Memory for new gaming PC

[andre451]

Hi everyone

So I'm building a PC for gaming with the motherboard Asus Maximus VI Gene but I've a doubt about the memory.

I initially choose the Corsair Vengeance 8Gb 1600Mhz 2x4Gb CL9 (9-9-9-24) CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9.

What would you guys recommend for gaming?

Btw 8Gb should be enough right?

[kalniel]

8GB is more than enough, and that's a fine choice of kit.

[andre451]

Are the memories with over 1600Mhz worth the extra cash? What is more relevant for gaming, frequency or latency?

[herulach]

Are the memories with over 1600Mhz worth the extra cash? What is more relevant for gaming, frequency or latency?

You'll see some performance increase, but tbh it's the last thing I'd be spending cash on. The extra in the GPU will go a lot further.

[Frankenfurter]

I was asking all these same questions various places not long ago, basically that's a solid choice for a RAM kit from a reputable company in Corsair. The latency is generally less important than the frequency, but if you want to how quickly your RAM will be responding to requests (in theory) it's latency/frequency.

For this RAM 9/1600 = 0.0056something seconds which is at the better end of mid-market RAM I'd say, and probably what a lot of people will be choosing as it gives good performance for the price (arguably, RAM is really expensive now), and faster RAM will give less and less extra performance for the cost increase. As herulach said, there're better things to spend the money on than faster RAM.

Anyway, you can check different RAM sticks against each other (in theory) like this, lower numbers of course being better. In practice though this wont tell you everything and with the sticks you've chosen you shouldn't have to worry I shouldn't think as they seem to have a really good reputation. Also, they look cool.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/...-latency-speed <-- The best answer on here has an explanation of the latency/frequency thing if you're interested btw.

Hope that helped.

[andre451]

Ok, that answered my questions. Thanks guys

[Frankenfurter]

No worries.

[andre451]

After some research I was able to find some memories with 2400Mhz at practically the same price, and even some with 2666Mhz for a little bit more money:

KINGSTON HyperX Beast KHX24C11T3K2/8X CL11 2400Mhz
CORSAIR Vengeance Pro CMY8GX3M2A2400C11 2400Mhz
KINGSTON HyperX Predator KHX26C11T2K2/8X CL11 2666Mhz
TEAM GROUP Xtreem TXD38G2666HC10QDC01 CL10 2666Mhz

What do you guys think?

[mikeo01]

8GB is great. The problem is some benefit from tighter timings and others enjoy higher frequencies. But the truth is you'll see a few FPS difference between RAM kits.

If you are not looking at APUs I'd probably recommend a 1600Mhz kit with very tight timings.


But out of your choice I'd definitely go with the TEAM GROUP CL10 2666Mhz. 2666Mhz RAM is not much expensive than 2400Mhz, but the point is you may be able to tighten those timings a bit more


Though personally I'd be spending the extra cash on a graphics card. RAM are not worth the price at the moment.

[Frankenfurter]

What Mike said ^^^ The APU bit is a good point, faster memory helps compensate for lack of on-chip memory for those chips.

Also just to point out that you should check the voltages are OK with your motherboard.

That Kingston one for example is rated at 1333MHz CL9 if at 1.5v, with the higher frequency in its description at 1.65v. Probably not a problem but some motherboards will only run it at 1.5v, mine being one of them. All of those RAM sticks are rated at 1.65v, so if you're planning to get any of them it's worth checking first.

[peterb]

I've deleted a couple of posts as they were making empty assertions without any discussion to support to back them up! It's great that there are many people giving advice (and I hope the OP has found the majority of comments useful) but comments are more helpful if they are backed up with practical experience, or a link back to a reference or test!

[andre451]

Thanks peterb for the cleaning!

From the Asus Maximus VI Gene website specs it can handle frequencies up to 3000Mhz and if I'm not mistaken, you can't have 3000Mhz without voltages higher than 1.5v right?

Btw on website of the vendor, those TEAM GROUP Xtreem have "TXD38G2666HC10QDC01 CL10" on the title but in the description it says that the manufacturer part number is TXD38G2666HC11CDC01, so it's probably CL11.

[Frankenfurter]

Oh sorry, my mistake. That's what you get for trusting Google with a product code. Haha.

It was just an example anyway though, just wanted to make sure you knew to check really.

I'm afraid I have no idea about your motherboard in particular I just know that mine states 1.5v.
According to someone here though all you actually need to have is RAM compatible with 1.5v so that you can put the settings up to 1.65v. Maybe I've been misinformed, I'm not sure now.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answer...imus-hero.html

Anyway, hopefully someone else can clarify or debunk this? I'd quite like to know too now.

You are right to check the frequency though, some frequencies aren't supported by some motherboards.

[andre451]

I think there will be no problems with the voltage...

I was reading a review of the KINGSTON HyperX Predator KHX26C11T2K2/8X CL11 2666Mhz and apparently the frequency at which they work better would be 2400Mhz, at which he didn't had to overclock the CPU, if that's the case I would rather get the KINGSTON HyperX Beast KHX24C11T3K2/8X CL11 2400Mhz. http://www.pureoverclock.com/Review-...26c11t2k28x/5/
Any thoughts on thats?

@ mikeo01
The biggest price difference of the mentioned memory kits in this thread is about 16£, that wouldn't help much in graphics card department, also I'm getting a 780 Ti... but thanks for the advice.

[Frankenfurter]

Well CL11 2400MHz should be about 23% more responsive than the CL9 1600MHz. (9/1600)/(11/2400)*100=122.7...%

How much performance gain you'll actually get from that though, no idea. Still, for £16...

[Bonebreaker777]

For a mere £16 just go for the faster modules. It will remove any potential memory subsystem bottleneck that may appear.