Which one is a better choice for me?

Weapon317 · Apr 5, 2016

Hello people of Tom's Hardware!

I have a question, as I am contemplating which RAM I should get, obviously, I want the fastest one available. I am going to construct a Skylake PC in May, which consists of the Asus Z170 PRO Motherboard and the I7 6700K CPU.

However when it comes down to RAM, I am contemplating which one I should get.

This one is the first one which I believe is a CAS 15 2666 MHz RAM: http://www.corsair.com/en/dominator-platinum-series-16gb-4-x-4gb-ddr4-dram-2666mhz-c15-memory-kit-cmd16gx4m4a2666c15

The second one is a 2400MHZ CAS 10 RAM: http://www.corsair.com/en/dominator-platinum-series-16gb-4-x-4gb-ddr4-dram-2400mhz-c10-memory-kit-cmd16gx4m4b2400c10

I do not intent on overclocking, that is why I stick below 2666 RAM, I also don't think it is necessary to go anywhere above that considering I will be using that PC solely for gaming. I already have a GTX 980 TI within my computer, however I feel like I am being bottle necked by my current CPU, which is a Sandy Bridge i7.

So which one would be better for me?

superninja12 · Apr 5, 2016

for gaming, it doesnt matter get the cheapest one.

Weapon317 · Apr 5, 2016

Doesn't the CAS 10 or 15 make a huge difference in terms of response time? I know that the 2400 and 2666 MHz difference is minor- atleast I think so?

Rogue Leader · Apr 5, 2016

Generally you want the highest frequency lowest CAS ram you can find. So in your example the CAS 10 ram actually has a faster access time

The formula is (CL / Speed in mhz) *1000

That said there is probably cheaper RAM than the ones you found that is probably faster.

Weapon317 · Apr 5, 2016

I coulen't find anything myself. I think I will go with the 2400 CAS 10 RAM.

Is 2400 or 2666 Mhz too much when it comes down to only gaming? Because I thought the more MHz and lowest CL was the best way to go, the higher the better.

Maybe this is in the wrong section but for the ones who know; the i7 6700K CPU has a base clock of 4 GHz whlist the non-K version has a base clock of 3.4 GHz and considering I am not going to overclock, I do not plan to use what the unlocked CPU has to offer.

Is the difference between 3.4 and 4 GHz worth it or not?

Hlsgsz · Apr 5, 2016

Weapon317 :

ABOUT RAM: If you are not going to use integrated iGPU, no. Neither the cas nor frequency will make any real world difference whatsoever. But out of the two, frequency is more important if you care about benchmarks and such.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1478-page6.html

ABOUT CPU: If you don't plan to overclock, no, it's not worth the price difference. then again, you would not need that MB either. Put your money elsewhere.

Rogue Leader · Apr 5, 2016

Weapon317 :

For example:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233852&ignorebbr=1&cm_re=DDR4-3000-_-20-233-852-_-Product

Faster than your CAS 15 selection. Don't limit yourself on Mhz.

Right now the difference between 3.4 and 4 isn't huge, however as time goes on and applications catch up to processor performance, yes it makes a difference. The single core performance is faster, and with games that push it it could make a difference. That said these days the only way you'd really see the difference is in synthetic benchmarks.

Now if you do decide to go non-k, you still want to have a Z170 motherboard if you want to use any ram faster than 2133 mhz. Other chipsets (such as H110) do not support anything faster.

Weapon317 · Apr 5, 2016

I want to stay below 2666 MHz so that I don't have to enable FSB, which I believe is a overclock function aswell.
As for the Z170 motherboard, I picked that aswell because I indeed want to more then 2133, I also want 16GB memory and quad channel, instead of dual channel. Because I do believe that quad channel is significantly faster and more efficient then dual channel, correct?

Rogue Leader · Apr 5, 2016

You do not need to overclock FSB for faster memory, you can just turn on XMP and it will enable DDR4 3000. I have an Asus Z170-M PLUS with the memory I linked above and that works perfectly fine in XMP.

