i7 920 Memory recommendations

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Gatecrasher3

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 10, 2006
Messages
198
Hey guys, im picking up a i7 920 today and I not really sure what memory to get.
I guess 6 gig of DDR3 1600 will be best for me, im going to be doing heavy gaming and sun VBox for school.
Im not really sure whos good to go with as far as make or model, and I will not be overclocking the ram, only the cpu.
If anyone has any options for me please let me know.

Thanks
 
if you have a board that does triple channel, why would you not want to take advantage of that?
 
sorry, ram is not my area of expertise.
also, i guess im trying to make this as little $ as possible.
 
Gatecrasher3 said:
sorry, ram is not my area of expertise.
also, i guess im trying to make this as little $ as possible.
Click to expand...

X58 boards support triple channel. I would suggest getting 6GB from the outset, but if money is an issue, then you can get 4GB now and add 2GB later on.
 
what motherboard? Some motherboards do not play nice with certain RAM sets. Such as my MSI Eclipse and my Corsair 1600 Dominator RAM (basically, it is a bitch to actually make them run @ 1600 MHz). So, just look in the motherboard maker's forum and see if any of the users have had trouble pairing with certain RAM sets. BTW, I would definitely go with 6 GB if you can afford it.
 
sigvoror said:
what motherboard? Some motherboards do not play nice with certain RAM sets. Such as my MSI Eclipse and my Corsair 1600 Dominator RAM (basically, it is a bitch to actually make them run @ 1600 MHz). So, just look in the motherboard maker's forum and see if any of the users have had trouble pairing with certain RAM sets. BTW, I would definitely go with 6 GB if you can afford it.
Click to expand...

my mobo is going to be the evga sli LE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188049&Tpk=evga sli le

yaa i guess if im getting an i7 i should spend the extra cash to push it to its full potential.
 
I agree on price, but I wanted to be in the 8 timings and that was the best deal I could find really with 1.65 volts. All others were 9 timings or didn't push enough volts for the 8 timings.
 
wildzcardz said:
I agree on price, but I wanted to be in the 8 timings and that was the best deal I could find really with 1.65 volts. All others were 9 timings or didn't push enough volts for the 8 timings.
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The kit I suggested has much better timings and is priced well. And runs at 1.5v.
 
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Just wanted to say, i have had a great experience with OCZ tri channel kits, super reliable and i have never had issues overclocking with them :)
 
wildzcardz said:
I agree on price, but I wanted to be in the 8 timings and that was the best deal I could find really with 1.65 volts. All others were 9 timings or didn't push enough volts for the 8 timings.
Click to expand...

Absolutely no real-world noticeable difference between CL8 and CL9. Could have told you that beforehand to save you some money. It's a waste to spend money on timings with DDR3 unless you are after synthetic benchmarks. There's more of an advantage from running a lower voltage kit (1.5v) such as the one I recommended, since 1.65v is the max safe spec for the X58 chipset.
 
Isn't those lower voltage ratings just the voltage to run the advertised speed/timings? Meaning if you get a lower voltage, you actually have a little more head room to improve speed/timing from a voltage standpoint? Pushing it 1.65, which is the safe point for x58 you might be able to overclock the RAM better/more stable. That is the advantage of the lower voltage RAM. Of course, when I bought my RAM the only voltage rating you could find was 1.65, and the Corsair Doms to MSI Eclipse compatibility hadn't been talked about much. I would probably have bought Mushkin or Kingston otherwise. Of course this is the first time I have ever had a problem with a set of Corsairs. So, on topic for the original question...according to EVGA for the x58 motherboards, these are all compatible for the 1600Mhz that you mentioned:
Corsair CM3X1G1600C8D4 1GB
Corsair TR3X3G1600C8D (3x1GB)
Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D 2GB
Elixir M2F1G64CB88A4N-DG 1GB
Elixir M2F2G64CB8HA4N-DG 2GB
G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-2GBNQ 1GB
G.SKILL F3-12800CL7D-4GBPI 2GB
Kingston KHX1600C9D3K3/6GX 1GB
Kingston KHX1600C8D3K3/6GX 2GB
Kingston KHX12800D3LLK3/3GX 1GB
Kingston KHX13000D3LLK2/2GX 1GB
OCZ OCZ3X1600LV6GK 2GB
OCZ OCZ3P1600LV6GK 2GB
OCZ OCZ3G1600LV6GK 2GB
OCZ OCZ3G1600LV6GK (3x2GB)
Patriot PVT36G1600ELK (3x2GB)
PQI MFADR401PA0102 2GB
SUPER TALENT WB160UX6G8 2GB
SUPER TALENT WB160UX6G9 2GB
I would look for a set of RAM off this list before anything not on this list.
 
sigvoror said:
Isn't those lower voltage ratings just the voltage to run the advertised speed/timings? Meaning if you get a lower voltage, you actually have a little more head room to improve speed/timing from a voltage standpoint?
Click to expand...

