AMD slips into desktop RAM biz

Depends on system utilization

For people that don't have heavy system utilization you are correct that it wont be a big deal. Same for alot of games cause they lack the ability for full system utilization of a CPU core.

However if you look at the fusion APU's offered by AMD which perfer tight ram timings. Which also will shit themselves at timings of 11-11-11-31, if you try to use the integrated GPU with such times. Its definitely a negative to have such high CAS times.

The Biggest places you will see the CAS times come into play are single threaded application that require a low latency, APU's with integrated graphics turned on, Multithreaded applications that run at full system utilization. Sound and video work will also fall into this category.

What this really comes down to is what market this ram is targeted at. If its targeted at the enthusiest market then its most likey gonna be ignore at those CAS times, atleast by the buyers with knowledge of ram. If its gonna be bundled with systems that built by the likes of DELL, Hp, Acer.... then it will probably be fine. Cause people in those markets are not looking for the same levels of system performance. They are mostly looking at target price range, and convience of obtaining it.

CAS Latency Benchmarks

Here.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/8966/1

Back in the days of DDR (DDR1), going from a CAS latency of 3-3-3-5 to 2-2-2-5 was a big deal. You could see the improvements immediately. There are actually 4 numbers that affect CAS Latency, not three, but more important in memory is the command rate (Often paired with CAS latency, as it is a memory timing). The lower command rate IS noticeable. I myself would rather have lower CAS memory at a standard speed over high speed, high latency memory. It seems like they've just wrapped up a 9-9-9 1300mhz chip in an 11-11-11 1600mhz package. To me, that's a no go. Also, the fact that there is 6-8-6 timed memory out there, looking at an 11-11-11 product is just plain dim.