The Z170 PRO and PRO GAMING are both dual channel not quad channel. Quad channel is in theory faster, but if you wanted to do 16 gb quad channel I don't even think there are any Z170 boards that have it, you would need to go with an X99 board, which is then a different processor, etc.

Weapon317 · Apr 5, 2016

But it has 4 memory slots, that means quad channel, right? Or am I mistaken with this?

Also- if it supports only dual channel, would it better 2x 8GB or 4x 4GB?

Rogue Leader · Apr 5, 2016

Weapon317 :

Nope. 2 slots are 1 channel, and 2 slots are another. Some boards (Mini-ITX) only have 2 slots, and can be dual channel, but the expansion to 4 slots does not mean 4 channels.

This is a quad channel motherboard (note this is X99):

http://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/RAMPAGE_V_EXTREMEU31/

Note the 8 memory slots. You populate the colored slots in pairs to separate the channels.

2x8gb is fine, it puts 1 8gb in 1 channel and 1 in another. If you did 4x4GB you would still have 8gb in 1 channel and 8 in another.

Weapon317 · Apr 5, 2016

I've found two different RAM types, which are certainly cheaper then the corsair variants, which one would be better?

http://www.kingston.com/dataSheets/HX424C12SB2K2_16.pdf
or
http://www.kingston.com/dataSheets/HX426C13PBK4_32.pdf

It's sad to hear that Skylake doesn't support quad channel. Unless I am overlooking something? Or do they simply not exist?

Rogue Leader · Apr 5, 2016

Weapon317 :

The second one is faster, however the DDR4-3000 Corsairs that I linked for you are faster than either one by a good bit. I still don't understand your fear of DDR4 3000 memory, there is literally no reason to not use it. You will not be doing anything different than if you ran the ones you linked except the XMP profile turns it up to 3000.

At this point all Skylake chipsets even Z170 only support dual channel. Thats not to say it won't be available in some revision some day, but it does not exist and there is no plan on the horizon to add it that anyone knows of.

Weapon317 · Apr 5, 2016

I'm just not an expert when it comes down to tweaking or overclocking for that matter. I am afraid I am going to mess something up which causes my entire new rig to flatline. I have no idea what XMP is, never heard of it. Is it done automatically? Because I don't really want to buy excessive RAM and then my Motherboard doesn't support it. For the Z170 PRO board, it supports a max of 3300 MHz. Should I get that instead of 3000? Or won't it really matter?

Rogue Leader · Apr 5, 2016

You can get 3300, depends what you want to spend. The Z170 PRO actually supports up to 3866. That said there comes a point of diminishing returns, how much money do you want to spend??? The board does support it, it is ridiculously easy to set up. When you go in the BIOS the first time there is actually an EZ Setup page, on the left side around the middle it says "XMP Profile" and it should say "Disabled". You change disabled to "Profile #1" and it makes the changes you need, save it, and off you go.

XMP stands for Intel eXtreme Memory Profile, its a setting system within the BIOS to allow it to run memory faster than natively supported. XMP profiles have the settings built in so you don't have to fiddle with individual things to get it to work.

I have the Z170-M PLUS from ASUS, which I just built up for my wife, its a very similar board (just smaller). The DDR4-3000 memory works perfectly in it, using just that feature.

Weapon317 · Apr 5, 2016

Well it depends how much money i'd like to spend. I already have my Motherboard sorted out, aswell as my CPU. When it comes down to RAM it is an iffy story because I am really just unsure of what I should get, I thought that the Z170 PRO supports up to 3400 MHz- we're talking about the Z170 PRO Gaming here, sorry about the mix-up before.

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z170-PRO-GAMING/specifications/

Which made me stumble onto this http://www.corsair.com/en/vengeance-lpx-16gb-4x4gb-ddr4-dram-3400mhz-c16-memory-kit-black-cmk16gx4m4b3400c16

Unless there's a better and/or faster RAM available then that?

Rogue Leader · Apr 5, 2016

Ok so like I said, depends how much you want to spend.

