Microsoft is preparing a big change that will change the way Windows 11 measures RAM speed. If right now we enter the “Task Manager” and go to the section dedicated to RAM, we will see that the speed of this It is measured in MHzunit which is quite correct, but therein lies the problem the measurement is incorrect.

This it’s not new, is something that has been done for years and that eventually turned out to be a completely correct practice, even though it wasn’t. Many users are unaware of this and this situation is so widespread that even among very advanced users it is common to use MHz as a value to identify RAM speed.

Is it wrong to measure RAM speed in MHz?

No, it is not incorrect to use MHz as a unit of measurement, what is not correct is the type of measurement this is currently done because it does not correspond to reality. RAM performance can be measured in three different units:

• MHz: Refers to one million cycles per second and represents the speed at which data moves between components.
• MT/s: stands for “megatransferences per second” and corresponds to one million transfers per second.
• Mbps: stands for “megabits per second” and refers to the maximum bandwidth that the memory can achieve in its transmissions.

Why do Windows 11 stop measuring in MHz?

Well, because the measurement that was taken is not correct. To understand this, we have to go back to the days of SDRAM, a type of memory. “uniform data rate” in which one MHz equals one MT/s. In that case, the statement that the memory ran at 200 MHz was correct, because there was overall parity between MHz and MT/s.

With the advent of DDR memories or “double data flow” this changed completely, because parity was broken and for every MHz we found two MT/s. This means that when we buy a 6000 MHz DDR5 memory kit, for example this It actually runs at 3,000 MHz, but achieves 6,000 MT/s.

So when Windows 11 shows that the RAM I installed is running at 6000MHz, it’s giving me the wrong value because it’s actually running at 3000MHz, but thanks to DDR technology, it can double the megatransfers per second. CPU-Z performs a proper reading of RAM and its speed.

If this is not correct, why are these values ​​still being used?

The answer is simpler than we might initially think, because when DDR memories arrived on the market I was used to talking about MHzand it would be hard for the big guys in the RAM sector to stop talking MHz and start talking MT/s. This would also confuse the user.

On the other hand, keep talking about MHz, but reduce speed to half next generation memory and try to explain it It was because it was “double data rate” That didn’t seem like a good idea either. These two keys caused the market to eventually become dormant before the advent of DDR memories, and inaccurate measurements continued to be made in MHz.

Today, this practice is so widespread that even in the professional media we talk about MHz with values ​​that are actually equivalent to MT/sv DDR memories. In the end, it’s still the easiest for readers and most usersand that is why this practice has been maintained for so long.

What will Microsoft do with Windows 11?

The update, which has only reached the Insider channel at the moment, replaces the “Task Manager” measurement in MHz with a measurement in MT/s. This means that instead of e.g. 6000 MHz appearing in my case I found a value of 6000 MT/sa value that is correct and adapted to reality.

It hasn’t been confirmed yet that this update will hit the official Windows 11 channel, so we’ll have to wait what Microsoft will do. The easiest thing would be to keep the status quo, but it seems that Microsoft prefers to abandon the current measurement and start adopting correct and realistic values. Are you for or against?

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