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wutsinterweb3
End Citizen's United
Premium Member
join:2014-08-26
USA

wutsinterweb3

Premium Member

RAM questions

In my i5 thread I asked a question but realized it's a question that deserves its own thread because of its scope and that it goes beyond a build instruction. Also, I got no responses.

My most recent previous build as AMD based and DDR2 RAM, the computer is getting pretty darned long in the tooth. But now I've got RAM questions since I know nothing about Latency, voltage, and speed of DDR3 RAM, especially performance and overclocking rated RAM.

With DDR1, there were only a few speeds and latency was considered just as important. With DDR2, I chose 800 RAM because it was easier to overclock the AMD build.

My problem is I know nothing about i series (or anything Intel) processors and overclocking. I don't know what settings to work with and in which order to do them. I don't know how important latency ratings are, and don't know on Ivy and Haswell, if voltages matter as far as compatibility/potential problems on the various chipsets/motherboards. IF I get an i7 K series processor next year (I can't afford it in my upcoming build, so I'm gonna have to build incrementally), how do I figure out which speed and voltage and latency RAM I will want? Will 2400 or 2133 be significantly worse than 2600 or higher? At what level does diminishing returns on investment occur? I am considering 2400 RAM simply because it seems affordable to me, but if I'm significantly better off saving for another month so I can get faster than that, please explain to me how and why.

Basically, right now my build is gonna focus on the foundation of the build, the motherboard and the RAM, and next year I will upgrade from an i3 low end to an i7K processor when I get the next influx of money. I simply cannot do everything in one fell swoop and I've got the spend what money I will have now because otherwise it will disappear anyways.

For me, I feel the mainboard and RAM are the foundations of a system that is being built expectin upgrades a year later. All I can afford right now is a cheap processor, a good mainboard, decent RAM, an optical drive, and that's about it. Next year I hope to get a better processor, an SSD, and maybe a high capacity HD or maybe a case. If my settlement money ends up coming, I will be able to do more sooner.

Please unmake me clueless. Talk to me about RAM and overclocking it and choosing it. Speeds, latencies, voltages, brands. I want to get 2 x 8 gigs (16 gigs) for now. Part of the reason for this build is that I've got a whole gaggle of early teenage nephews that are heavily into gaming and their moms and dads won't permit them to have gaming grade systems, so I'm gonna bring my sistem over so they can use it from time to time.

I plan on selling some of the old system parts in a build for sale for a couple hundred bucks or less. I will than used that money for a new case hopefully.

Since I've go a total build thread started already, I don't want to stray from RAM discussion unless it supports RAM choices in this thread.

Please advise me. Thank you!

Tursiops_G
Technoid
MVM
join:2002-02-06
Brooksville, FL

Tursiops_G

MVM

The best advise I can give you, is to go to the Motherboard Vendor's Website, and download the QVL (Qualified Vendor List) for the correct RAM Make/Model and CPU options that are officially supported by that particular Motherboard.

HTH.
Chrno
join:2003-12-11

Chrno to wutsinterweb3

Member

to wutsinterweb3
said by wutsinterweb3:

System will be used for:

Storage of data
Browsing and Streaming
In the future: non extreme gaming
Coding
Office apps
Light graphics editing
Torrents
Crunching/Folding

I don't understand how any of the listed intended purposes of the system would warrant:
1. Overclocking
2. Extremely high speed RAM
3. an i7?

Perhaps you can enlighten those who are trying to assist you? Without knowing exactly what you are hoping to accomplish or why you started another thread on points which seems to have been partially address in your original post, all I can say is:
-the current Haswell processors are rated to run with 1600Mhz DDR3
-RAM overclocking on the Intel platform is very brainless, you just enable the EXtreme Memory Profile and you are done
-There's diminishing returns: as memory speed scales up, your RAM timing gets loose

Here's something you can use to educate yourself with if you need more information:
»www.anandtech.com/show/7 ··· -haswell
Aranarth
join:2011-11-04
Stanwood, MI

Aranarth to wutsinterweb3

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to wutsinterweb3
The truth is modern processors using ddr3 or 4 don't see as much benefit from overclocked or tight timing ram as older memory such as edo, sdram, and ddr2 did.
The primary reason for this is cache size has gone up especially L3 cache.

Also ram is very lenient as long as you do not exceed its parameters you can run it at just about any speed you like.

I.E. my ddr 2 1066mhz ram can be run at any speed from 333 to 1066 and even overclocked to 1200 as long as I relax the timings and up the voltage a little.
I get my best performance running the fsb at 400mhz, ram at 1066 and my q6600 at 3.2ghz.

If you have a core I5 or I7 there is no need to worry about ram speed so much anymore just drop is some 1/2 way decent ddr3 and go with it. Sure you can tweak the memory to get an extra 10% in synthetic test but in the real world the best you can hope for is about 1% difference. You will see more performance overclocking the processor or video card.

wutsinterweb3
End Citizen's United
Premium Member
join:2014-08-26
USA

1 edit

wutsinterweb3

Premium Member

Ah ok thank you folks, I think I'll go for less expensive RAM then!

EDIT: What is the standard voltage for Haswell systems RAM? Do I have to watch out with higher voltage RAM, are there any caveats? IOW, what do board default to, and will a system fail to POST/Boot with non standard voltage out of the box?
Aranarth
join:2011-11-04
Stanwood, MI

Aranarth

Member

nope just buy ddr3 etc and your good. all the fancy voltages etc are for overclocking ram. The mainboard will read the chip on the memory to find out what the default settings should be so everything should be automatic.

wutsinterweb3
End Citizen's United
Premium Member
join:2014-08-26
USA

wutsinterweb3

Premium Member

What is your take on this RAM:

»www.newegg.com/Product/P ··· 20231672
wutsinterweb3

wutsinterweb3 to Chrno

Premium Member

to Chrno
Thank you Ch, that link helped inform me. As far as me really need hyperthreading of an i7, it's correct that I don't currently need it from what I gather so far, but running virtual environments and video editng would make it more useful, right? I'm merely seeking guidance, I did not know about xmp.