Three year old DDR3 1600 still good?

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benfinkel

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I'm getting ready to upgrade my desktop, and I'm not sure if I need to replace my RAM or not. I use my system both for development and programming as well as high-end gaming.


The system I have I built about three years ago, and I used 8GB of DDR3 1600 8-8-8-24- This stuff:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145267


Now, I'm buying an Ivy Bridge i7 and a new motherboard, can I re-use these RAM sticks or should I replace?

I guess two questions:
1) Are they still appropriately specc'ed for modern performance? My experience in the past has been that, after three years, things changed enough that the RAM should be replaced as well. It seems though that DDR3 1600 with these timings is pretty much what I'd get if I bought new.

2) Is wear-and-tear an issue on RAM sticks? i.e. after three years of heavy use would I expect them to be beat up and more likely to fail?


Thanks in advance!

-Ben


Appendix:

CPU and MB I'm considering right now:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130686

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116502
 
The only potential issue that I see is that your current ram is rated at 1.65v. I am pretty sure Ivy bridge is only rated to ~1.575v. (hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in) It may be fine or you could probably run your ram at 1333 at 1.5v. Just be sure to run a few passes of memtest.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=21767665
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/core/3rd-gen-core-desktop-vol-1-datasheet.html

performance
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/memory/display/ivy-bridge-ddr3_4.html

1) yes, ddr3 is still ddr3 performance is about the same.
2) no
 
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Ivy works perfectly with 1.65V and even higher.

The sticks you have now will work perfectly with you Ivy chip, but they most likely will not clock as high as more recent memory. What version is printed on the PCB of those sticks? 1600 8-8-8 can be a variety of ICs but unless you get lucky, it's not going to be anything stellar. If I had to guess, I'd say there were probably Nanya IC's in those sticks since they were originally made for use in AMD systems. Nanyas won't overclock much above 2000 at 10-10-10 or so.

TL;DR: They should work fine. They might not overclock well, though.
 
I had already changed my mind to the i5 3570K CPU.

But is Haswell close? How close? Is there going to be a price-drop on the IBs when they show up?

Thanks bassplayer, that's helpful info!

-Ben
 
benfinkel said:
I'm getting ready to upgrade my desktop, and I'm not sure if I need to replace my RAM or not. I use my system both for development and programming as well as high-end gaming.
Click to expand...

Just an FYI. Since you mention "development and programming" I would not suggest the k-series unless you're certain that you're not going to want to use VT-d for anything involving virtual machines. If VT-d isn't an issue, then get it on! :D
 
those ram sticks will work fine. However It's best to get lower voltage rated memory as you can run the risk of frying your cpu chip.
 
gankernation said:
those ram sticks will work fine. However It's best to get lower voltage rated memory as you can run the risk of frying your cpu chip.
Click to expand...

Explain that, the cpu doesnt supply voltage to the RAM unless I've seriously missed something somewhere. :confused:
 
Private_Ops said:
Explain that, the cpu doesnt supply voltage to the RAM unless I've seriously missed something somewhere. :confused:
Click to expand...

Integrated memory controller...

1.65v RAM, well, I'd try undervolting it to 1.6v tops personally. If it couldn't do that, I'm not sure I'd use it. But there are worse ideas in the world...
 
dandragonrage said:
Integrated memory controller...

1.65v RAM, well, I'd try undervolting it to 1.6v tops personally. If it couldn't do that, I'm not sure I'd use it. But there are worse ideas in the world...
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that the controller it self supplies the voltage. Communicates with an electrical signal, yes. I want actual proof otherwise.
 
I would highly suggest some 1.5V or less memory. If you end up with a malfunctioned or fried IMC, you may void your warranty, from what I've read in past posts here on the forum. I believe our Intel guy Christian (Intel_Enthusiast) has even made mention of it from time to time.

I agree to wait for HWL...it's 3 days away.
 
benfinkel said:
I had already changed my mind to the i5 3570K CPU.

But is Haswell close? How close? Is there going to be a price-drop on the IBs when they show up?

Thanks bassplayer, that's helpful info!

-Ben
Click to expand...

You're probably better-off with the i5 3570K.Haswell doesn't appear to be sitting well with folks out here.
 
Metformin said:
You're probably better-off with the i5 3570K.Haswell doesn't appear to be sitting well with folks out here.
Click to expand...

Agreed, for the most part. I upgraded from an FX8120, so the power usage reduction alone was worth it for me, let alone the performance boost ;)
 
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