Stay up to date with the latest desktop PC hardware—CPUs, RAM, storage solutions, and GPUs—all broken down in one comprehensive resource.
Puget Systems Most Reliable Hardware of 2024
With 2024 wrapped up, we want to take the opportunity to call out specific brands and models that had exceptional reliability over the last year.
Puget Systems Hardware Trends of 2024
With 2024 at a close, we wanted to look back at the sales trends we saw for CPUs, GPUs, storage, RAM and operating systems.
Impact of DDR5 Speed on Content Creation Performance (2023 update)
DDR5 memory has kits rated for up to 8400 Mbps, while desktop CPUs only officially support up to 5600 Mbps. How much does running at official specifications actually impact performance in common content creation applications?
AMD Threadripper PRO Memory Channel Performance Scaling
Do modern high-end processors really need up to eight memory channels? How is their performance affected if the number of channels is artificially limited?
Impact of DDR5 Speed on Content Creation Performance
The latest Intel 12th Gen processors officially support a range of DDR5 RAM speeds between DDR5-3600MHz and DDR5-4800MHz depending on a number of factors including how many RAM slots are on the motherboard, how many sticks are used, and whether the sticks are single or dual rank. But if you stick with JEDEC specifications for frequency and timing, how much does this actually impact performance in common content creation applications like Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and Unreal?
Messy Memory Speed Standards
Here at Puget Systems, we have tried to be careful about sticking to CPU manufacturer memory specifications – to ensure the best reliability, and to avoid overclocking memory controllers (which could, technically, violate CPU warranties). But increasingly complicated memory speed support schemes on many newer processors, combined with a lack of supply of certain speed modules, has forced us to adopt a new approach to what we offer in our workstations.
Does RAM speed affect video editing performance?
While we generally stick to the RAM speed that is officially supported by a processor, we get a lot of comments claiming that we are limiting performance by not using higher frequency memory. This begs the question: does RAM speed actually impact real-world performance in video editing applications?
Does RAM Capacity Affect RealityCapture Performance?
RealityCapture, like other photogrammetry applications, is built to take a batch of photographs and turn them into digital, 3D models. The algorithms used during that process are designed to be “out of core”, meaning that not all of the data has to be loaded into system memory (RAM) at the same time – allowing for full processing without requiring a ton of available memory. Having more RAM can still be beneficial, though, so we decided to test how much impact it has on performance.
Tech Primer: DDR4 RAM
DDR3 is almost seven years old, but is finally starting to be replaced with the new DDR4 memory. Featuring lower operating voltages, higher frequencies, and increased storage densities DDR4 is shaping up to be a very capable successor to the aging DDR3.
