Upgrading my Gaming Rig, need advice on best DDR3 2400 RAM

Jason Mackay · Feb 18, 2015

Hi all,

I am in the process of picking components for my next upgrade, I am replacing Motherboard, RAM and CPU. Below is a list on components I will be purchasing as well as the components I already have. I just need advice on the RAM to get, specifically looking for 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 2400MHz preferably of red colour but not essential, performance is king here. I use my Rig primarily for gaming and VR with my DK2.

CPU: Intel Core i7 4790K 4GHz*
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-97X-Gaming GT*
RAM: ?? 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 @ 2400MHz*
GPU: Powercolor R9 290X PCS+ OC 4GB
PSU: 750W Gold+ (Can't remember brand, doh!)

The * components are what I intend to buy, the Motherboard was selected for it's ability to run Crossfire @ PCIe 3.0 16x/0/16x/0 as I fully intend to add a second GPU in there soon.

What Memory modules do you guys recommend? I am based in the UK if you can supply a link to a trusted store.

Thanks in advance,

JKay6969

Sakkura · Feb 18, 2015

I don't see why you need that much memory or that fast memory for gaming. Anyhow, I guess I'd recommend a 2x8GB Kingston Savage DDR3-2133 CL11 kit, since it's affordable, rated at 1.5V, and also matches your color scheme. All DDR3-2400 requires higher voltage, and with higher voltage that kit might well reach DDR3-2400 speeds too. Not that it will ever make any difference to gaming performance.

i7Baby · Feb 18, 2015

Try Patriot - http://pcpartpicker.com/part/patriot-memory-pv316g240c0k

or Team Extreme - http://pcpartpicker.com/part/team-memory-txwd316g2400hc10qdc0

McDuncun · Feb 18, 2015

G.Skill TridentX F3 is good ram at CL10:
http://www.gskill.com/en/product/f3-2400c10d-8gtx

Corsair Vengeance Pro at CL10, also very good:
http://www.corsair.com/it-it/vengeance-pro-series-16gb-2-x-8gb-ddr3-dram-2400mhz-c10-memory-kit-cmy16gx3m2a2400c10r

Or if you really want to go all out... Corsair Dominator Platinum 2400mhz, it just looks so good:
http://www.corsair.com/de-de/dominator-platinum-series-16gb-4-x-4gb-ddr3-dram-2400mhz-c10-memory-kit-cmd16gx3m4a2400c10

Jason Mackay · Feb 18, 2015

I know 16GB is overkill right now but 6GB was overkill when I bought my Core i7 920 that I'm upgrading and I notice that more and more games are requiring 8GB of RAM now and in the next few years that is only going to rise. It is only recently that 64bit is becoming mainstream and with the new consoles having 8GB of RAM more and more games producers will utilise the extra RAM then port over to PC, while PC developers will soon be targeting 4K resolution which will add to the memory requirements of PC's IMO. Besides it's only an extra £50 for a bit of future proofing, why not.

i7Baby · Feb 18, 2015

Your 'recently' is my 'ages ago' - 5 years or so.

Jason Mackay · Feb 18, 2015

as for why I want 2400MHz RAM it's because I want the flexibility of under/overclocking the sticks for optimum performance. I also have a DK2 and want my system as optimized as possible for CV1 when it launches later this year. Elite Dangerous and Project Cars are absolutely amazing in VR, so much so I don't like playing them on my 40" TV anymore, but both games stutter here and there so I want fast, high bandwidth memory to smooth out the experience. This is also why I am buying the Motherboard that can handle 2xPCIe 3.0 cards at 16x, not so much for now but for later performance upgrade without having to replace most of my system just to upgrade the graphics card. I figure this setup should keep me gaming for the next 5 years with only a GPU replacement to keep me going. My current Motherboard can only handle PCIe 2.0 and if I put even a couple of PCIe 1x cards like a sound card and TV tuner then my GPU drops to 8x and performance plummets noticeably. This would not happen on this new Rig although in Crossfire I would only be able to have 1 PCIe 1x card installed which isn't an issue as it has pretty much everything I need onboard anyway.

i7Baby · Feb 18, 2015

The games stuttering won't be a ram problem. It'll be graphics card or monitor or maybe CPU.

