Memory bandwidth / cost
Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 5:27 am
I know you guys have mentioned more than once that system memory bandwidth is a very important factor in predicting performance of NV.
A new PC build is in the back of my mind and I wanted to know if the expensive high-end motherboards (the ones with quad-channel memory) are worth paying for over regular dual channel mainstream boards (with correspondingly lower cost processors).
It's a matter of balance no doubt - avoiding a situation where the CPU is data-starved due to inadequate memory bandwidth, but also not wasting money on e.g. high speed quad channel RAM if 2133MHz dual channel RAM will provide as much bandwidth as a good quad core Intel CPU can use.
So ...
A) can you give me a clue about how much NV would make use of a drastic increase in memory bandwidth ? I'm thinking perhaps an Intel 3820 (Sandy Bridge Extreme) with a socket 2011 motherboard and four DDR3 sticks.
I considered a fast GPU as an alternative but they don't hold their resell value particularly well over time.
B) how much difference does memory latency/timings have on NV performance ? Worth paying extra for RAM with better timings ?
A new PC build is in the back of my mind and I wanted to know if the expensive high-end motherboards (the ones with quad-channel memory) are worth paying for over regular dual channel mainstream boards (with correspondingly lower cost processors).
It's a matter of balance no doubt - avoiding a situation where the CPU is data-starved due to inadequate memory bandwidth, but also not wasting money on e.g. high speed quad channel RAM if 2133MHz dual channel RAM will provide as much bandwidth as a good quad core Intel CPU can use.
So ...
A) can you give me a clue about how much NV would make use of a drastic increase in memory bandwidth ? I'm thinking perhaps an Intel 3820 (Sandy Bridge Extreme) with a socket 2011 motherboard and four DDR3 sticks.
I considered a fast GPU as an alternative but they don't hold their resell value particularly well over time.
B) how much difference does memory latency/timings have on NV performance ? Worth paying extra for RAM with better timings ?