DDR3 and speeds over 2000, do they matter?

So 2133 is what you'd recommend? Going higher than that doesn't justify the cost difference for hobbyists?

Also, if I can get 2400 cheaper than 2133 - is that worth purchasing, or is there something I'm missing that makes 2400 worse than 2133 for some reason? Perhaps it's not as easy to overclock?

Well, let me simplify this for you then.

Here's my current set up - I'm still unsure on my Mobo - but it's going to be an ASUS Maximus VI model - the price of the MOBO is of no concern, I just want to make sure the one I'm getting is the correct one for my system - so at the end of the day I think all of them handle the same types of RAM

As for the RAM itself - I'm shooting for 16 GB, 4 sticks, and trying to keep it under $200.

I would prefer to stick with G.Skill for my own selfish reasons of liking the way it looks - but if you really think that it's a silly reason to want a specific type of RAM please let me know what you'd recommend and how much of a hit in performance I'd be taking if I went with G.Skill instead of the type you're recommending to get to my price point.

Here's a link to my specs:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2yC4n


The mobo I'm getting will handle anything up to the 3000 range as far as I can tell.

I appreciate whatever help you can offer here, and if you truly feel that there is a set of RAM that is a bit out of my price range, that would be better suited to my overall build - don't hesitate to recommend it.

Your time is very much appreciated with all of this. I was unaware that performance would increase using only two sticks - I thought using 4 opened up the processor itself to allocate less core's to each stick or something along those lines.

I'll go with the two sticks, and I'm guessing that the $10 extra for 2400 is well worth the price difference.

The only other question would be, if I get a Hero (what you're using) - which DIMM's would I use for the RAM? I know in some boards it doesn't matter, and in other boards it will determine how the processor is allowed to interact with the RAM itself.

I'm not incredibly tech savvy if you couldn't tell, I know enough to troubleshoot a problem and put a computer together, but definitely not enough to go above and beyond that.

Finally, are there any real benefits to overclocking RAM like this? (the Trident you recommended) Is it safe to do without water cooling?

Basically at the bottom of my build - PC Part Picker is telling me that the Haswell CPU is rated for 1.5V +- and that the Trident RAM is rated at 1.6V

When I had some friends review the overall final build this is what I was told:
"you need to get a mainboard with a stronger power compatability for your memory, 1.6 w perstick in a 1.5 w rated port just makes for a slow memory"

Is this going to be OK, or am I going to lose a ton of my RAM's capability?

What do you recommend I do here? What would you do in this situation?

Here is my entire build:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2yKBQ

UPDATE:
I actually did a Google search while waiting for a reply from you and the first thread to pop up was an answer from you talking about how overclocking will raise the overall voltage to a safe level.

I guess my question is, then, is whether or not I'm going to have issues booting my PC for the first time with all of this plugged in as stock - or will the BIOS automatically detect what's going on an adjust for me, or what? I'm not familiar with how "smart" these new UEFI BIOS are.

If you could give me a quick run down of what I'm going to need to do to get the most out of my PC on the first boot - since you and I have the same mobo and you seem to know what you're doing, I'd appreciate it.

If you need some compensation for your time I have no problem with that, either. I realize helping people out with stuff you do for a living is tedious and not the first thing you'd like to be doing when you get home. How about you shoot me a message when you get a chance and maybe we can work something out? Perhaps you know some one in Southern California's Inland Empire/Orange County area that could give me a hand in person with this?

Kind of a silly question - and I'm guessing I already know the answer - but am I going to have to reformat all of my SSD's when I change out all of this stuff? (Currently I'm running Ripjaw G.Skill 2133 DDR3, an old i7 Sandy Bridge, and an MPOWER Z77 mobo) Or will I just need to uninstall any software related to the current hardware being swapped out and will Windows pretty much adjust accordingly?

Yeah after realizing that his reply was referencing my CPU and not my Motherboard even though he called it my "main board" and a bunch of other stuff I realized he wasn't as computer savvy as he's pretending to be - but it does say on PC Part Picker specifically that there was an incompability issue there so I thought I should make sure.

Please check your inbox for a message in a minute. Thanks.

That makes sense.

So am I even going to need to overclock my CPU to get the RAM to work properly, or is it already going to boost to 1.6V for what the RAM sticks need when it detects what they are?

If you could check for my PM to you in your inbox I'd appreciate it. If you don't want to get involved in another project like that just let me know and that's fine too.

I have a few disability issues that make it rather difficult to learn new things, so figuring out how to overclock this PC is going to be a nightmare - I figured since you have almost the same type of build you might be able to give me a hand in rough numbers to input through the BIOS.