How much should I be spending on RAM?

[Totori]

Hi!

I'm building a $2,000~ gaming PC that will be using a 780 Ti and 4770k.

How much should I be spending on RAM? I'd like to purchase from NCIX but I'm noticing that they only have DDR3-1600s on sale. Is that all I need or should I go for something more expensive? I will be getting 16gb. Should I be getting 1600 or something higher?

Also, Samsung 840 Evo 250gb is on sale right now at newegg. I was really hoping to get a Pro but will Evo be good enough? Will I even notice the performance difference (I play MMOs with lots of loading time).

And finally, if someone happens to know the answer here instead of making a new post, what MoBo should I be getting with this build? I have no idea how much to spend.

I will 100% be purchasing all of these from NCIX Canada, so if you have some recommendations and a moment please check out the sales there =)

 

[Cerb]

How much should I be spending on RAM?

How much RAM do you want? You can have up to 32GB, and at $2000, you're not exactly limited.

I'd like to purchase from NCIX but I'm noticing that they only have DDR3-1600s on sale. Is that all I need or should I go for something more expensive? I will be getting 16gb. Should I be getting 1600 or something higher?

If you find a good sale, 1866 wouldn't be bad, but stick to 1.5V or lower. IMO, look for 1600MHz or higher CAS <=9 and <=1.5V. Haswell can use a bit faster RAM than SB or Ivy, and occasional applications pop up sensitive to timings, so you might not want to get CAS 11 or 12 RAM, but it's not a big deal like was years ago.

Also, Samsung 840 Evo 250gb is on sale right now at newegg. I was really hoping to get a Pro but will Evo be good enough? Will I even notice the performance difference (I play MMOs with lots of loading time).

First, you've got it backwards. The Evo is slightly faster than the Pro. Second, though, why spend so much? $160 is not bad, but you can do better, this time of year (IMO, order the SSD ASAP, and wait on the rest). Just at NCIX, the Crucial M500 240GB is $140. At Newegg.ca, the Sandisk Ultra 256GB plus is $150 At Tigerdirect.ca, the Sandisk Ultra Plus 256GB should be just over $110 AMIR, buying with V.me and getting the rebate, and $130 with just V.me. If you're good at keeping up with rebates, the TD.ca deal, with V.me, is a steal. Otherwise, go for the M500.

And, the short answer is no, you will not see any performance difference, in practice, at least with any of those drives. All of them are very fast, and all of them have pretty good steady-state performance, so no worries about getting too pokey over time, either (they'll slow down as you fill them up some, like a HDD, but nothing permanent, and no jitteriness while non-idle GC kicks in or anything, which very well can happen with older drives, and the 840 Pro w/ factory OP space).

And finally, if someone happens to know the answer here instead of making a new post, what MoBo should I be getting with this build? I have no idea how much to spend.

Fill out the sticky in GH, and post about it there. Be polite, though, and link to this thread, though.

 

[Naer]

Are you well fed and clothed? If yes, spend as much as you can

 

[Totori]

I'm looking at GSkill Tridents DDR3-2400, but they are 1.65v. In fact, all the 2400's I see are 1.65v. I want 2x8gb for RAM.

Is this an issue?

Also, are you sure about EVO > Pro? I swear the benchmarks I see all place Pro higher.

 

[denis280]

What are you going to do.do you really need alot of ram.that is the question

 

[Totori]

What are you going to do.do you really need alot of ram.that is the question

That doesn't really change the question..either way 2x4gb and 2x8gb have the same 1.65v/ratings.

 

[denis280]

That doesn't really change the question..either way 2x4gb and 2x8gb have the same 1.65v/ratings.

I know.what i mean is.do you really need that mush memory.are you doing photoshop or video.if it is for gaming 8 is plenty.

 

[Cerb]

That doesn't really change the question..either way 2x4gb and 2x8gb have the same 1.65v/ratings.

No, 1.5V ratings. 1.5V.

 

[Totori]

No, 1.5V ratings. 1.5V.

