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Overclocking RAM For More FPS

Oct 2023
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RAM, more commonly referred to as memory (and sometimes DRAM), can often be overlooked when buying or building a PC. Most game specifications will recommend a certain minimum amount of RAM capacity, but do not mention anything about memory performance. The ability to overclock RAM opens the door to maximizing the potential power of a computer, and faster memory speeds with lower latencies have a direct impact on some games and applications.

For this experiment we wanted to demonstrate how overclocking RAM could increase FPS (Frames Per Second), a critical measurement in the smoothness and responsiveness of motion in games. While graphics cards deservedly tend to get all the attention for gaming, it’s important to remember that RAM is one of the fastest components within a PC and plays a critical role between the processor and storage (HDD/SSD). Some games and applications are more memory- and processor-bound than GPU.

Kingston FURY Renegade DDR5 RGB modules installed in a white case, emitting a yellow-red gradient of light.

Our benchmark focused on the latest memory technology for AMD and Intel platforms, DDR5. Since it launched in 2021, DDR5 has had one of the fastest performance gains year-over-year of arguably any memory technology in the past 50 years. Debuting at 4800MT/s CL40 for JEDEC industry standard speed and timings, in just one year it jumped to 5600MT/s CL46. (Sidenote, CL stands for CAS Latency, which is one of many timings or wait states between the processor and memory). By comparison, DDR4 took nearly four years to scale up by 800MT/s. But gamers don’t use standard speeds and timings, they tap into the hidden potential of their system by overclocking the RAM far beyond spec.

Kingston FURY is our line of overclockable RAM solutions. Note that if you selected ValueRAM or one of Kingston’s other standard memory product lines, those are not overclockable. We discussed in previous articles the overclocking basics, and how to choose the right components for your performance-tuned system. If overclocking is new to you, check out our YouTube series that explains the process and benefits.

For our test platform, we used the following components:

  • CPU: Intel Core i7 13700K
  • Motherboard: MSI Z790 MPG Carbon WIFI
  • Graphics: ASUS TUF RTX 3070
  • Storage: Kingston FURY Renegade 1TB SSD

For memory, we installed a 32GB dual channel kit for each run, consisting of two 16GB 1R (Single Rank) DIMMs, at various speeds, latencies, and voltages to see how FPS performance was affected. Why 32GB, you may ask? 32GB (2x 16GB) kits are the sweet spot for DDR5 as of writing this article, in terms of performance. 64GB (2x 32GB) 2R (Dual Rank) kits are more limited by chipsets on how fast they can go, but still a great option up to certain speeds. Now theoretically you could also install four 8GB DIMMs for the same target capacity, and many builders opt to do this for aesthetics with the RGB lighting covering all memory sockets. But you should note that installing four DIMMs on DDR5 motherboards will severely limit overclock potential. This is also referred to as 2DPC (two DIMMs per Channel), which puts additional data loads on the memory controller, which then toggles memory speed down to compensate.

Here are the memory kits we used:

Product linePart numberSpeed / Timings
Kingston FURY Renegade KF572C38RSAK2-32 DDR5-7200 CL38-44-44
Kingston FURY Renegade KF572C38RSAK2-32 DDR5-6800 CL36-42-42
Kingston FURY Renegade KF572C38RSAK2-32 DDR5-6400 CL32-39-39
Kingston FURY Beast KF560C40BBAK2-32 DDR5-6000 CL40-40-40
Kingston FURY Beast KF560C40BBAK2-32 DDR5-5600 CL40-40-40
Kingston FURY Beast KF560C40BBAK2-32 DDR5-4800 CL40-39-39


For the games, we ran:

Rainbow Six Siege Cyberpunk 2077 Red Dead Redemption 2 F1 2020
Arma 3 Horizon Zero Dawn APEX Legends Ashes of the Singularity

These were run at 1080p and under high settings for a level playing field, as not all users will have 4K capable monitors. For most of the titles our benchmarks reflect three scores: maximum FPS (red bar), average FPS (gray bar), and minimum FPS (blue bar). We used a combination of in-game benchmarks and overlays to measure FPS.

Rainbow Six Siege is an excellent choice as a first person-shooter e-sport title, where high frame rates are critical. Our tests showed incremental improvement as memory speed increased, with a marked jump as memory went from 6800MT/s to 7200MT/s.

