I just received my PNY 32GB 6400MHz CL36 RAM, which cost around $100. I'm starting to understand that CL36 isn't considered great, and I'm wondering, is this going to completely ruin my build? I'm using an AMD Ryzen 5 9600X with a TUF Gaming B850 motherboard.
3 Answers
You've got decent RAM there; don’t sweat it too much. Sure, you can get faster options for a bit less money, but your current RAM isn't a brick either. Just change the settings if you feel like experimenting with performance tweaks in the BIOS. The true performance gains really depend on your specific use case and games—most likely, you won't see much of a difference at all.
Honestly, CL36 isn't that bad. A lot of people just hype up CL30 for 6000 MHz, but tons of users get by just fine with 6400 MHz CL36. It won’t tank your gaming performance significantly. The higher latency is offset by the increased bandwidth, so you'll likely be okay. Just be cautious with EXPO profiles since they can sometimes lead to instabilities with the 9000 series CPUs.
While CL30 might be a tad faster, the difference is pretty minimal, so you shouldn't stress about it. The main concern with RAM faster than 6000 MT/s is that it can run at half the clock speed, unless you tweak some settings in the BIOS. Just make sure to check your UCLK ratio for optimal performance. If that sounds complicated, you could always set it back to 6000 MT/s for stability—it's not worth replacing your RAM over a slight difference.
Haha, yeah, I'm just trying to make sure I didn’t make a huge mistake here!