Am I mistaken? If I look at a list of NCIX's DDR3-2400 memory, they are all listed as 1.65V. I can't find 1.5V DDR3-2400.

 

[Cerb]

Am I mistaken? If I look at a list of NCIX's DDR3-2400 memory, they are all listed as 1.65V. I can't find 1.5V DDR3-2400.

Just get 1600, 1866, or 2133. If you're not going to use IGP, don't bother with super-fast RAM. It made little difference with DDR2 and off-package RAM controllers, and today, it makes less difference than your choice of motherboard.

Put the saved money towards a better cooler, better video card, bigger SSD, etc..

 

[TemjinGold]

Am I mistaken? If I look at a list of NCIX's DDR3-2400 memory, they are all listed as 1.65V. I can't find 1.5V DDR3-2400.

Because DDR3-2400 is heavily overclocked. You can't overclock that high without ramping up the juice.

 

[Totori]

Just get 1600, 1866, or 2133. If you're not going to use IGP, don't bother with super-fast RAM. It made little difference with DDR2 and off-package RAM controllers, and today, it makes less difference than your choice of motherboard.

Put the saved money towards a better cooler, better video card, bigger SSD, etc..

NCIX has 2x8gb Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1600 @ $140. It really isn't worth the extra $50 for 2x8gb GSkill Trident DDR3-2400 @ 195?

 

[Cerb]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7505/patriot-viper-iii-review/4

 

[Totori]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7505/patriot-viper-iii-review/4

Does that say I will basically not see a difference if I purchase, as an example, GSkill DDR3-1600 Ripjaws vs Gskill Trident DDR3-2400?

Am I reading this right? But then, I checked another review from here and it says:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7364/memory-scaling-on-haswell/10

"Avoid DDR3-1333 (and DDR3-1600)"

 

[blastingcap]

Does that say I will basically not see a difference if I purchase, as an example, GSkill DDR3-1600 Ripjaws vs Gskill Trident DDR3-2400?

Am I reading this right? But then, I checked another review from here and it says:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7364/memory-scaling-on-haswell/10

"Avoid DDR3-1333 (and DDR3-1600)"

Unless you are planning to use the embedded graphics in your CPU, you will not see much gain by going beyond DDR3-1600 of decent latency, say, DDR3-1600 CAS9 or something. The article itself says you might gain 5%. Then again you are spending $$$$ so imho you might as well get at least DDR3-1866 CAS9 or lower if it's not much more than DDR3-1600 CAS9. Which is coincidentally what I have though I just got the 1866 because it was barely any more expensive than DDR3-1600 at the time, not because I needed it or cared about that 5% extra speed in some programs.

But I'm assuming you are using one discrete GPU, and if so, you can definitely get away with using DDR3-1600 CAS9. From the same article you cited:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7364/memory-scaling-on-haswell/7

However if you are using multi-GPU you may want to spring for 1866+:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7364/memory-scaling-on-haswell/8

 

[Blain]

I'm building a $2,000~ gaming PC...

How much should I be spending on RAM?
I'd like to purchase from NCIX but I'm noticing that they only have DDR3-1600s on sale.
Is that all I need
or should I go for something more expensive?
I will be getting 16gb.?

*$140 CAD
* yes
* no

1.5v or less

 

[Morbus]

I went for the Kingston HyperX Predator &#8364; 1866MHZ. They have two profiles, both 1.5V: 9-9-9-27 @ 1600MHZ and 11-10-11-29 (if memory serves me) @ 1866MHZ. They can be overclocked way higher though, if you increase the voltage, and they have huge passive coolers which helps. I've seen a review where they got the DIMMs running stable at 2400MHZ on CL11, I've only tried to go up to 220MHZ or something before I gave up and came back down to stock levels. It really makes very little difference.

 

[CakeMonster]

Are you well fed and clothed? If yes, spend as much as you can

This makes no sense.

RAM speed or brand makes little to none difference for the Intel platform in practically all scenarios for regular users. Go for the cheapest possible 2x8GB set of <=1.5v, >=1600, <=CAS9 that you can find.