What type of RAM to use?

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GamerLackingKnowledge

GamerLackingKnowledge

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Nov 14, 2011
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Hey guys,
I'm wanting to know what type of RAM to use, 2400 or just 1600 and some things that I should be looking out for. I have no idea about what dual channel or anything is atm. Please help me with any major important concepts before I buy some. I was thinking Kingston HyperX Beast KHX24C11T3K2/8X 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 2400MHz -$109.00

I'm building a computer for about $1400 AUD (~$1200 US) with:
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K
GPU: MSI GTX 970
Mobo: ~$130 mobo (no idea what to get yet to overclock for the i5)
RAM: 8GB (upgrade later to 16GB maybe)

Please help.
 
Solution
geofelt
IN truth, it matters little.
Higher speed ram comes with higher cas numbers negating most of the value of higher speeds.

First, buy enough. For most gamers 8gb in a 2 x 4gb kit is enough.
Considering that yours is a high end build, I would spring for a 16gb kit.

Intel cpu's do not depend on fast ram speeds. You are looking at perhaps 2-3% difference in real app performance or fps between 1600 and 2400.
I think for a 4690K, the sweet spot is 1866 1.5v ram. Lower cas numbers are better.
A two stick kit will operate in the faster dual channel mode.
There are drawbacks for 4 stick kits.
Here is a good article on that:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7364/memory-scaling-on-haswell
Look at the discrete graphics card situations, not the igp...
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geofelt

geofelt

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Oct 9, 2006
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IN truth, it matters little.
Higher speed ram comes with higher cas numbers negating most of the value of higher speeds.

First, buy enough. For most gamers 8gb in a 2 x 4gb kit is enough.
Considering that yours is a high end build, I would spring for a 16gb kit.

Intel cpu's do not depend on fast ram speeds. You are looking at perhaps 2-3% difference in real app performance or fps between 1600 and 2400.
I think for a 4690K, the sweet spot is 1866 1.5v ram. Lower cas numbers are better.
A two stick kit will operate in the faster dual channel mode.
There are drawbacks for 4 stick kits.
Here is a good article on that:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7364/memory-scaling-on-haswell
Look at the discrete graphics card situations, not the igp cases which do benefit from faster ram.

And... buy a low profile kit, fancy heat spreaders are mostly marketing and can interfere with some coolers.
 
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