I upgraded from 16GB to 32GB and found a $40 kit of TeamGroup T-Create Classic DDR4-3200 CL22 memory. I later realized that lower latency, such as CL16, is generally preferred. With an Intel Core i5-14400F and an RTX 4060 8GB, will the slower timings noticeably reduce gaming performance, or was this still a worthwhile upgrade?
4 Answers
It should work perfectly well for gaming. Faster memory can help a little more with some CPUs and games, but the improvement from CL22 to CL16 is usually modest rather than dramatic. I wouldn’t spend extra money replacing this kit unless you’re chasing every last frame.
If the slower latency really bothers you, you could resell it and put that money toward a faster kit, but you’d have to pay the difference. For a normal gaming build, the practical performance gain would probably be too small to justify doing that.
That was still a great deal. DDR4-3200 CL22 is fairly average, but 32GB is more useful than 16GB in many newer games and multitasking situations. The latency difference probably won’t make a major difference to your frame rates, especially with an RTX 4060.
It’s not high-performance RAM, but it’s certainly not a bad purchase at $40. Enable the correct memory profile in the BIOS if the kit supports one, then just use it. You’re much more likely to be limited by the graphics card than by these timings.

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