Help picking memory for a I7- 6700K and Asus Maximus VIII Hero

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cellod

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May 2, 2013
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I'm having some trouble finding the most appropriate RAM for my new build.
Like the title says, I have a I7- 6700K CPU, and Asus MAXIMUS VIII HERO Motherboard.

The processor can supposedly only support up to DDR4-2133 Mhz (with a memory bandwidth of 17 GB/s), but at the same time, it also says it can handle a max memory bandwidth of 34.1 GB/s.

I see other people's builds with this same CPU and Motherboard, and a lot of them have higher speeds than 2133Mhz

Can I actually utilize over 2133 Mhz?
Is it even worth bothering?


If it's not possible, or not that big of a deal, I was thinking about getting:
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2133

Otherwise, I would be happy to spend a little more if it's an improvement upon performance


I'm not looking for bragging rights, just the best combination for heavy multi-tasking / gaming
 
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because those are the "standard" specs set by the industry, and as such Intel only needs to ensure that their CPU is capable of following the JEDEC standard, which hasnt "evolved" much
but just because thats the "standard", that it MUST be able to follow, that doesnt mean it cant go further than that
sorta like, our road speed law sets a standard for whats the max speed you can go, but that doesnt stop manufacturers from making cars able to blaze past it, ofc its a tad bit more complicated on RAM
but just because the the standard is one speed, doesnt mean it cant necessarily go faster
and your CPU and motherboard can, how fast, well thats yet to be discovered, and can also vary a tiny bit chip by chip/board by board
some say thay cant...
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Gnuffi

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Sep 14, 2013
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you can use higher speed rams, and in some cases yes you will benefit from it a good deal, others not so much

according to some tests done some time ago 6700k seem to peak in performance with ddr4 at 2800-3200MHZ ram
so consider getting some 3200MHz CL 14 ram if you can afford/find it,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232206
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232230
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232218
all would pair up nice and perfect with your 6700k, if price is too high you can always lower the speed, or size (selected 32GB because so was your link)
just keep in mind RAM height with your CPU cooler
 
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wheeps

Commendable
May 20, 2016
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I'm using dominator ddr4-3000 on the same cpu and motherboard setup. The motherboard manual lists the current compatible ddr4 ram at the time of release for the board. Also I believe the speeds for ddr4 start at 2133 but I'm not 100 percent sure on this. But in terms of utilizing the most out ram, that is dependent on what you plan on using your rig for.
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

Legenda in Aeternum
Jun 5, 2013
67,883
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The 2x16GB or 4x8GB Trident Z are both good choices for 32GB, I'm running the 3200/14 sticks and are the best I've run so far. What all will you do with the rig, for many 2666-3000 is the best price to performance, but expect the 3200 sticks (from Gskill to possibly drop a bit they have newer, higher performance lines coming out
 
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cellod

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May 2, 2013
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As I now understand it, this would require me to enable XMP on the motherboard. I have never overclocked before, so I'm a bit unsure... How will this affect my CPU performance/lifespan?
 
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Gnuffi

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Sep 14, 2013
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enabling XMP doesn't affect the CPU, it is barely considered an overclock since its merely an effect to run the RAM at its rated speed,
only important thing is since "technically" it is an OC on teh RAM, is that the mobo and CPU allows and handles this, both your CPU and mobo does this with no issue, but since XMP is an automated feature it pose no risk since the RAM is guaranteed to run at set timings

overclocking your CPU separately will/can have an effect on performance and lifespan, done correctly the negative effect of reduced lifespan will however be negligible
also, since the 6700k on some motherboards tend to over volt automatically just to obtain and maintain its own stock boost, i would even consider it a bit more healthy to manually overclock if you get one of those where it shoots up to 1.4v+ automatically
since a manual overclock on 1.3 volts and X GHz would have a lesser effect on lifespan than the possible automated volt of 1.4+ just to get stock 4.2GHz

infact on my Hero board i had it peak at 1.48 volts and going steady at 1.44 on just auto stock boost seetings, which is a bit much, and ive seen others have it jump to even 1.5+ which is far from healthy specially considering stock only boost it by 200MHz

so while technically overclocking will affect performance (going up), while possibly reducing lifespan, a proper overclock wont reduce lifespan to any degree you would notice,
and with Intels special "tuningplan" http://click.intel.com/tuningplan/faq, you dont even have to worry any longer about a voided warranty, like in the "old days"
buying the "overclocking warranty" for like 20-30$ http://click.intel.com/tuningplan/purchase-a-plan guarantees you get a free replacement, 1 time, should your overclock end up damaging your CPU, thats how much confidence Intel has in the CPU's overclocking capabilities

and again doing a modest overclock and following guides still even means you dont "need" the extra warranty, can be very nice to have, but it is safe enough without, just dont go nuts on your first time overclock, follow the guides/tutorials

but just enabling XMP on its own, wont reduce lifespan or performance of your CPU
 
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Gnuffi

Honorable
Sep 14, 2013
967
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because those are the "standard" specs set by the industry, and as such Intel only needs to ensure that their CPU is capable of following the JEDEC standard, which hasnt "evolved" much
but just because thats the "standard", that it MUST be able to follow, that doesnt mean it cant go further than that
sorta like, our road speed law sets a standard for whats the max speed you can go, but that doesnt stop manufacturers from making cars able to blaze past it, ofc its a tad bit more complicated on RAM
but just because the the standard is one speed, doesnt mean it cant necessarily go faster
and your CPU and motherboard can, how fast, well thats yet to be discovered, and can also vary a tiny bit chip by chip/board by board
some say thay cant get past 3200MHz no matter what, and others got past 4000MHz ram
so far there is no reason to think your cpu+mobo combo wont handle up to 3200MHz ram with relative ease, a tiny OC on teh CPU might be helpful for stability, to run the memory controller at the XMP speeds, but it might not even be necessary

its sorta the same reason Intel dont officially condone overclocking CPU, that way they have their arse covered should any issue arise,
"we support X speeds, our CPU run at Y speed", that just means its the bare minimum, and can always be guaranteed from teh manufacturer side
should a consumer chose to run RAM at above rated speeds, then "if" an issue arise, like system instability, then manufacturer can theoretically just wipe their hands clean, and say they dont support it.

support and capability is 2 different things
so the "support" might just be bare minimum for teh speeds, but the capability is much higher

and while Intel doesnt support faster than the standards, the RAM manufacturer supports the speed, guaranteeing they have tested that it works, even if Intel wont cover it
so while you might not have much luck calling Intel support for an issue, the RAM manufacturer will be more than happy to provide support to get their product to work
(hardware support and tech support while being 2 different things, often result in that if hardware is supported vs not, the tech support wont just auto brush you off, by using the "we covered our arse and dont support it" approach, to not help)

(all of this only applies to unlocked CPUs and mobos ofc, since some hardware are locked in such a way its damn near impossible to tinker with it in anyway to get it past the spec standards
but since your hardware is the unlocked variety it does apply to you,
think of it as "its unlocked for a reason", thus it must be able to go faster than standard, how fast is up to you to find out)
 
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