You’re probably familiar with the saying: “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” This adage (credited to Mark Twain) can also be applied to most technology. It’s not about the outward appearance of your computer or its physical size, it’s about how much punch it packs under the hood.
The problem is when the average consumer goes out shopping for memory or a storage device, s/he primarily looks at the capacity or size without considering the speed (read/write). Having a bunch of space is great but waiting around for hours for something to load or write to your hard drive isn’t ideal. Life is short.
The only speed most people worry about is processor speed but maybe they should be worried about RAM speed too. But how do you actually check RAM speed when the details aren’t made readily available under Windows’ basic system information?
How Fast Is Your RAM?
Rams, as in male bighorn sheep, can charge and run up to a top speed of 64 km/h (40 mph). While the fastest human can run up to a top speed of around 45 km/h (27.8mph – Usain Bolt). So in a situation where you’re in a field and you’re faced with a giant angry ram, trust me, speed will matter. But does the speed of your computer’s random access memory modules matter?
In this guide, we’ll not only explore how you can figure out the speed of your RAM but we’ll also look into if it matters and how it may influence your gaming.
What is RAM?
Have you ever wondered why RAM is even necessary? Why doesn’t your computer just use your hard-drive? Well, if we relate computing to human cognition, RAM can be compared to working or short-term memory. RAM stands for Random Access Memory and it influences the limit at which your computer can multitask.
It’s the same with working memory. In terms of human cognition, true multitasking is actually a myth. Your brain isn’t splitting attention between multiple tasks, instead, it’s processing them back and forth or one by one at quick succession.
It’s a little different from computing. It is closer to true multitasking than human cognition is. Basically, RAM dictates how many applications your system can have running at any given time or simply how many tabs and processes Chrome can have running.
So the more RAM you have, the more processes and programs you can run. This is why the RAM size is important. If you want a more extensive guide that will show you why the size and type are important, visit our guide on what RAM does for gaming.
But is speed as important? And how do you actually check your RAM speed? Well, first of all, we need to understand how RAM Speed is measured and quantified.
How is RAM Speed Measured?
When shopping for a RAM kit to go into your gaming PC, the first figure you’ll notice is the size of the RAM, which these days is in gigabytes. Since the most popular type of RAM is double data rate synchronous dynamic RAM (DDR SDRAM), you’ll probably notice the DDR version too.
Speaking of which, if you find that you’re still stuck on DDR2, it might be a good time to upgrade. We have two awesome guides on the best DDR3 RAM and best DDR4 RAM.
Another figure you’re most likely to come across is the number of MHz the RAM has. Often this figure is erroneously assigned to the speed of the RAM when in truth it’s only part of the equation. What you also have to look out for is the Column Access Strobe (CAS) Latency or CL. So why are both figures important?
Frequency (MHz)
Frequency refers to bandwidth, which is the amount of data that can be transferred to and from the module at any given time. It’s also known as clock cycles. As you may know, it’s measured in hertz which relates to how many cycles per second the RAM completes.
For instance, if the RAM’s frequency is graded at 3600 MHz, this means it can complete 3.6 billion cycles per second (mega transfers). Theoretically, the higher the frequency, the more data can be transferred per second and thus the faster data can be written and read from the stick. Unfortunately, as I’ve mentioned before, this isn’t the only figure that dictates the RAM’s speed.
CAS Latency (CL) – Memory Timings
The CL refers to how quickly the RAM can respond to commands and requests issued to it. In SDRAM, the delay between reception and response is usually specified in clock cycles. It’s arguably the most important figure in determining memory timing. It’s usually written as CLn, with ‘n’ representing the numeric value of the latency e.g. CL16.
Sometimes a manufacturer won’t make the CL obvious. Instead, they’ll use four figures to denote the memory timing e.g. 16-16-16-35. The first figure in the parameter represents the CAS latency. The second figure represents the row address to column address delay (TRCD). This relates to the number of clock cycles needed between the opening of a row of memory and reading the columns in it.
The third parameter represents row precharge (TRP) time which refers to the minimum amount of clock cycles between sending out a precharge request and moving on to the next row. The fourth parameter represents row active time (TRAS) which refers to the minimum number of clock cycles between an active row command and issuing the per-charge command.
Sometimes you may encounter five parameters with the fifth one representing the command rate. These figures can also be increased (not decreased).
To simplify things, in this guide we’ll be focusing our attention on the CL. Both the frequency (mega transfer rate) and CAS latency are important in determining the speed of your RAM. Having a latency too high can create a bottleneck effect and stifle the speed of your RAM, no matter how high the frequency is.
What this means is that RAM with low mega transfer rates but fast memory timings can actually outperform RAM with high mega transfer rates but slow memory timings.
Often, with higher frequency RAM, the latency is sacrificed. However, RAM with higher latency tends to give you a drop in frequency. So you need to strike a balance.
How to Find Your RAM Frequency
Now that we’ve established what determines RAM speed, let’s find out how we can find these figures without removing the RAM or trying to find the specs on the internet. In this section, we’ll be focusing on finding your RAM frequency.
How to Find RAM Frequency Using Command Prompt (Windows)
The best way to find detailed information about Windows hardware is through the Windows Management Instrumentation Command (WMIC). The following steps will show you how you can use the command to find your RAM’s frequency (mega transfer rate) while it’s still installed on your computer.
- Run command prompt
*Note: The best way to do this is by pressing the Win+R keys on your keyboard to open the Run dialog. Once it’s opened, type ‘CMD’ in the text box.
