Bought Bioshock Infinite - RAM upgrade time! - Mobo:Crosshair Formula IV

snowjunki

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Hello, I want more RAM.
I currently have G.Skill 2 * 2 (4GB).
F3-12800OCL9D DDR3 1600 PC3 CL 9-9-9-24.

I want to switch out my nvidia gpu for an ATI card eventually crossfiring so I want enough RAM to see my rig maximize it's performance with the potential to OC which is why I have g.skill in the first place.

Should I go with 8GB or 16GB? I do gaming and photoshop and a lot of general media.
My cpu: phenom II 965 BE
GPU: MSI 460 GTX Hawk
coolermaster 212 cpu heatsink

Also, on this mobo, with my current cpu heatsink the fourth RAM slot is going to be blocked. With AMD boards is it ever a performance increase to use 4 sticks, say buying two 8GB sticks and then two more later for a total of 32?

My current RAM is 1600 so given that my entire rig is setup for OC'ing I want a RAM that will give me that flowing clip ease as I know it's my GPU bottlenecking Bioshock and not my quadsquad RAM.

Thank you.
 
Solution
16Gb is all you will ever need for normal or even somewhat heavy photo editing and video rendering. but you will want to check if your MoBo can even handle that much RAM.

For 16Gb, I would go with this...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231568
or this... to save a bit of $$$ without a noticeable drop in performance
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231489
This RAM should be able to fit under your heatsync, depending on what type it is...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231606

If you can only do 8Gb, go with this...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231536

Shockeray

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Nov 30, 2012
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16Gb is all you will ever need for normal or even somewhat heavy photo editing and video rendering. but you will want to check if your MoBo can even handle that much RAM.

For 16Gb, I would go with this...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231568
or this... to save a bit of $$$ without a noticeable drop in performance
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231489
This RAM should be able to fit under your heatsync, depending on what type it is...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231606

If you can only do 8Gb, go with this...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231536
 
Solution

Shockeray

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snowjunki

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Thank you for responding.

So 9-9-9 timing is better than 9-9-9-24 ? Your top recommendation is a bit pricier but less latency. It doesn't match the mobo colour scheme but not too worried bout that. The Ares RAM that you said would fit under, is that the second best option?
Thank you.
 

Shockeray

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9-9-9 is not (as far as I'm aware) faster than 9-9-9-24.

The first one I posted is the best of them.
The second is only a tiny bit slower, but cheaper.
And the third is a little less reliable, but would be my recommendation if you want to get to fit with the 212 Cooler, though you might want to chat with someone from your Motherboard's company to make sure that it will fit.
 

mightymaxio

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9-9-9-24 is the same. There is always 4 numbers in memory timing, if they wrote 3 then it was an error on their part. You really won't notice anything from an increase in timings or speed above 1600mhz maybe by a fraction of a framerate.
 

Shockeray

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I'm not sure if that is right, instead of 9-9-9-24, it could be 9-9-9-2N which is a different speed, I'll have to ask G.Skill what's up with the timing of that module kit.