Overclockers--which ram speed is faster--4-4-4-12 or 5-5-5-18?

Q: Im trying to buy faster ram and don't know if the lower numbers are faster or slower.

A: 4-4-4-12 is faster if they're both specified at the same speed. Each number is the number of clock cycles it takes to perform a particular operation, so lower numbers are better, all things being equal. But 5-5-5-18 for DDR2-1066 is way better than 4-4-4-12 for DDR2-800. The first latency number (the CAS latency) is the most important. Latencies are specified at the highest clock rate the RAM is specified to support. If you use the RAM at a lower clock rate, the latencies will usually drop automatically. So if you buy DDR2-1066 5-5-5-18 memory and run it at DDR2-800, it will likely drop to 4-4-4-12 or thereabouts by itself.

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