I'm currently using a single 8GB stick of DDR5 at 4800 MHz and I'm looking to upgrade my RAM. I found the G.Skill Ripjaws 2x16 DDR5 4800 MHz kit, which has a CAS latency of 38-38-38-76. I'm unsure how CAS latency works in general and whether spending $80 on this RAM is a good deal for going from 8GB to 32GB, or if I should consider other options instead.
3 Answers
Honestly, $80 seems a bit steep for just 4800 MHz RAM. You can usually find 6000 MHz kits with a CAS latency of 30 or 34 around that same price in the US. You might want to shop around for something faster as your system will benefit more from higher-speed RAM.
CAS latency is an important factor, but it’s not the whole story. Most users look for RAM with a CAS rating around 30. You should be able to find faster RAM kits with a lower CAS latency for a similar price, which would give you better performance overall.
For DDR5, try to stick to 6000 MT/s with a CAS of 30 as a baseline. Many users feel that spending less for slower RAM isn’t worth it since the performance difference is noticeable. Also, 6000 CL30 typically just works with XMP settings, no complicated tweaks needed.
I’m not in the US, so prices are higher where I live. Maybe that’s why this seems like a decent option for me.