New i7-2600K build memory: 16GB DDR3 1866 or 1600?

[NACZ3]

I've seen the articles on memory speeds on bit-tech and Tomshardware with the i7-2500/2600K CPUs. From those, it looks like tighter timings gives better performance than speed. From some searches on several forums also, it looks like 1600 and 1866 ram are the best choices.

This weekend the
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL9D-8GBXL is on sale for $100 after coupon. Timings are 9-10-9-28-2N and it's 1.5V
and the
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL is on sale for $75. Timings are 9-9-9-24-2N and it's also 1.5V.

Is it worth the $50 difference for tighter timings at 2 sets for 16GB at 1600 or 2 sets at 1866 for a better OC? Anyone have any experience with the Gskill 1866?

I'm considering getting the Asus P8P67-Pro. Gskill lists that both sets of memory I've listed have been tested in it. I do plan on OC'ing.

Rig will be for gaming, photo/video editing, minor VM testing.

Any help is appreciated. Finally upgrading my OC'd Q6600 and 780- SLI rig.

 

[E4g1e]

I've seen the articles on memory speeds on bit-tech and Tomshardware with the i7-2500/2600K CPUs. From those, it looks like tighter timings gives better performance than speed. From some searches on several forums also, it looks like 1600 and 1866 ram are the best choices.

This weekend the
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL9D-8GBXL is on sale for $100 after coupon. Timings are 9-10-9-28-2N and it's 1.5V
and the
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL is on sale for $75. Timings are 9-9-9-24-2N and it's also 1.5V.

Is it worth the $50 difference for tighter timings at 2 sets for 16GB at 1600 or 2 sets at 1866 for a better OC? Anyone have any experience with the Gskill 1866?

I'm considering getting the Asus P8P67-Pro. Gskill lists that both sets of memory I've listed have been tested in it. I do plan on OC'ing.

Rig will be for gaming, photo/video editing, minor VM testing.

Any help is appreciated. Finally upgrading my OC'd Q6600 and 780- SLI rig.

Actually, you don't really need that fast of a memory. You can overclock just fine with only DDR3-1333 memory on that platform because the BCLK speed doesn't get raised much, if at all, when overclocking. In fact, the multiplier is the only thing that can be raised much when overclocking on this platform while the BCLK (and thus the memory speed) pretty much stays put.

With that said, you don't need more than that CL9 DDR3-1600 G.SKILL kit since at $150 for 16GB it actually costs less than the DDR3-1333 memory we normally recommend for this platform.

 

[datap1mp]

I just built a 2500K system for gaming with G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-8GBXH.

I'm running at 5Ghz no problem at the stock timings but I am wondering if it is worth it to exchange the memory for 1600 or higher memory.

My main interest is gaming at 2560x1600, would high frequency memory benefit me at all or should I just stay with my current memory?

 

[Janus67]

The only thing that matters with the RAM is tight timings to have a nice benchmark for SPi etc. Beyond that the speed of the RAM doesn't matter much as was mentioned.

 

[Falcon_CMH]

I have an ASUS P8P67 EVO gen. 1/2 MB. The 1866 Mhz lies right on the multiplier boundary if you choose not to change the BCLK or you can actually raise the BCLK a little if you want. Its a tough question. I went with 1.65V Corsair XMS memory the first time I have not used Dominators and they are 4 GB sticks, I have 4 for 16GB and they work/perform excellent. They are 2000Mhz CAS 9 and I run them a little tighter righ under the 2000 MHz with a modest +5 BCLK. But they were $175 on sale for 2 sticks. I am very fond of Corsair memory its all I use.