A bar graph for Rainbow Six Siege maximum FPS (red bar), average FPS (blue bar) and minimum FPS (gray bar) with 2 different Kingston FURY 32GB DDR5 memory kits at 3 CL settings each.

For Cyberpunk 2077, we noted only slight improvements across all speed increases. 7200MT/s saw slightly lower minimum FPS than the rest of the lineup, but no notable difference at maximum FPS, resulting in a marginal average.

A bar graph for Cyberpunk 2077 maximum FPS (red bar), average FPS (blue bar) and minimum FPS (gray bar) with 2 different Kingston FURY 32GB DDR5 memory kits at 3 CL settings each.

Red Dead Redemption 2 showed a significant range between minimum and maximum FPS, and as we increased memory speed, we only observed a two point increase in the average FPS.

A bar graph for Red Dead Redemption 2 maximum FPS (red bar), average FPS (blue bar) and minimum FPS (gray bar) with 2 different Kingston FURY 32GB DDR5 memory kits at 3 CL settings each.

F1 2020 is a racing simulator based on the professional racing series Formula One. All speeds ran at an average FPS of 149 and a maximum of 150. The minimum frame rate did increase as speed increased showing 7200MT/s with a 6 FPS differential compared to 4800MT/s at a 28 FPS differential.

A bar graph for F1 2020 maximum FPS (red bar), average FPS (blue bar) and minimum FPS (gray bar) with 2 different Kingston FURY 32GB DDR5 memory kits at 3 CL settings each.

Arma 3 is a popular military simulator with large open maps and various vehicles to be driven. Running through a training course, open and closed spaces were encountered with sporadic gunfire. 4800MT/s lagged behind scoring the lowest average while 5600MT/s scored the highest, beating the Renegade options by 2-6 FPS. The minimum FPS increased as speed increased excluding 7200MT/s.

A bar graph for Arma 3 maximum FPS (red bar), average FPS (blue bar) and minimum FPS (gray bar) with 2 different Kingston FURY 32GB DDR5 memory kits at 3 CL settings each.

Horizon Zero Dawn was a PlayStation® exclusive that received a PC port a couple of years ago. This adventure game features grand areas and high-quality textures. Average FPS did not vary much between speeds, hovering around the 144 mark. The Beast speeds maintained a higher maximum with 6000MT/s having the highest FPS.

A bar graph for Horizon Zero Dawn maximum FPS (red bar), average FPS (blue bar) and minimum FPS (gray bar) with 2 different Kingston FURY 32GB DDR5 memory kits at 3 CL settings each.

APEX Legends is a popular battle-royale title that features 100 players fighting to be the last one standing. The top Renegade speeds saw a larger drop off in their minimum FPS with 7200MT/s achieving the lowest average. The other speeds saw consistent results, hovering just below a 144 FPS average.

A bar graph for APEX Legends maximum FPS (red bar), average FPS (blue bar) and minimum FPS (gray bar) with 2 different Kingston FURY 32GB DDR5 memory kits at 3 CL settings each.

Ashes of Singularity is a real-time strategy game with large-scale battles. Running the CPU-focused test, average FPS increased as speed increased, over 11% from 4800MT/s to 6800MT/s. During this test we were curious just how much of a difference dual channel made over single channel memory configurations. For budgetary reasons, a lot of users may opt to only install one memory module in their system instead of the recommended two. This benchmark illustrated an average 17% difference in FPS performance when compared to the dual channel configuration.

A bar graph for Ashes of the Singularity FPS with dual channel of 16GB each (red bar) and single channel of 16GB (gray bar) with 6 different Kingston FURY 32GB DDR5 memory kits.

As expected, the data showed that while FPS was affected by increasing RAM speed, it varied greatly by how the titles used system memory and CPU versus graphics. More CPU-intensive games showed that RAM speed played a key role with FPS, while GPU-dependent games' frame rates were less influenced by RAM speed.

What was most interesting to see was the difference between single and dual channel configurations. Installing the pair of identical modules aggregated the memory bandwidth for the CPU and demonstrated a significant boost to FPS. Increasing memory capacity is always good to be able to run more programs and multi-task, but making sure the memory is installed correctly to take advantage of multi-channel memory architecture made the biggest measurable difference.

#KingstonIsWithYou #KingstonFURY

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