RAM to pair with a 4770k?

[waterjug]

pairing this mobo with a 4770K haswell. I'm debating what RAM to get with it...how fast can the RAM be before the 4770K becomes the bottleneck? PC3 1600??

 

[tweakboy]

lol take a deep breath. Recommend 16GB kit.. 2x8GB ,, 1600 or 3000 Mhz on the ram will do nothing for you.

 

[Enigmoid]

Get cheaper DDR3 1600 ram, CL 9. Faster will not see any gains outside a few specific instances (winrar or encoding programs generally) outside of an unnoticeable 1-2%.

If good faster RAM is available at the same price then get that.

But there is no point spending a lot of money for ridiculous speeds.

 

[nwo]

I am running this RAM with my i7 4770k just because I got it for a few bucks more than DDR1600 RAM ($54). I would recommend 1866 RAM if you are overclocking.

Not all RAM is made equal.

I had 2x4GB of Team Vulcan DDR 1600 RAM in my i5 3570k before I upgraded to some G.SKill DDR1866 RAM (not one I linked above) and my Asus fast/safe auto OC instantly went up by 200MHz, from 4.1GHz to 4.3GHz without changing anything but the RAM.

 

[waterjug]

wow nice little bump....I'm doing mostly HD Video rendering and picture editing with the machine...so I'm probably going to be going with 16GB, was trying to decide between 1600 & 1866.

Thanks!

edit: 4.3 on an i5? What are you using for cooling?

 

[tweakboy]

wow nice little bump....I'm doing mostly HD Video rendering and picture editing with the machine...so I'm probably going to be going with 16GB, was trying to decide between 1600 & 1866.

Thanks!

edit: 4.3 on an i5? What are you using for cooling?

pickup 1600Mhz 2x8GB Dual Channel. gl

 

[nwo]

wow nice little bump....I'm doing mostly HD Video rendering and picture editing with the machine...so I'm probably going to be going with 16GB, was trying to decide between 1600 & 1866.

Thanks!

edit: 4.3 on an i5? What are you using for cooling?

I'm using this... I got it for $10 after MIR from newegg D:


I dunno if my temp sensors are off, but my i5 is running at about 50-55*C under full load (yes, I mine LTC on it as well as my 7870s). I have to give some props to this amazing case as well though, and I am currently not running any fans at the top of the case, but I do have some on the way

 

[waterjug]

WOW that case is crazy! so many spots for fans haha

 

[nwo]

WOW that case is crazy! so many spots for fans haha

Yeah, that case spoiled me... Especially since I am cheap and I managed to get it for less than 50 bucks after MIR with free shipping.

I ordered this case for my 2nd rig which I built a few months after, and the difference is so huge it makes me want to trash the Raidmax case and just go to Micro Center to pick up another Cooler Master HAF 912.

The difference in build quality and cable management is insane, not to mention airflow.

At first impression, the Raidmax case only lacks 1 front intake fan (it has 1 as opposed to two in CM case) but that being said it is also a bit more compact which made a huge difference in my temperatures.

Also, it took me about an hour to install the front case fan on the Raidmax case because it did not come with mounting screws and the front faceplate has to be unscrewed off... Which was a major pain in the ass WITHOUT a magnetic screwdriver. Putting the screws back on was practically impossible without a magnetic screwdriver, so I gave up after I somehow managed to get in 1/2 on each side.

 

[Slomo4shO]

I just picked up G.SKILL Sniper Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3 2400 ram and would recommend it. The trident serries has better timing and are a little more and would be a good alternative. I like the aesthetics of the snipers series better

 

[Piklar]

I just picked up G.SKILL Sniper Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3 2400 ram and would recommend it. The trident serries has better timing and are a little more and would be a good alternative. I like the aesthetics of the snipers series better

That's a very nice choice, I have the 32GB 2400 trident set.. you cant go wrong with high end G.Skill memory..

 

[waterjug]

I've never actually used G.Skill, how's it compare to Corsair?

 

[Slomo4shO]

I've never actually used G.Skill, how's it compare to Corsair?

My preference is Crucial > G.Skills > Mushkin > Corsair. It is unfortunate that Crucial currently has no kits higher than 1866 native. Corsair memory tends to be overpriced. The tridents perform just as well as the dominator platinums at a fraction of the cost, a 60% premium for aesthetics is absurd.

