you can keep more RAM if you stream games online or do editing or other heavy work on your computer.

However, if you can’t afford this much ram, I’d suggest getting more ram at a slower speed.

Before overclocking RAM, make sure of two things.

One thing that is essential for you to bear in mind is that:

If you have increased the base clock of your processor to achieve a higher overclock, then your RAM will also experience a tiny increase in speed. So, if you want to improve the performance of the ram, you will need to adjust the voltage, frequency, and timings.

Go through our epic guide on DRAM Frequency

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You have two items that need to be confirmed before we can move forward.

Check the present speed of the RAM and make sure the frequency is appropriate.

Check Your Current RAM

Check how much RAM you have.

Before you can speed up RAM, you must know how fast it is.

To do this, right-click the taskbar and choose “Open Task Manager.”
Then click on the “performance” tab. There’s another tab for ram there. When you click on that, you’ll be able to see how fast the ram modules are going at the moment (RAM).

The CPU-Z app can also be used to check RAM speed.

Do check our latest post on the How to Increase RAM Speed

In the CPU-Z app, you must double the DRAM frequency to determine the RAM speed.

For example: If the app says the DRAM speed is 1600 MHz, the total RAM speed will be 3200 MHz since 1600 MHz times 2 is 3200 MHz.

Specify RAM Frequency/Speed

The hardest part of overclocking RAM is figuring out what speed to overclock it.

Generally:

All DDR4 RAM is locked at a speed of 2133 MHz.

But most RAM is sold at speeds like 2400Mhz, 2666Mhz, 3000Mhz, 3200Mhz, 4000Mhz etc.

Do you want to know what’s best?

Follow our guide to How to Tell If RAM Is Bad

You can even overclock the RAM to make it go faster than normal.

The rated speed is the highest stable speed that the RAM company has tested and approved.

The easiest way to choose the RAM speed is to choose a speed that is less than or the same as the speed listed. After saving the settings and running benchmarks or other heavy programs, you can check the other speeds by restarting the PC.

Overclocking Jargon You Should Know

There are some words you may need to become more familiar with. But you need to know this now, or your overclocking experience will be incomplete.

RAS and CAS: In Ram modules, RAS stands for Row Access Strobe, and CAS stands for Column Access Strobe.

RAS to CAS delay: The time it takes for a RAS line and a CAS to be in the same place in ram.

CAS Latency: When the CPU asks for data and when the RAM sends it.

Active to pre-charge delay: The time is taken to access the Ram. It’s also called tRAS.

RAS Pre-charge: The time it takes to turn off one RAS line and turn on the next one. It’s also called rTP.

Follow our guide to CPU Usage

DDR4 RAM Overclocking Benchmarks

Here are some tables showing how FPS works in games with different RAM speeds.

Apex Legends:

PUBG:

FORTNITE:

DOOM Eternal:

GTA V:

(For this test, my PC has an i5 8600k processor, a z370 motherboard, a GTX 1080 video card, 16GB of 3200MHz RAM, and good airflow. You can get these games from the Steam library.)

When you look at this chart, it’s easy to see that RAM speed does matter. How well you play games depends greatly on how fast your RAM is.

Check out our expert-recommended How to Choose the Right RAM for Your PC

Another thing that makes it hard for a new RAM buyer to decide is which one to get. RAM with more speed or RAM with more memory but less speed.

Remember that someone who overclocks their RAM is always a PC enthusiast who wants to get the most out of his PC.

Every PC gamer needs to be able to speed up their memory. Gamers often use software called “ram overclocking” to speed up RAM. But the ways we showed in this post are safer ways to speed up RAM.

Is RAM Overclocking Worth it?

You have already looked at the benchmarks for different types of RAM speeds in the games listed above. Higher RAM speeds will also give you better performance when browsing the web and doing other tasks that use a lot of RAM, like doing repeated calculations, rendering videos, and running multiple apps.

People often buy expensive PC parts and play games without speeding up the RAM modules. This keeps them from getting the most out of their gaming PC.

Go through our epic guide on DDR4 vs. DDR5

Normal, low-cost RAM can only be overclocked a little, in general.

Simple motherboards also need help to speed up the RAM. RAM overclocking isn’t worth it for people with systems like that.

But here’s a big surprise:

Most of the time, the high speed is why RAM costs so much. So, people who buy expensive RAM need to overclock it to use its speed.

Your gaming PC will run much better and give you a better gaming experience if the RAM speed is faster.

If you have a system that can overclock, you can be sure that overclocking your RAM will be worth it.

Ram Overclocking Problems and Solutions

Any process that speeds up the components of a PC has risks. So, you will need to be careful when you overclock your RAM.

You might find problems like these after overclocking:

Blue screen of death, PC restarts or shuts down on its own, PC won’t turn on right, etc.

Do check our latest post on the Will Any DDR3 Ram Work on PC

If you have these kinds of problems, you can be sure that the speed of your RAM is too fast for your PC.

So, you have to change the frequency using the same method again until it is safe and stable.

Note: If you don’t overclock the RAM between the default and rated speeds and set the voltages correctly, your RAM could get fried. I suggest that you don’t use too much voltage.

Advantages and Dis-Advantages of Overclock Ram

RAM overclocking has fewer great benefits than it might initially seem. So, here are some advantages and disadvantages of overclocking RAM:

Conclusion:

Some of you might be afraid to overclock your memory modules. But you have nothing to worry about. Following my guide makes it easy to speed up your memory modules.

Just watch out for the stars. I recommend going faster than that only if your cooling system is good and your power supply has enough power left.

In a hurry? Check out my new post on Which RAM Slots to Use

Set the clock speeds to the rated speed or a little bit faster. And you can set the voltage to 1.5v dram, which is completely safe. If you’re having trouble, you can set it to 1.15v, 1.25v, 1.3v, or 1.4v.

Now, here’s the deal:

You should overclock your RAM if you have a high-end gaming or workstation PC.

And I’ll tell those who like how the RAM works out of the box to keep doing what they’re doing.

But it doesn’t make sense to spend more money on RAM with a high-frequency rating if you aren’t going to overclock it.

RAM with a high-speed rating and a high price is made to be overclocked.

So, why are you still waiting? Try it out and tell us what you think.

FAQs for DDR4 Ram Overclocking