- In the command prompt window, type in ‘wmic MemoryChip get Capacity, MemoryType, Speed, Tag’ and then hit enter.
The Speed property is what you’re looking for. If you want more details, you can use this command to fetch all the available details for your installed RAM: wmic MemoryChip get /format:list
It will also give you the full list of properties you can use with this command.
How to Find RAM Frequency Using Windows PowerShell
If you no longer use command prompt or prefer to use Windows PowerShell then the following steps are for you:
- Run Windows PowerShell.
The easiest way to accomplish this is by opening the run menu (Win+R) and then typing ‘powershell’ into the text field. - Once PowerShell window opens and loads, type this command into it: Get-WmiObject win32_physicalmemory | Format-Table Capacity, MemoryType, Speed, Tag -autosize
*Note: You can also use the same command we used to get info through command prompt (wmic MemoryChip get…).
How to Check RAM Frequency in Linux
Not all of us are Windows users. Windows lost a lot of favour when it released Windows 8 and 10. A great alternative OS for Personal Computers is Linux. There are so many great distros to choose from. But how do you check RAM speed/frequency? The best way to do this is by using the biosdecode command-line utility. With the following steps, I’ll show you how.
- Open a terminal or console window. Alternatively, you could log in using SSH
- Once you have the terminal window open, type ‘sudo dmidecode –type 1’
*Note: Linux might request your password before it’s able to run the command.
- Scan the list of results to find the speed (frequency) for each RAM module you have installed
Alternatively, if you don’t feel like sifting through all that info manually, you can also just grep the speed using this command: dmidecode –type 17 | grep -i speed
*For Macs, you can find the frequency (speed) under the Memory section of the System Information.
How to Find Your RAM CAS Latency
Finding your RAM’s frequency is only one part of the equation. In order to calculate your RAM’s true speed, you need to find the CAS latency as well. This is a little trickier. You can find the latency and other timing information under your BIOS settings. You can even adjust them.
However, you may not feel comfortable with tinkering with your computer that way. What if something goes wrong? In this section, I’ll show you how you can find the CAS latency without going into your BIOS settings.
How to Find CAS Latency on Windows
The easiest way to do this is by downloading and installing CPU-Z. CPU-Z is a completely free tool that pools information about your computer’s hardware.
- After you’ve downloaded and installed CPU-Z, run it
- Once it’s up and running, click on the SPD tab
Under this tab, you should be able to see the various speed and timing information for your RAM modules. You can switch between which module you want info for by using the drop-down list under the Memory Slot Selection section.
CAS Latency can be found under the Timings section. Use the JEDEC #7 column which will give you the maximum CAS Latency. You can also note down the frequency; this also should give you a more accurate reading.
If you’re not a fan of CPU-Z, you could try Rainmeter or Speedfan. They’re both worthy alternatives.
How to Find CAS Latency on Linux
With Linux, the best way to check your latency is by using i2c-tools. You can read more about them on the linked Richud.com wiki page. Once you’ve installed the i2c-tools, you need to run this command: sudo modprobe eeprom decode-dimms.
Alternatively, you can use this command out-of-the-box to find your total RAM speed in nano-seconds: lshw -C memory | grep clock
How to Calculate Your RAM’s True Speed
So now that you have the frequency and latency, how do you actually find your RAM’s true speed? Another factor to consider is your RAM’s type. These days most people are running DDR (Double Date Rate) SDRAM on their PCs. With DDR5 being the latest.
DDR basically means that the RAM transfers data at both ends of the clock cycle. So it essentially transfers data twice in a single cycle.
Our formula looks like this: (CL x (Cycle ÷ (frequency ÷ data rate))) = Total Latency (Nanoseconds)
So if my frequency is 800 MHz and my CL is 11, my equation will look like this:
(11 x (1 ÷ (800,000,000÷ 2))) = 0.0000000275 = 27.5 nanoseconds
So this will give us the total latency which is ultimately the delay in nanoseconds between cycles. This is a better representation of your RAM’s speed than frequency is.
Does RAM Speed Really Matter?
If you’re shopping for RAM purely based on frequency/mega transfer rate, you need to remember that with higher frequencies you get higher latency. Which means you aren’t really benefiting from higher transfer speeds. Most manufacturers use this value to try to trick you into buying more expensive RAM. Your module size matters more than the frequency. Never pay extra for RAM kits with higher frequencies.
If you’re gaming on a PC with a dedicated graphics card with its own memory, then the speed of your RAM isn’t really going to affect your computer’s gaming performance in a noticeable way – whether we’re using the total latency or not.
It’s only when we look at systems with integrated graphics where we might see a more apparent difference. Faster RAM may also provide you with a more stable experience if you plan on overclocking. Just like your CPU and GPU, your RAM can be overclocked.
But if you just plan on gaming, shopping for RAM based on speed isn’t worth the extra bucks you spend. If you really want to learn how to improve your gaming experience, check out our guide on how to boost gaming PC performance.
Conclusion
While RAM speed isn’t very important for gaming, if you do processor-intensive work on your computer, then it may count. Either way, whether you’re reading this guide for practical or educational reasons, by the end of it, I hope you know how to check your RAM’s speed as well some of the nuances that go into checking and calculating RAM speed.
If you’re looking for a guide to help you shop for RAM, why not check out our guide on . As always, I hope you’ve found this guide to be helpful, thank you for reading.