Buy memory or motherboard first?

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g335

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Hello

I am building a new system. I am buying the parts as I go along.

I want to buy ram but not sure if I should by the motherboard first.

I dont know what kind of cpu I will buy. I am deciding between a FX8350 or a i7 4770k. Thats why no mb.

Should I buy the mb first or can I go ahead and buy the ram?
 
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Christopher MacQueen

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Depends what motherboard you have now and what it supports I'd say. But also depends on how much ram and speed you have now also. If between ram or mobo yet you don't know what CPU then obvious ram IF your current mobo supports the ram you would want to have after have new cpu and mobo.

I would personally though suggest you decide what you want first with all your major upgrades and then stick to that. I'd personally if want to upgrade all 3 not want to do it piece by piece but aim for an all at once strategy. Can also look for combo deals as well though.
 
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g335

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I really want to buy the FX 8350 but I keep thinking about the i7 4770k. I am not convinced about the i7.

Ok so I will try for the ram first.

Thanks.
 
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Wolfshadw

Wolfshadw

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If at all possible, you should save your money and purchase all the components together. That way, you'll know if you have any defective parts immediately, rather than waiting for months before you can test them and missing the return window.

-Wolf sends
 
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g335

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Thats a good point. I will if I can, but when I see a good deal, Ive been buying things. Just need mb, cpu, ram, and case ha ha.
 
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Christopher MacQueen

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I gotta agree with Wolf as I mentioned also. Better to do all the major stuff together if can be helped. But in the end its up to you. Memory is the only thing though you could get away with doing first IF its supported by your current system and a current improvement.

I personally like going with AMD though even though Intels may perform better on some tests often throughout the years. Always seen AMD cheaper and still solid quality so unless your wanting the best computer on the block sort of thing why bother. Plus I look at what happens if all the AMD users vanished because Intel maybe performs 5% better? AMD goes down the tube, thus the competition is dead and Intel owns the market so prices rise. Plus AMD from time to time surprises us. I've been a happy AMD user since the K7.
 
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JackNaylorPE

JackNaylorPE

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i would not buy ANYTHING until you can assemble a working system...... Buying the parts piecemeal puts you i the very difficult position that if ya find out ya got a bad RAM stick ,.... and ya bought it 4 months before ya got ya last component, you have up ya right to an exchange from the vendor after the 1st 30 days.
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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What all do you paln to do with the rig, that can help decide what CPU, though in all honesty, if comparing the 4770K and the 8350 there is no comparison - the 4770K is superior at all - if you were thinking the 4670K then the 8350 would have an advantage at video rendering, but that would it, so basically the 4770K is the way to go....DRAM plays in as most 8350s can carry 2 sticks of 1866 DRAM but beyond that it's iffy and depends on the individual 8350 you get, whereas the 4770K can dependably run up to 32GB od 2400 and generally much higher,

So set a budget decide on a CPU first, then decide on mobo and DRAM, the CPU is the big player as it will basically be the decision make in what DRAM you get since it has to run it, then the mobo plays in, whether it supports it or not, the better mobos will support the higher freqs
 
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g335

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Hello thanks

I will try to decide. So you are saying that with the 8350 I can only put in two physical sticks of ram? So if I want 16 gigs of ram I have to buy two 8gig sticks?
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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No but that's your best bet, comparitively speaking AMD has very weak MCs (memory controllers) 2 sticks are less stress on the MC than 4, which is one of the main reasons you see the rated DRAM freq drop as the number of sticks increase, you can go 4 in a 4x4GB config and try at 1866, though 1600 may be more likely, it all depends on your individual CPU, some OC great others suck, some can carry faster DRAM, others can't, in that respect, it's the same with Intel CPUs, ASUS did some testing on a couple hundred 4770K and found about 70% could run at 4.5, then down to like 30% could run 4.8
 
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g335

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Ok thank you.

What does the 4.5 and 4.8 represent? I am learning about ram and its timings and I dont understand why and how the stated speed times for the ram would change up or down depending on what's happening.
 
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