RAM Selection help

J

John D

Weaksauce
Joined
Oct 25, 2005
Messages
106
Hey all,

I'm building a new rig with an Asus Sabertooth Z77 and either an Intel I5-3570k or I7-3770k. I plan on getting two sticks of ram at 8gb each, but might consider four at 4gb each.

What speed and timing should I be looking for if I overclock and if I don't overclock for best performance?
 
Oh, and it should be from a reputable vendor that has been in business for a while and has lifetime RMA. I have a number of systems that I re-purpose as they get older, so this one could be around for 5 years.
 
Why not over 1600? Asus lists on their tested memory list up to 2400. I know faster timing for the same speed are better, but get lost when trying to figure out if 2400 with slow timing is better than 1600 with half the timing values, etc. That and figuring out optimal vs sub-optimal clock ratios.
 
Why not over 1600?
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The performance benefit for overclocking your ram in most applications (usually less than 3% difference) does not make the price difference worthwhile. Remember that this is an overclock of the memory controller on the CPU since the highest current supported Intel memory speed is ddr3 1600.

Memory Types DDR3-1333/1600
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http://ark.intel.com/products/65719/Intel-Core-i7-3770-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-3_90-GHz
http://ark.intel.com/products/65520/Intel-Core-i5-3570K-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_80-GHz

On top of that the memory chips are also overclocked since no ram manufacturer is producing DDR3 2400. Some take DDR3 1333 and bin use that for DDR3 2400.

I know faster timing for the same speed are better
Click to expand...

This is even less important to application performance.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4503/sandy-bridge-memory-scaling-choosing-the-best-ddr3
 
Crucial Ballistix Sport 2x8GB DDR3-1600 standard (1.5V) or low profile (1.35V).

...or just about any other DDR3-1600 <=1.5V RAM from reputable brands like G.Skill, Corsair, Geil, etc.
 
So getting over 1600 mhz doesn't really make much of a performance difference?
 
Thanks for the AnandTech articles. That and another on AnandTech helped with trying to finding what ram I want.
 
Ouch. That is expensive ram. Maybe it looking purdy will make it faster. :)
 
John D said:
Hey all,

I'm building a new rig with an Asus Sabertooth Z77 and either an Intel I5-3570k or I7-3770k. I plan on getting two sticks of ram at 8gb each, but might consider four at 4gb each.

What speed and timing should I be looking for if I overclock and if I don't overclock for best performance?
Click to expand...

team xtreme 2400CL9 2x4 will do 2600 easy ;)
 
bigdogchris said:
If you're running an APU or IGP you want the fastest memory your board can use, which at times is faster than 1600MHz.
Click to expand...

It's not going to make a tangible real-world difference. DDR3 is slow anyway when being used for video memory, regardless of the memory speed.
 
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