New low-budget build

[IanWorthington]

DDR3 1600 is so incredibly pointless with Sandy Bridge

Why?

 

[dpodblood]

Why?

Because SB is overclockable only through the multiplier, therefore the memory speed will never be affected. I made this mistake myself in a thread earlier this week.

 

[mnewsham]

while you cant OC the RAM if you start off with 1600Mhz it will be faster then 1333 Mhz

You just cant go and bump this up to 1700Mhz by changing the BCLK

 

[IanWorthington]

Because SB is overclockable only through the multiplier, therefore the memory speed will never be affected. I made this mistake myself in a thread earlier this week.

Are you saying that

... you will see unlock memory multipliers on the K-SKU parts so you can set it to a predefined ratio much like on the Nehalem.

from http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.php?showtopic=181028

is incorrect?

 

[dpodblood]

According to the wikipedia page for Sandy Bridge the CPU's support "Up to dual channel DDR3-1333" except for the extreme edition chips, which support 1600. This leads me to believe the memory will run at 1333 even if 1600 was installed. Please someone correct me if this is wrong, but this is my current understanding.

 

[dpodblood]

Are you saying that



from http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.php?showtopic=181028

is incorrect?

Ok so you can *technically* overclock the base clock speed, not only through the multiplier, but all the buses are tied together, so deviation by even a few MHz will cause instability.

 

[mnewsham]

If the Mobo is rated to run 1600 RAM and it has the proflies for it then it should be able to run it.

 

[dpodblood]

If the Mobo is rated to run 1600 RAM and it has the proflies for it then it should be able to run it.

Can anyone confirm that? I thought the memory speed was tied to the base clock speed. Or was that only in ye olden days of overclocking?

 

[dpodblood]

Ah here we go...

"Intel's new P67 motherboards allow its LGA1155 Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs to clock the memory to speeds up to and including 2,133MHz without the need to overclock. This is despite the fact that the CPU's dual-channel DDR3 memory controller is only rated up to 1,333MHz."

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/memory/2011/01/11/the-best-memory-for-sandy-bridge/1

 

[IanWorthington]

Ok so you can *technically* overclock the base clock speed, not only through the multiplier, but all the buses are tied together, so deviation by even a few MHz will cause instability.

The memory multipliers change the bclock???

 

[dpodblood]

The memory multipliers change the bclock???

Ok nevermind. I was confused, but I think it's making sense now thanks to that bit-tech article. The memory can run at whatever its rated speed is regardless of the CPU speed, though it does not appear to make too much of a difference in gaming benchmarks.

 

[mnewsham]

Ok nevermind. I was confused, but I think it's making sense now thanks to that bit-tech article. The memory can run at whatever its rated speed is regardless of the CPU speed, though it does not appear to make too much of a difference in gaming benchmarks.

That's why i tell most people 1333Mhz 1.5V CL9 is fine.

 

[IanWorthington]

Moving from 1333 to 1600 seems to give maybe a 4% advantage in multitasked operations though. Lightroom exports probably fall into that category if you start up separate export operations.

 

[dpodblood]

That's why i tell most people 1333Mhz 1.5V CL9 is fine.

I am in the process of making up a SB build for myself. Looks like the price difference between 1333 and 1600 RAM is ~$20 on 8GB (2x4GB) kits.

 

[mfenn]

Why?

Because you don't overclock the CPU by raising the BCLK anymore, so the memory will never hold you back. DDR3 1600 is 2% faster than DDR3 1333 overall, so it's not worth the 20-25% premium.

 

[IanWorthington]

Because you don't overclock the CPU by raising the BCLK anymore, so the memory will never hold you back. DDR3 1600 is 2% faster than DDR3 1333 overall, so it's not worth the 20-25% premium.

Hmmm. I think you may have convinced me. I need to revisit my build plan I guess.

i

 

[mfenn]

Hmmm. I think you may have convinced me. I need to revisit my build plan I guess.

i

No prob.