That is true, but while there is no real-world noticeable difference between CL8 and CL9, it is also advantageous to have the RAM running at a lower voltage (1.5-1.6v) which is well under the safe spec and also allows the sticks to run a bit cooler.
 
Hello there ,
Not to start another topic , i have a i7 920 C0 , gigabyte EX58-Extreme and some kingston valueram 3x2gb 1066.
What i want to know if the move to a set of 1600 or 1866 ( still 6gb ) will worth the investment(around 200euros) and if i will get better performances .
 
Seiz said:
Hello there ,
Not to start another topic , i have a i7 920 C0 , gigabyte EX58-Extreme and some kingston valueram 3x2gb 1066.
What i want to know if the move to a set of 1600 or 1866 ( still 6gb ) will worth the investment(around 200euros) and if i will get better performances .
Click to expand...

You may see an increase in performance, depending on what you use the system for. DDR3 1600 may help with overclocking, if that's something that you do. Basically, if you do not overclock the CPU, I probably would not advise you to spend 200 Euros for that upgrade.
 
PC_User said:
Is overpriced.
Click to expand...

It runs significantly tighter timings than everything else. In fact, I think they're the only company offering CAS6 DDR3 1600MHz memory.
If you want the best, you pay for it. Such is life.
 
Zoson said:
It runs significantly tighter timings than everything else. In fact, I think they're the only company offering CAS6 DDR3 1600MHz memory.
If you want the best, you pay for it. Such is life.
Click to expand...

Except there's no real-world noticeable difference between those timings, so you're actually overpaying for 'the best' which also happens to be something that you're neither noticing nor using (unless you are running synthetic benchmarks). ;)
 
PC_User said:
You may see an increase in performance, depending on what you use the system for. DDR3 1600 may help with overclocking, if that's something that you do. Basically, if you do not overclock the CPU, I probably would not advise you to spend 200 Euros for that upgrade.
Click to expand...

Thanks , i do not know much about OC , i currently keep my CPU at 3ghz with that gigabyte tool , i'm not doing it from bios ( lack the knowledge ) . Will think on that buy then , i'd like to know it will go faster even so at 3ghz ( the games ).
 
sigvoror said:
what motherboard? Some motherboards do not play nice with certain RAM sets. Such as my MSI Eclipse and my Corsair 1600 Dominator RAM (basically, it is a bitch to actually make them run @ 1600 MHz). So, just look in the motherboard maker's forum and see if any of the users have had trouble pairing with certain RAM sets. BTW, I would definitely go with 6 GB if you can afford it.
Click to expand...

Is it bad enough that I should buy RAM after I buy the motherboard? Piecing together a new computer, thinking about getting this RAM for $129. Had budgeted max $175 for the RAM, but was hoping to find a sale like this closer to $125. (with Bing cash back, this would be $101 for 6gb.)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...mc=RSS-_-TigerDirect-_-Category-_-TopSellers#

I am probably going with a GIGABYTE UD3R or a P6T x58 board right now but I haven't totally settled on that yet. Know I'm going x58 for i7 930. Are the compatibility issues enough that I should hold off?
 
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naa it isn't bad... I have a processor, PSU, case, and cooling system but no mobo to put it on...lol I just like looking at the boxes... ;)
 
atreidesgoldenpath said:
Is it bad enough that I should buy RAM after I buy the motherboard? Piecing together a new computer, thinking about getting this RAM for $129. Had budgeted max $175 for the RAM, but was hoping to find a sale like this closer to $125. (with Bing cash back, this would be $101 for 6gb.)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...mc=RSS-_-TigerDirect-_-Category-_-TopSellers#

I am probably going with a GIGABYTE UD3R or a P6T x58 board right now but I haven't totally settled on that yet. Know I'm going x58 for i7 930. Are the compatibility issues enough that I should hold off?
Click to expand...
atreidesgoldenpath: I haven't heard of any probs with gigabyte or the asus p6t as far as memory compatibility. Still, I make it a standard recommendation to look at the manufacturer's site and look through a compatibility list before purchasing something now.
 
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