Memory speed, DDR4 2666 vs DDR4 3466

[art3mis]

Considering this mobo upgrade

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/pgDzK8/asus-rog-rampage-vi-apex-eatx-lga2066-motherboard-rog-rampage-vi-apex

to marry with a i9 7900x

HUGE variety of 16GB simms to choose from

Should I save a couple hundred 4 and go with slower DDR4 2666?  Or with this CPU will I notice any performance increase with faster RAM?

 

[Spyrogif]

Gain is here but minimal. Unlimited budget ? Go for it.

 

[malexander]

It's usually not worth it unless the price is marginally different from the slower RAM (<5%). Also, if you do buy higher speed RAM than the processor officially supports, you'll need to go into the BIOS/EFI and enable the XMP profile for the RAM in order to take advantage of the RAM. It won't usually give you the rated speed out of the box.

[lukeiamyourfather]

Get the fastest memory you can up to the limit of the memory controller on the processor. Anything faster than the limit of the memory controller on the processor is either a waste of money or only useful for overclocking without an unlocked multiplier.

https://ark.intel.com/products/123613/Intel-Core-i9-7900X-X-series-Processor-13_75M-Cache-up-to-4_30-GHz

In this specific case anything faster than DDR4-2666 is likely a waste of money. It's different for different processors.

Also don't bother with cost adding features like heat spreaders, LED lighting, and other marketing bullshit that has zero impact on performance.