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Need RAM for i7 build

M

mham2323

n00b
Joined
Feb 13, 2009
Messages
6
Hello all, I'm building a new i7 920 machine with Gigabyte UD3R MOBO, and I need help selecting RAM. To be honest, I know very little about OCing, and I probably won't OC for a while until I learn more about it. Even when I do OC, it will only be a mild OC (no greater than 3.5 GHz probably). That said, I need some good choices on a somewhat limited memory budget (most of remaining funds going towards GPU). I would like to get 2gb sticks for a total of 4 gigs now, and in a few months buy another for triple-channel. I've read suggestions of sticking with 1333 at only mild OC speeds, but can you guys suggest some brands with good value? Thanks
 
Aenon Xtune DDR3-1600 and DDR3-1866 kits (1.5v) can be found on eBay. Cheap and fast!
 
skyyless said:
the Consair Dominator 1600 is the best choice for i7 builds
Click to expand...
wow you are whoring it up
member for 1 day and already 42 posts
with such helpful and indepth posts, how do you find the time?
 
skyyless said:
go with Kingston HyperX fast and cheap and reliable!
Click to expand...

skyyless said:
the Consair Dominator 1600 is the best choice for i7 builds
Click to expand...

Within 1 hr, you recommend 2 different things in the same thread...wow...

Price/Performance, I think that the G.Skill is probably the best bet. That being said, I personally got the OCZ 1600 Platinum. Pricey, but its working well for me :)
 
What about the Kingston HyperX DDR3 2000 6GB kit for only $245 on Newegg? Anyone heard good/bad things about it? That is a great price for 6GB of DDR3 2000.........
 
EnderW said:
wow you are whoring it up
member for 1 day and already 42 posts
with such helpful and indepth posts, how do you find the time?
Click to expand...

::Chuckles::

The 1600C8D is a good choice, but it depends on how much you want to spend, and how much (if you are) overhead for your overclock (air, vs. good air, vs. water).

Price/Performane, I have to lean towards G.Skill, If you have a bit more headroom, go Corsair / OCZ. Do a bit more research (hardforum / anandtech are some good intro sites).

For me, I went with the 1600C8D for my new i7 build, but I have had a preference towards Corsair vs. other brands (personal, nothing more).
 
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/triple-channel-ddr3-i7,2128.html

I personally have had no problems overclocking my i7 and getting better than advertised timings and voltages with my OCZ Platinum. I would personally recommend OCZ, Corsair, Crucial... though Patriot, G.Skill, and Geil have all gotten better over the last two years.

Don't waste money on the low end budget series, nor burn the cash on the highest end. Buy in the middle with good timings and voltages. You're going to have to overclock to get past 1066 anyway.
 
This is good advice IMO.

rosss said:
Don't waste money on the low end budget series, nor burn the cash on the highest end. Buy in the middle with good timings and voltages.
Click to expand...

rosss said:
You're going to have to overclock to get past 1066 anyway.
Click to expand...
This is not entirely accurate. Intel unlocked the memory multipliers on the 920/940 CPUs so, depending on the MOBO, you can run up to 1866+ without OCing the BClock.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by rosss View Post
You're going to have to overclock to get past 1066 anyway.
This is not entirely accurate. Intel unlocked the memory multipliers on the 920/940 CPUs so, depending on the MOBO, you can run up to 1866+ without OCing the BClock.
Click to expand...

I was using "overclock" in the generic term. But yes, you can possibly "overclock" the memory settings on an i7 without having to "overclock" the cpu itself.
 
I got the corsair xms 1600 for 90 bucks 3 gb kit. My asus p6t recognizes the intel memory profile so you can run it at 1600 with out oc'ing the cpu (but whhhhhyyyyyy? lol).


rock solid so far no issues not one.

p.s. on the asus - You can run two sticks in dual channel - the manual explains how to put your ram in in this case, even if you want to run 4 stick - it just depends where you put it.

for example mine would not boot if I but the sticks in the even slots, but would in the odd -
 
I'm not sure if there is evidence one way or the other regarding the Asus P6T running 2 sticks of DDR3 in dual channel or 3 sticks in triple channel as to which configuration has better performance.