Jason Mackay · Feb 18, 2015

i7Baby :

I've personally had a x64 system for 5+ years but it is only recently that the majority of systems are 64bit compatible, even now there are still 32bit systems being sold, I would much prefer if ALL systems were 64bit so that the entire industry could all be on the same page but alas not yet...soon but not yet.

i7Baby · Feb 18, 2015

As far as I can see on this forum, 99% of people use 64 bit OS.

Jason Mackay · Feb 18, 2015

i7Baby :

Perhaps, but that is why I'm upgrading the Motherboard, RAM and CPU which will incidentally give me a small upgrade in GPU for good measure, my R9 290X 4GB OC is PCIe 3.0 ready but my current motherboard is only PCIe 2.0.

The 16GB of 2400MHz RAM is simply future proofing as the higher bandwidth will also help mitigate the lack of DDR4 support. I do not see the point in going DDR4 just now as the benchmarks I have seen don't give much benefit compared to the vastly higher price. I can't be arsed waiting for the next intel refresh that will no doubt introduce DDR4 at the midrange level and I don't want to pay the extra for X99 and DDR4 now especially as intel has decided to hold us over a barrel with PCIe lanes in the X99 platform by charging a hefty premium, i.e. twice the price for 40 lanes of PCIe 3.0 support in the CPU.

McDuncun · Feb 18, 2015

Dude 16gb is`nt that overkill these days... I don`t think the time where we will need 16gig recommended ram for games are too far away...

Jason Mackay · Feb 18, 2015

McDuncun :

Yup and with the spare 2 slots I can always get another 16GB if I really needed to down the line. I don't see the point in saving a few pounds now then regretting it later especially when I can afford to spend the money now to have the flexibility later.

Jason Mackay · Feb 18, 2015

McDuncun :

Thanks for the heads up, I have now got my eye on the G.Skill f3-2400c10d-16gtx kit as it's stable and good performing RAM according to reviews and benchmarks and is reasonably priced considering their performance.

McDuncun · Feb 18, 2015

Jason Mackay :

If everybody thought the way you do, then the world as a whole would be better!! Hot girls would randomly walk into our houses... Butterscotch pudding would fill the seas, the liquid from our taps would be whiskey instead of water, nvidia would make their G-Sync tech cheaper....okay kidding about that last one...

Jason Mackay · Feb 18, 2015

McDuncun :

Jason Mackay :

If everybody thought the way you do, then the world as a whole would be better!! Hot girls would randomly walk into our houses... Butterscotch pudding would fill the seas, the liquid from our taps would be whiskey instead of water, nvidia would make their G-Sync tech cheaper....okay kidding about that last one...

lolz, nVidia making anything 'cheaper' these days is a laugh, sadly enough.

McDuncun · Feb 18, 2015

Jason Mackay :

McDuncun :

lolz, nVidia making anything 'cheaper' these days is a laugh, sadly enough.

Hahahahaha those guys!! Such a bunch of jokers!!

Jason Mackay · Feb 18, 2015

i7Baby :

Most people HERE have 64bit, not sure where you pulled the 99% from but hey I'll run with it, but this is an enthusiasts forum and even newbies generally get good quality buying advice from good folks like yourself so it's no surprise that most would buy 64bit. I would NEVER advise anyone to buy a 32bit PC and I'm sure you wouldn't either. The problem is there are billions of PC's out there bought by newbies who don't have a clue and are at the mercy of the shopkeepers who have stock to shift, they don't always/often care what is best for their customers or the industry as a whole just simply about making sales. I'm sure 32/64bit wouldn't even come into the conversation when discussing what product to buy.

