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DDR4-3200 CL16 first-word latency is 10.0 ns

DDR4-3200 CL16 is the JEDEC DDR4 baseline, the OEM default for most pre-built DDR4 desktops, and the Ryzen 3000/5000 officially supported speed. Its 10.00 ns first-word latency remains the reference point every DDR4 and DDR5 kit is benchmarked against — including, perfectly coincidentally, DDR5-6000 CL30.

First-word latency
10.00 ns
CL16 @ 1600 MHz bus
Row cycle time (tRC)
35.0 ns
tRP + tRAS
Peak bandwidth
25.6 GB/s
Per channel

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RAM Latency Calculator

MT/s
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Timings are in memory clock cycles. True latency in nanoseconds is derived from the data rate.

True Latency

First-word latency (CL)

10.00 ns

Time from a read command to the first bit of data arriving.

I/O bus clock

1600 MHz

Cycle time

0.625 ns

tRCD delay

11.25 ns

tRP delay

11.25 ns

tRAS

23.75 ns

tRC (tRP + tRAS)

35.00 ns

Peak bandwidth per channel25.6 GB/s

Assumes one 64-bit channel. Dual channel doubles this, quad channel quadruples it.

How this is calculated

At 1600 MHz bus clock, each cycle is 0.625 ns — 16 cycles of CL is 10.00 ns. Peak per-channel bandwidth is 25.6 GB/s; dual-channel delivers 51.2 GB/s total. tRC (row cycle time) lands at 35.0 ns. Ryzen 3000/5000 Infinity Fabric runs in 1:1 ratio at DDR4-3200, which is why this particular spec is overrepresented in AMD build guides.

Verdict

DDR4-3200 CL16 is the DDR4 standard — cheap, widely available, and the spec every ageing system's memory controller handles trivially. Upgrading to a DDR4-3600 CL16 kit on the same board is a near-free speed bump with very little additional stability risk.

More DDR4 scenarios

DDR4-3600 CL16
CL16 • 3600 MT/s
View details ➜
DDR4-4000 CL18
CL18 • 4000 MT/s
View details ➜

Frequently asked questions

What's the true latency of DDR5-6000 CL30?
True latency = (CL × 2000) ÷ speed = (30 × 2000) ÷ 6000 = 10 ns. That's one of the fastest mainstream kits currently shipping; most DDR5-6000 kits at stock JEDEC timings sit closer to 13-14 ns.
How do CL and MHz affect RAM speed?
Data rate (MHz) determines how much bandwidth you get; CL determines how long you wait for the first bit. Higher MHz + lower CL = more throughput plus faster access. A kit with twice the MHz and equal CL halves the true latency in nanoseconds.
Is DDR5-6000 CL30 better than DDR4-3600 CL16?
DDR5-6000 CL30 is 10 ns true latency; DDR4-3600 CL16 is 8.9 ns — DDR4 is actually slightly lower latency on that comparison. But DDR5-6000 has nearly 67% more bandwidth, which matters far more for modern CPUs, especially AMD Ryzen 7000/9000 and Intel 12th-gen+.
What are tRCD, tRP, and tRAS?
Secondary timings. tRCD is the delay to activate a row before accessing a column; tRP is the time to close a row before opening another; tRAS is the minimum time a row must stay open. All three are measured in cycles; converting to ns uses the same formula as CL.
Does faster RAM help gaming?
On AMD Ryzen and modern Intel platforms, yes — especially in CPU-bound 1080p titles where the gap between DDR5-5200 CL40 and DDR5-6400 CL32 can be 10-20 fps. At higher resolutions the GPU becomes the bottleneck and RAM speed matters less.
What is JEDEC vs XMP/EXPO?
JEDEC is the default SPD profile every DIMM boots with — conservative timings guaranteed to work anywhere. XMP (Intel) and EXPO (AMD) are overclocking profiles stored on the DIMM that you enable in BIOS to unlock the speeds printed on the heatspreader.

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