News Fast RAM Provides Low Value

Or so claims PCWorld:

With more retailers and boutique vendors touting high-speed (low-latency) RAM, two questions leap to mind: What is it, and do I need it? Last things first. Fast RAM is almost never worth the money, unless you're a dedicated gamer or gearhead obsessed with wringing every last millisecond of performance from your system.

Low-latency RAM takes less time to fetch the first bit of data after the CPU sends a column address strobe (CAS) signal to main memory. Such differences add up in tiny fractions of a second as your system processes instructions for the game you're playing or the database you're working with. Vendors list latencies for various memory functions; the first number is the CAS latency (CL), and when it's down to 2 on Intel-based systems (2.5 with AMD CPUs), you're really humming. Such memory carries a high price premium, often 20 to 40 percent more than slower RAM. A 512MB DDR400 module from Crucial, for example, costs about $100 at CL3 and $139 at CL2.

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Of course, the second sentence of the first paragraph sort of makes it a moot point for us lot...