I would tend to think that running a triple-channel capable motherboard in dual channel could be a noticeable loss in performance. Although that could be due to running 4GB ram compared to 6GB... so the quantity alone might be the deceptive performance gain.

In any case... most people moan when they hear someone running an i7 with dual-channel ram. Let us know if you have any problems!!
 
rosss said:
I'm not sure if there is evidence one way or the other regarding the Asus P6T running 2 sticks of DDR3 in dual channel or 3 sticks in triple channel as to which configuration has better performance.

I would tend to think that running a triple-channel capable motherboard in dual channel could be a noticeable loss in performance. Although that could be due to running 4GB ram compared to 6GB... so the quantity alone might be the deceptive performance gain.
Click to expand...
This makes no sense to me. The memory bandwidth on i7 in triple channel destroys dual channel.

Define what you mean by "performance"?
 
Aye Mike... one would certainly assume triple channel is better performing than dual channel. I just said that I haven't seen any evidence (articles or reviews or Intel docs) comparing dual channel v. triple channel options with an i7 - as all the configurations I've read are triple channel (I have seen Core2 dual-channel v. i7 triple-channel comparisons but that's not a fair comparison of the ram). Add a URL if you have any information.

When the P58 and G58 gets released there may be dual-channel i7 motherboards - as the X58 chipset release is the "high performance triple channel version" for enthusiast-evangelist a.k.a. FREE PR and viral marketing for Intel (not that I'm complaining).

In my opinion mham2323, you'd be kinda weird to run dual channel on an X58 motherboard - unless you know something we dont, or you have something to prove? Depending on the motherboard and bios you may not even be able to run dual channel on an X58 motherboard - so just take a little extra time to save up and just get triple channel when you build.
 
The online magazine , THE OVERCLOCKER, is or was supposed to do some dual vs triple testing X58 vs X58. And, in the long run, bandwidth by itself has a limited effect on real world performance. But, that should change as software is coded better to be truly multi threaded.

Also:

I would tend to think that running a triple-channel capable motherboard in dual channel could be a noticeable loss in performance.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking I read your post wrong the first time through. And, I agree about running an X58 with 2 slots filled. Based on testing I have done, 6GB is VERY sweet.
 
Going off topic slightly...

I know 6GB is a noticeable improvement over 3GB for games and heavy RAM use applications like Photoshop, etc. (in fact I believe it was article drafted by Corsair that showed the findings)

Mike, have you, or anyone else there, tested 6GB v. 9GB or 12GB to see if there are additional performance gains on an x58 platform?
 
mham2323 said:
Hello all, I'm building a new i7 920 machine with Gigabyte UD3R MOBO, and I need help selecting RAM. To be honest, I know very little about OCing, and I probably won't OC for a while until I learn more about it. Even when I do OC, it will only be a mild OC (no greater than 3.5 GHz probably). That said, I need some good choices on a somewhat limited memory budget (most of remaining funds going towards GPU). I would like to get 2gb sticks for a total of 4 gigs now, and in a few months buy another for triple-channel. I've read suggestions of sticking with 1333 at only mild OC speeds, but can you guys suggest some brands with good value? Thanks
Click to expand...

My short list of ddr3 triple channel kits http://i4memory.com/f83/eva2000s-ddr3-triple-channel-memory-kits-short-list-14047/ - all listed kits seem to be using decent memory ics and all seem to be able to do DDR3-1600 CAS8 at 1.55-1.75v. Short list is based off my complete list at http://i4memory.com/i7mem
 
rosss said:
Going off topic slightly...

I know 6GB is a noticeable improvement over 3GB for games and heavy RAM use applications like Photoshop, etc. (in fact I believe it was article drafted by Corsair that showed the findings)

Mike, have you, or anyone else there, tested 6GB v. 9GB or 12GB to see if there are additional performance gains on an x58 platform?
Click to expand...