And again, do not bother with 4x4GB Memory, you gain nothing except limit your ability to expand in the future. There is virtually 0 performance benefit. If you want the fastest memory that will work they offer a 2x8gb kit in 3333:

http://www.corsair.com/en/vengeance-lpx-16gb-2x8gb-ddr4-dram-3333mhz-c16-memory-kit-black-cmk16gx4m2b3333c16

That should run slightly faster (probably never even notice) than the 3000 kit, for about $40 more.

Weapon317 · Apr 5, 2016

Alright, very well then! Going with the one you just linked me.

Once I buy all the parts and build the computer, then for my first boot up, I should instantly enable XMP, correct? And set it up from there?
Just to clarify for myself, this is not overclocking, correct? It won't degrade the lifespan of the ram sticks because I do know that overclocking does this, that's why I am against it.

Also; could you recommend me a good CPU cooler along with some decent cooling paste for the i7 6700K? I am not overclocking it- but I do want to have a 4 GHz base clock even though the speed difference is minor, it's nice to have I guess.

Edit: Also, money is not really a problem. I just want to have what is best for gaming and the computer itself. So I can last another couple of years considering I do have a GTX 980 TI after all.

Rogue Leader · Apr 5, 2016

Weapon317 :

On first boot yes enable XMP and you're set. And no its not overclocking, it is setting the settings (which happen to be in the overclocking section) to accept the memory at its rated performance.

I love Noctua coolers, I used this one for my wife's PC (i7-6700), its ultra quiet and keeps it very cool

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608040&ignorebbr=1&cm_re=noctua-_-35-608-040-_-Product

Weapon317 · Apr 5, 2016

At the moment I have a Scythe Mugen 2 Rev B http://www.quietpc.com/mugen2

But considering that cooler is 4 years old now (even though it still works fine) I figured that I might aswell get a new cooler with the new rig.

Any recommendations when it comes down to cooling paste?

Rogue Leader · Apr 5, 2016

Weapon317 :

That old cooler looks fine, but the Noctua will definitely be way quieter.

The Noctua comes with paste, it is just as good as anything you can buy out in the world. I ran my Wife's computer at 100% for a while with the cooler and the processor didn't get over 45deg C. I'm sure running games with a GPU in there it would get hotter, but even 10 degrees is still super low.

Weapon317 · Apr 5, 2016

Alright! Very well, thank you for all your support and answers! I got what I needed to know.

Thanks!

Weapon317 · Apr 12, 2016

I am reopening this thread because the ASUS Z170 PRO Gaming motherboard, when I look at the specifications it says; Supported memory clock speeds: 2133,2400,2600,2666,2800,2933,3000,3100,3200,3300 MHz

The RAM's suggested to me by Rough Leader ( http://www.corsair.com/en/vengeance-lpx-16gb-2x8gb-ddr4-dram-3333mhz-c16-memory-kit-black-cmk16gx4m2b3333c16 ) is 3333MHz that's not fitting, right?

Also, the CAS latency is 16 on these RAM sticks, isn't that high? There ought to be faster memory sticks out there, right? Because it's true that you can better have a lower CAS latency then MHz, correct?

Rogue Leader · Apr 12, 2016

I don't understand the issue, the board supports DDR4 3333 as per the specs.

3400(O.C.)/3333(O.C.)/3200(O.C.)/3100(O.C.)/3000(O.C.)/2933(O.C.)/2800(O.C.)/2666(O.C.)/2600(O.C.)/2400(O.C.)/2133 MHz

We discussed this already, its the relation of CAS to MHZ. The mhz makes up for the higher latency. Its faster than any of the 2133 selections you made, as well as the 2666, because the CAS is only 1 step higher but MHz far higher.

There may be, and probably are faster memory sticks out there, Corsair doesn't have a 3400 but that board supports it, but maybe the latency on 3400 models is higher. However as Mhz goes up latency goes up, they all kind of equal out around the same response time (~5-6).

Like I said if you want to find something faster, find a RAM module, take the (CAS Latency / Mhz) *1000 and look for the lowest number.

Weapon317 · Apr 12, 2016

Ah, I apologize. I didn't look on the official ASUS website but rather on the one local store one in which I am going to buy this motherboard. I didn't see the 3333 option so I panicked

Very well! Thank you for the reply, it is solved now.

Which one is a better choice for me?

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