 

[nwo]

I've never actually used G.Skill, how's it compare to Corsair?

Not sure, but I am loving all three of my G.Skill kits equally

Considering what an amazing deal I got on 2/3 kits and how well all of them perform, I would not even consider another brand, especially after my horrid experience with Team Vulcan RAM. I would not consider G.Skill top notch, but they are definitely up there.

 

[tweakboy]

What CL will you be using ?

 

[john3850]

Crucial Ballistix is some good memory.
Paid 89 on a sale for Ballistix 1600 8x2 which runs 1866 1.35v.
Gskill is ok but it is binned tightly.

 

[CakeMonster]

Cheapest possible 1600 C9 1.5v 8Gbx2 set.

If you can get a better deal on something with better specs, go for it. But unless you have extremely specific needs for professional use, its not worth spending a single cent for more than the above specs.

 

[DigDog]

honestly, i dont think you can buy "bad" ram these days.

 

[JimmiG]

I got 1600 MHz RAM that I overclocked to 1866 MHz because why not. The variance between two consecutive runs of any benchmark at the same RAM speed is greater than the difference I got from actually overclocking the memory.

Don't think RAM matters much with Haswell, at least not above 1600MHz/CL9. Might be a good idea to go with low profile RAM if you're planning to strap one of the heat pipe "tower" monstrosities to the CPU. RAM heatsinks are just for cosmetics anyway.

 

[nwo]

honestly, i dont think you can buy "bad" ram these days.

Believe it or not I did. I got Team vulcan 2x4GB DDR 1600 RAM. Whichever utility I ran, it showed the RAM as being DDR1333 chips. Although I had no trouble OCing it to its rated 1600MHz, I returned it because they were trying to sell DDR 1333 RAM that's labeled as DDR 1600.

 

[Slomo4shO]

Believe it or not I did. I got Team vulcan 2x4GB DDR 1600 RAM. Whichever utility I ran, it showed the RAM as being DDR1333 chips. Although I had no trouble OCing it to its rated 1600MHz, I returned it because they were trying to sell DDR 1333 RAM that's labeled as DDR 1600.

Most ram defaults to 1333, you have to go into the bios and either select XMP profiles or set the timing and frequency manually... My 2400 G.Skill kit defaulted to 1333 as well in my Maximus VI Extreme...

 

[WinSomeLoseNone]

Z87 paired with some 2133/2400 low latency would be great.

I'm using 4x4GB of Samsung 30nm Green RAM @ 2400MHz CL/CAS 10. You can find it used for ~$130-150/16GB

The old "1600MHz is fast enough" adage is not holding true these days. 1600MHz may offer great latency (CL 7/8 usually) but it is lacking in bandwidth.

Here are some benchmarks I ran with MaxxMem at various speeds on my Samsung 30nm sticks. 2133 CL10 beat 1600 CL8 by a decent margin. I was running a Z68 board for those benches so 2400Mhz was not tested


1600 CL8

1866 CL8

2133 CL11

2133 CL10

2133 CL9

 

[waterjug]

Z87 paired with some 2133/2400 low latency would be great.

I'm using 4x4GB of Samsung 30nm Green RAM @ 2400MHz CL/CAS 10. You can find it used for ~$130-150/16GB

The old "1600MHz is fast enough" adage is not holding true these days. 1600MHz may offer great latency (CL 7/8 usually) but it is lacking in bandwidth.

Here are some benchmarks I ran with MaxxMem at various speeds on my Samsung 30nm sticks. 2133 CL10 beat 1600 CL8 by a decent margin. I was running a Z68 board for those benches so 2400Mhz was not tested


1600 CL8

1866 CL8

2133 CL11

2133 CL10

2133 CL9

great post! thank you!

 

[nwo]

Most ram defaults to 1333, you have to go into the bios and either select XMP profiles or set the timing and frequency manually... My 2400 G.Skill kit defaulted to 1333 as well in my Maximus VI Extreme...

What I am saying is that even after I did that and supposedly got it up to 1600 speeds, it would still show up at 1333 speeds in CPU-z and other similar utilities.