Memory question for the layman

[tavalus]

Looking at parts for a new PC to be put together, there is Gskill 16gig 1600 and Gskill 16gig 1866/2133/2400/2500/2800 etc all these different numbers. I tried something as simple as googling the difference between pc 1600 and pc 2400 ram but the responses were anything but simple or straight forward. Could anyone explain it in layman's terms? Price notwithstanding, if we're talking about a difference of 40-100 (which doesn't seem like a lot) is there any reason I wouldn't just buy the highest number compatible with the motherboard I choose? or is the performance difference so small that it really doesn't matter?

Thanks in advance.

[MMKing]

It's minimal at best, most memory reviews don't even feature games testing. The reviews mostly consist of: Video Transcoding, rendering and other benchmark programs designed to simulate the ram running a server. Emptying and filling the RAM up as fast as possible in cycling is also done to test performance. In gaming the difference is next to non-existent in most builds. If you're running an AMD APU you will notice huge differences however.

RAM is only important when you've spent all available. As long as you have free ram of 1333MHZ+ you will be fine.