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DDR5-7200 CL34 first-word latency is 9.4 ns

DDR5-7200 CL34 is the enthusiast sweet spot for Intel Z790 and Z890 boards — fast enough to beat DDR5-6400 on both latency and bandwidth, still within reach of most good two-DIMM setups without pushing memory controller voltages into risky territory. Its 9.44 ns first-word latency is about 6% faster than DDR5-6400 CL32.

First-word latency
9.44 ns
CL34 @ 3600 MHz bus
Row cycle time (tRC)
35.0 ns
tRP + tRAS
Peak bandwidth
57.6 GB/s
Per channel

Calculator

RAM Latency Calculator

MT/s
clk
clk
clk
clk

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

True Latency

First-word latency (CL)

9.44 ns

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

I/O bus clock

3600 MHz

Cycle time

0.278 ns

tRCD delay

11.67 ns

tRP delay

11.67 ns

tRAS

23.33 ns

tRC (tRP + tRAS)

35.00 ns

Peak bandwidth per channel57.6 GB/s

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

How this is calculated

3600 MHz bus clock, 0.278 ns per cycle, 34 cycles of CL = 9.44 ns. Peak per-channel bandwidth is 57.6 GB/s — 12.5% over DDR5-6400 and 20% over DDR5-6000. On Ryzen 7000/9000, the Infinity Fabric falls out of 1:1 at this speed, so DDR5-7200 actually tends to be slower than DDR5-6000 CL30 on AM5 in practice, which is counter-intuitive but well documented in AM5 benchmarks.

Verdict

DDR5-7200 CL34 is the Intel enthusiast pick. Don't chase it on AM5 — the 1:1 Infinity Fabric loss more than cancels the gain, and DDR5-6000 CL30 ends up faster on AMD regardless of timings.

More DDR5 scenarios

DDR5-4800 CL40
CL40 • 4800 MT/s
View details ➜
DDR5-5600 CL36
CL36 • 5600 MT/s
View details ➜
DDR5-6000 CL30
CL30 • 6000 MT/s
View details ➜
DDR5-6400 CL32
CL32 • 6400 MT/s
View details ➜
DDR5-8000 CL38
CL38 • 8000 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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