I'm pretty sure in the world far more than 20% of PC's are running a 32bit version of windows even if some of them are 64bit capable. As long as there are sufficient numbers of 32bit PC's out there some developers will still code for 32bit even if 64bit would be better. Publishers often develop for the lowest common denominator for fear of losing out on sales.

If you think about it games are only recently being written for 64bit systems in mind, Battlefield 4 is the first major title that springs to mind but there are a few titles out there.

http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0

This link shows 18.93% of PC's running Windows XP which although had a 64bit version not many people actually used it, I tried but as there was little to no software compatible at the time I switched back to 32bit XP at the time.

McDuncun · Feb 18, 2015

Jason Mackay :

i7Baby :

Most people HERE have 64bit, not sure where you pulled the 99% from but hey I'll run with it, but this is an enthusiasts forum and even newbies generally get good quality buying advice from good folks like yourself so it's no surprise that most would buy 64bit. I would NEVER advise anyone to buy a 32bit PC and I'm sure you wouldn't either. The problem is there are billions of PC's out there bought by newbies who don't have a clue and are at the mercy of the shopkeepers who have stock to shift, they don't always/often care what is best for their customers or the industry as a whole just simply about making sales. I'm sure 32/64bit wouldn't even come into the conversation when discussing what product to buy.

I'm pretty sure in the world far more than 20% of PC's are running a 32bit version of windows even if some of them are 64bit capable. As long as there are sufficient numbers of 32bit PC's out there some developers will still code for 32bit even if 64bit would be better. Publishers often develop for the lowest common denominator for fear of losing out on sales.

If you think about it games are only recently being written for 64bit systems in mind, Battlefield 4 is the first major title that springs to mind but there are a few titles out there.

Dude I`m surprised that 32bit is still an option these days... I mean what would be the point??

i7Baby · Feb 18, 2015

Any game that requires more than 4gb needs to be for 64 bit OS.

Jason Mackay · Feb 18, 2015

i7Baby :

Yup, exactly right and it's only recently that games have begun forcing the issue. Way back when XP x64 was cutting edge Far Cry offered a 64 bit version but all it offered was extra scenery and birds in the sky, these days games are being released that REQUIRE the extra RAM and of course it's gamers who are leading the way, like we always do

Jason Mackay · Feb 18, 2015

The only point of 32bit these days is to sell cheap systems and to get rid of old stock remember there are plenty of people out there who wouldn't have a clue what 64bit even meant never mind knew they wanted it

Even mobile phones are going 64bit lol

Just take a look in your Program Files folders, I bet you will have more software in the 32bit folder than the 64bit one, for me I have about 20 folders in x64 and 25 in x32, software compatibility for x64 or the lack of it is also holding back peoples perceived requirement for 64bit.

Jason Mackay · Feb 18, 2015

With Windows 8 Microsoft was supposed to be ditching the 32bit OS version but they caved in because there were just too many 32bit systems out there, let's hope Windows 10 will finally push 64bit only however I'm not sure about that because Microsoft want EVERYONE to switch to Windows 10 on every windows capable device so I'm not so sure how ditching 32bit would fit into that plan.

Perhaps Windows 11...12? Although I'm not sure there will even be an 11 or 12, Windows 365 seems to be the direction Microsoft is heading, a subscription based OS business model that requires it's users to pay a monthly/yearly subscription and the OS would simply keep itself updated automatically in the background. With this business model x32 would simply be phased out when the last systems got replaced with x64 models.

Sakkura · Feb 18, 2015

Jason Mackay :

Overpriced compared to the kit I linked. Remember, it's only rated at 2400 because the rating is at 1.65V, which is above what Intel recommends. Plus there is zero performance benefit from 2400 over 2133.

Jason Mackay · Feb 18, 2015

Sakkura :

Actually it's the 16GB kit of the set you linked, that's how I found it, I just changed the 8 to 16

Upgrading my Gaming Rig, need advice on best DDR3 2400 RAM

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