More memory or faster memory

[Mike A]

Probably an old question but the posts I've seen go back 2 years or more.

I am thinking of building an I7 machine, 2600K processor. Sole purpose is HD video editing using Windows 7. I was thinking of 8 Gb of DDR3 RAM but see that for about the same price I could get 12 Gb if I choose slower modules (I am assuming that numbers like 1333, 1600, 1866 refer to the speed - certainly the price seems to go up as these numbers go up - you see from this that I am not too sophisticated! :\).

Any thoughts?

 

[Blain]

Generally the answer would be "more".
What configuration is the 12GBs?

 

[dma0991]

What you are paying for is not performance but quality. The chips that does not meet certain standards are binned as value RAMs and the cream of the crop are made into performance RAM.

That being said if unless you're an extreme overclocker or trying for the highest possible benchmark scores, you're not going to benefit much from a performance RAM.

The price goes up as the speed of the RAM goes up but the performance increase is minimal at best. It does not show a significant performance increase like changing from a HDD to a SSD.

 

[Mike A]

Thanks for useful answers. I was assuming 3 x 4Gb is what I would get. The motherboard will take 4 x 240 pin. Would be using 64 bit Win7, of course.

 

[Blain]

If I were shopping for high quality memory, I would use the following parameters as a guide...

* DDR3 rated at 1.5v or lower
* DDR3 rated at the lowest CAS I could afford
* DDR3 rated at the highest clock speed I could afford
* Limit the scope of my purchease to G.Skill, Mushkin, Corsair XMS or Crucial (non-Ballistix)

While not wavering on the voltage point, I would balance the other issues with my budget.

Remember kids my goal is not pure "benchmarking" performance, but simply finding the highest quality memory I can afford. ^_^

What he said

 

[Voo]

What he said

Well considering that you won't notice the difference between 1600 DDR3 (today quite the baseline - 1333 or 1066 aren't much cheaper if you can find them at all) and 2k+ - not even to speak about different timings - in real live applications I really wouldn't want to spend more money on that even if I could.

Also if at all I'd prioritize bandwidth above timing, since that can lead to at least some gains for video encoding and such. But really, nothing one would notice.

 

[geofelt]

Thanks for useful answers. I was assuming 3 x 4Gb is what I would get. The motherboard will take 4 x 240 pin. Would be using 64 bit Win7, of course.

A P67 motherboard will want 4 ram sticks to operate in dual channel mode with all sticks. With a 12gb kit of 3 x 4gb, the odd stick will operate in single channel mode. Just go ahead and get a 16gb kit of 4 x 4gb. Ram is cheap. Do not pay extra for faster speeds, better timings, or fancy heat spreaders. They add little value.

 

[Blain]

Well considering that you won't notice the difference between 1600 DDR3 (today quite the baseline - 1333 or 1066 aren't much cheaper if you can find them at all) and 2k+ - not even to speak about different timings - in real live applications I really wouldn't want to spend more money on that even if I could.

Also if at all I'd prioritize bandwidth above timing, since that can lead to at least some gains for video encoding and such. But really, nothing one would notice.

Like I said in the full quote...
"...my goal is not pure "benchmarking" performance, but simply finding the highest quality memory I can afford."