i7 + Basic DDR3 Questions

Z

ZzBloopzZ

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Sep 18, 2004
Messages
1,330
I am going to be upgrading to an i7 920 in several weeks. However, I just realized I know nothing about DDR3 besides that I will be going with a Triple Channel 6GB Kit.

What is a good CAS to look for? Something equivalent to DDR2's 4-4-4-12. Just guessing here but CAS 7 for 1333 and 8 for 1600, or just 7 for both?

I plan to OC my i7 920 the highest I can on stock voltage, so like ~3.6-3.8Ghz. Basically, what speed should I look at for best bang for the buck? For example, DDR2 800 was perfect for 775 CPU's because it was relativity cheap and gave more then enough headroom for a decent OC.

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
DDR3 1600 prices have dropped significantly in the last 2 months. There are some prices that are comparable to DDR3 1333. Regardless it's important to note that due to the massive memory bandwidth of the i7 platform, latency speeds matter less than they did with DDR2/DDR1.
The more important thing to remember is that all i7 mobo's, regardless of the model/manufacturer require 1.65volt ram or less. So make sure whatever kit you get that it's below that threshold.
 
Good to know.

After lil more research, I'm going to aim for 1600 so that I can hit 3.8Ghz if I do decide to OC that high.
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227381

Picked up the OCZ set when buying parts for my i920 build, then newegg had a promo to take another 10 bucks off the day before yesterday (dead now though), so I picked up an additional set. Rebate makes the purchase a no brainer.

OCZ is pretty good with warranties too. I had a set of platinum ddr1 crap out after 3 years of use, they sent me a new set to swap out for the old ones. no questions asked.

They work perfectly well at the 1600, 7 7 7 24 timings advertised at 1.65 volts, but don't like any more volts and don't like to be OC'd higher too. Ram stays cool too.

For the nay sayers of 12GB, all I can say is that I look forward to actually giving a VM in vmware a full 6GBs to play with, while not worrying about host machine's ram running low. There's no better consumer level platform than the i7 to do stuff like this on at the the moment.

You can also try:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148246

This is crucial generic ram, supposed to OC well and does without the bling heat spreaders.

either way it seems 1600 is the sweet spot at the moment and bang for buck ratio on the higher clocked stuff isn't all too great.
 
I was looking at that exact OCZ RAM.

I also like OCZ, great support and their rebates come in like 6 weeks.
 
Get the Corsair XMS3 at NewEgg for $99. Exactly the same RAM as the Corsair Dominator for almost 1/2 the price. Only difference is the heat spreaders.
 
The easy route in DDR3 is definately 1600 - 8-8-8-24 which is the equivalent of 800 - 4-4-4-12 in DDR2. Faster than 1600, you start paying a lot more cash and get little performance gain in return.

See I got these G.Skill which are 1600 - 8-8-8-21 (slightly better specs than the norm., which I run at 7-7-7-20 timing)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231247

Again, we go look at the faster set from G.Skill 2000 - 8-8-8-21:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231258

Definately faster, but not twice but 25% faster than 1600, but the price difference is EEK !!!
 
Last edited:
jmorel33 said:
The easy route in DDR3 is definately 1600 - 8-8-8-24 which is the equivalent of 800 - 4-4-4-12 in DDR2. Faster than 1600, you start paying a lot more cash and get little performance gain in return.
Click to expand...

Agreed, 1600 should give also pretty nice headroom when overclocking. Though, 2000Mhz or similar is nice, but it won't actually result in that much faster performance. Therefore much harder to justify the price difference. 2.5x the price is quite much. :rolleyes:
 
Thanks jmore, very useful info.

I will aim for those timings for 1600 speeds. :c)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top