Need some help choosing RAM

[jimbodan]

I'm running this mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128423 ( Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R )
and this CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211 (Intel I7 950)


and I'm looking to upgrade from 6gb of ram to 12gb. Right now I'm trying to choose between these 3 options:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148511
vs.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233146
vs.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231358&Tpk=F3-12800CL9T-12GBRL

I'd also like to consider Mushkin since they are an American company but I have no idea if they are any good or which sticks would be best for my system, I've tried using their configurator but I couldn't find my mobo listed.

I'll probably be running stock and just want something fast and reliable out of the box that will work well with what I already have.

 

[drescherjm]

Any of these choices will be fine.

I'll probably be running stock

But you will be overclocking your CPUs ram controller. Remember the maximum official ram speed for the i7 950 is DDR3 1066.

http://ark.intel.com/products/37150/Intel-Core-i7-950-Processor-8M-Cache-3_06-GHz-4_80-GTs-Intel-QPI

With that said DDR3 1600 will work fine.

want something fast and reliable out of the box

Make sure you test your ram when you get it. That means at least 1 night of memtest86+ or 200% coverage with hclmemtest. Since hclmemtest prevents you from allocating all ram in 1 test run several simultaneous instances such that almost all of your ram is allocated. Use taskmanager to help you with that.

 

[jimbodan]

Any of these choices will be fine.


But you will be overclocking your CPUs ram controller. Remember the maximum official ram speed for the i7 950 is DDR3 1066.

http://ark.intel.com/products/37150/Intel-Core-i7-950-Processor-8M-Cache-3_06-GHz-4_80-GTs-Intel-QPI

With that said DDR3 1600 will work fine.



Make sure you test your ram when you get it. That means at least 1 night of memtest86+ or 200% coverage with hclmemtest. Since hclmemtest prevents you from allocating all ram in 1 test run several simultaneous instances such that almost all of your ram is allocated. Use taskmanager to help you with that.

I just saw this on sale: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231429

Would that work and be better then the other choices?

 

[drescherjm]

It's the same as the other GSkill kit but for dual channel not triple channel. Your board should take 4 dimms in either a 3 + 1 config or a 2 + 2 config.

 

[jimbodan]

It's the same as the other GSkill kit but for dual channel not triple channel. Your board should take 4 dimms in either a 3 + 1 config or a 2 + 2 config.

Thanks! If you had to pick 1 of the 4 options, which would you choose?

 

[drescherjm]

I just checked a manual for my evga X58 board and it says to use them in 2 + 2 mode when you have 4 dimms. I have never had 4 of the same dimms in my board so I have not tested that. I have a 6 GB + a 12 GB kit filling all 6 slots.

 

[jimbodan]

I decided on the 16gb G.Skill

 

[scharfshutze009]

I decided on the 16gb G.Skill

Why did you choose a 16GB kit of Gskill when you have an X58 motherboard design for triple channel DDR3. You be better off with a 24GB kit with six sticks of 4GB or three sticks of 8GB. Also with triple channel you provide better bandwidth than the dual channel that Sandy Bridge aka socket 1155 are limited to. Consider you board is a second generation X58 motherboard with USB 3.0 you should be able to support up to 48GB expecially with the most current BIOS as you may need it for the computer to recognize that much memory, but thats just something to consider because I'm only suggesting up to 24GB for triple channel. You could also do 12GB as you originally planned to get triple channel be that not as much RAM as 16GB.

 

[jimbodan]

Why did you choose a 16GB kit of Gskill when you have an X58 motherboard design for triple channel DDR3. You be better off with a 24GB kit with six sticks of 4GB or three sticks of 8GB. Also with triple channel you provide better bandwidth than the dual channel that Sandy Bridge aka socket 1155 are limited to. Consider you board is a second generation X58 motherboard with USB 3.0 you should be able to support up to 48GB expecially with the most current BIOS as you may need it for the computer to recognize that much memory, but thats just something to consider because I'm only suggesting up to 24GB for triple channel. You could also do 12GB as you originally planned to get triple channel be that not as much RAM as 16GB.

Because I can't afford 24gb or 48gb. From everything I've read the benefit of triple channel over dual channel is marginal at best and not likely to even be seen in the real world, only a couple percent gain in benchmarks. Also since the 16gb kit was about the same price as the other 12gb kits I can always just run 12gb and save the extra 4gb stick for a backup if for some reason I actually notice a major difference.

 

[scharfshutze009]

Because I can't afford 24gb or 48gb. From everything I've read the benefit of triple channel over dual channel is marginal at best and not likely to even be seen in the real world, only a couple percent gain in benchmarks. Also since the 16gb kit was about the same price as the other 12gb kits I can always just run 12gb and save the extra 4gb stick for a backup if for some reason I actually notice a major difference.

Ok that's a pretty good reason and a good idea. I wasn't expecting you to buy a 48 GB kit and was just stating that it should be possible with your board but maybe not with your processor because according to Intel the specs state the following "Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type) 24 GB" because your processor is a Bloomfield series. However, It looks like the same thing applies to the Gulftown, which would include the 970, 980, 980X, and 990X. It says its dependent on memory type though, so should the need for 48 GB ever arise maybe you can use ECC FBDIMMs of DDR3.

 

[WildR]

I had my doubts also but basically it's a good choice if you bought the 16gb G.Skill instead of tripple channel DDR3s. I've read some about the differences and the dual channel takes the trophy anyway. At least for now.