I did some gaming tests with 12GB, the exact same test suite used here in AN811:

http://www.corsairmemory.com/appnotes/default.aspx

The 12GB results were virtually identical to the 6GB results so, no advantage at all for gamers to go to 12GB. 6GB is the sweet spot although 3GB is very good.
 
Aye that was the article I was referring to.

The 12GB results were virtually identical to the 6GB results so, no advantage at all for gamers to go to 12GB. 6GB is the sweet spot although 3GB is very good.
Click to expand...

(no advantage TODAY... but as games and apps are written to scale with available memory bandwidth, perhaps 12GB will be an improvement next year?)

Going way off topic... Hey Mike, for all of us Corsair fanboys/girls... you guys need to partner with Antec or Silverstone or CoolerMaster and offer the Corsair moniker on a jointly-designed PC case!

(FYI: though my i7 has OCZ ram - my other machine has Corsair XMS ram and both machines have Corsair PSUs... and I have a Corsair USB stick... I guess that makes me a fanboy)

mham2323, when buying tech components also consider Customer Support as part of the product you are buying. Corsair and OCZ have rock solid products and great customer support. I always see Corsair and OCZ representatives responding on forums like [H] and EVGA and in Newegg and Amazon reviews. Any company willing to go OUT and deal with customers proactively, makes me feel more comfortable about spending more on their products - because I know they will actually respond if I have an issue. I have done RMAs and Mail-in Rebates with both Corsair and OCZ and never had any problems in dealing with these companies.
 
n00zler said:
Within 1 hr, you recommend 2 different things in the same thread...wow...

Price/Performance, I think that the G.Skill is probably the best bet. That being said, I personally got the OCZ 1600 Platinum. Pricey, but its working well for me :)
Click to expand...

do it up!
 
Compddd said:
What about the Kingston HyperX DDR3 2000 6GB kit for only $245 on Newegg? Anyone heard good/bad things about it? That is a great price for 6GB of DDR3 2000.........
Click to expand...

great deal. they are reliable, fast, cheap. =]
 
Skyyless - if your not going to give a reasonable suggestion then please STFU and stop post whoring.

@ the OP- I would just go with the G.Skill 3x2GB set from newegg, cheap and your not going to have to worry about memory speed even at that overclock. I've never had a problem so I don't know how their tech support is.
G.Skill DDR3-1333 (6GB)

Though if you want superb tech support and are willing to pay more for it then you can go with Corsair, they've always been very good to me when something breaks.
Corsair DDR3-1333 (6GB)
 
So if I buy DDR3 2000, I could just run my i7 setup OCed without having to actually OC the CPU?
 
Compddd said:
So if I buy DDR3 2000, I could just run my i7 setup OCed without having to actually OC the CPU?
Click to expand...

The question doesn't make sense as stated but I think you're trying to ask... will DDR3 200MHz modules run at 2000 without overclocking anything? OR you're thinking that you can overclock the memory settings without overclocking the CPU?

The i7 920/940/965 available today is default 1066MHz memory frequency I believe. So you will have to tweak the multiplier to get 1333 or 1600 or higher. I am not sure at what point you can adjust it without having to adjust the CPU clock - since the memory manager runs in tandem now. In order for me to get stable timings on my EVGA X58 at 1600MHz, yes I had to overclock the CPU.
 
I just picked up the Corsair Dominator 6GB (TR3X6G1600C8D) kit from the egg for 199.00. I wanted (for once) to buy the good stuff and I have been eyeing the dominators for a good while.
 
Cowboy420 said:
Um...so which one are you recommending?:eek:
Click to expand...

If he just have the i7 just to have/brag, and everyday basic use. go with kingston. cheap and reliable.

if youre a hardcore gaming or business man. go with the Dominator. go big or go home.

-skyyless
 
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