Compatability Question

[GarethG]

Hi all, just a quick question on compatability between these 3 components:

Intel i7 950

Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5

Corsair Dominator GT PC3-(2000)

From what I can gather they are all compatable but I would like other oppinions before I spend that kind of money

I would also like to know if the RAM will actualy run at 2000MHz, I'm a little confused about the voltage the ram uses (1.65V) and the voltage the motherboard uses for the RAM (1.5V).

Just as an F.Y.I. I will be using a geforce 280 which I have owned for awhile and my 800W PSU, also my SATA HDD.

Any help would be appreciated

[aidanjt]

Yes, they're all fine.

[dodgybob]

1.5v will be the default voltage for standard ddr3 ram, 1.65v is how much that ram needs to stabiliy run at 2000MHz. Should boot ok, you'll then be able to adjust the ram timings and up the the voltage of the ram in the bios.

[GarethG]

Thanks alot, invaluable information

Just as a side note then, if i have a choice between 1.64V and 1.66V which one should I use, I see quite a few people asking this question but not many definitive answers.

[scaryjim]

I'd've thought 1.64, but you may not need that much to get the RAM stable. If you've got time, watch the Overclocking Workshop from the SCAN performance event (it's on Hexus TV in about 5 parts). One of those very specifically says that with i7 voltage is not your friend.

If you leave everything in the BIOS on "auto" the motherboard should automatically bump the voltage up if necessary. Otherwise play manually, but I'd strongly recommend that you don't go *above* 1.65V with a Core i7 - most reviews reckon i7 is rathger sensitive to voltage...