Frequency matters more than timings on DDR5.

Yes, increasing frequency gives you noticeably more FPS than tightening timings on DDR5. Tightening timings on DDR5 is like squeezing a dry sponge—you might get a drop or two, but it’s not worth the effort.

DDR5 ships with loose timings by design. The base CL is already high (like CL40), and tightening it to CL34 might get you 1–3% FPS in best-case scenarios. Meanwhile, bumping frequency from 6000 MT/s to 6400 or 6800 (especially on Ryzen 7000/9000) can give 5–8% real gains in CPU-bound games. On Intel, the difference is smaller, but frequency still wins.

If you have the choice between buying faster-rated RAM or spending hours manually tuning timings, buy the faster RAM. The only exception is if you’re already at max stable frequency for your CPU—then go ahead and tighten timings for that last 1%. Otherwise, save the headache.

Your CPU is the bottleneck, not your RAM’s secondary timings.