Just got a i7 960, which mem should I pair it with?

[lt_wentoncha]

Howdy all,

Well, went to MC and got the i7 960 for 189 (figured might as well) to replace my i7 920.

I jumped the gun on memory (I'm looking for 16 GBs because I sometimes run two VMs). Which set best matches the i7 960?

G.Skill 1066
G.Skill 1600 low voltage

Too me, a $20 difference isn't much, I'm inclined to keep the low voltage ones, if I OC the i7 960 will I get max usage out of the mem even though Intel says the fastest mem supported is 1066?

Thanks much ya'll.

 

[fightingfi]

just make sure its 1.5 volts.

i saw teh same cpu to old for my taste trade it up to a i5 or i7 so much better and timings with teh xmp ram . Happy Gaming

 

[plugwash]

Afaict all overclocking on that chip will be by base clock. So unless you mess with the ram divider the ram speed will increase in proportion to the CPU speed. Therefore I would suggest getting the 1600 ram to give you overclocking headroom.

 

[lt_wentoncha]

Correct me if I'm wrong, the multiplier for the 960 is locked, correct? So, if I set bclk to 200mhz, and the the cpu multipler stays at 20, and I bump up the mem multiplier to 8, then I get 4ghz on the CPU and 1600mhz for the memory? But the 960 can do more than 4.0, correct? It's one of reasons why I upgraded. But, I don't understand why Intel says the 960 can only support 1066mhz (unless that's a soft ceiling)

Voltages I suppose are another issue. Intel processors, for extended usage (ie 8 hours each day), should be under 1.35v, correct? The more expensive low voltage G.skills should also work at 1.35v - if I actually just OC the processor, and the memory is rated for 1600mhz performance at 1.35v, I should be good in that regard, correct?

Many many many thanks in advance for help with these in-depth questions.

 

[wesleys_dad]

aint that easy with the i7 1st gen...they all o/clock bout the same..should have kept the 920 unless it was a co version.....4.0-4.2 unless you bought a golden chip...got to fool with voltages too ...hitting 4.0 requires 1.32-1.39v or so to get 4.0..better have a good cooler too...these things will warm a room when o/clocked...sincerely tho these chips for the most part will all o/clock the same......