Which memory for GA-P55A-UD4P?

[ultima_weaponx]

Hello,
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I am ordering these peices to upgrade my current rig:

Intel i5 750 processor

GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD4P LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard w/ USB 3.0 & SATA 6 Gb/s - Retail
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128409
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I have been unsure of which ram to buy. My local dealers (www.memoryexpress.com) do not have G.Skill memory and from what I see this brand seems to be seriously popular for performance and value.

Which memory would you suggest? G.Skill seems to have 3 i5 kits of varying Cas timings and frequencies (I read on it, but it is still confusing)

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G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH – Retail
7-7-7-21
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231276
$104.99 CAD

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL - Retail
9-9-9-24-2N
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277
$98.99 CAD

G.SKILL Trident 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) Desktop Memory Model F3-16000CL9D-4GBTD - Retail
9-9-9-27
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231282
$146.99 CAD

I have checked on Gskill.com and EACH of these pairs is compatible with the UD4P
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The price variations are kind of all over the place. Frequency goes up, timings become less- tight it seems.
All my misconceptions aside, which would be the best candidate to buy in your opinion and why? (I'm not against trying to overclock as it seems to only increase value)

Thanks for reading!

 

[ares1214]

i would go with the first one, or better yet, get this one:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231318

exact same speed, timings, and price, but much lower voltage. somewhere on toms it showed that 1066 at 6-6-6-20 beat 1600 at 9-9-9-27, but i forget where, but timings seem more important, and 2000 is a massive waste.

 

[ultima_weaponx]

I've seen people ask about the Eco ram before and many people reply saying that it 'should' work, but I've never heard from anyone overclocking the sticks.

I've found more ripjaw sets for the i5 socket in the mean while too
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=G.SKILL+Ripjaws+Series+4GB+%282+x+2GB%29+240-Pin+DDR3+

So, I am looking for LOWER cas latencies (7 or 8?) which mean TIGHTER timings and therefor better performance? Even with overclocking?

Also, the reason you recommend the Eco sticks with lower voltage, is because more voltage can be added to overclock better?

I hate being so ignorant and asking someone to choose for me, but in the ram department, I am severely lacking and really looking for a choice I can rest easy with, having it justified in my head.

 

[ares1214]

yes you are looking for lower latency, which the eco has 7-7-7-20 which is about as low as it goes for that speed. also, the 1600 MHz version is 10$ more and is 7-8-7-24, which might be worth it. and yes, lower voltage= higher oc, 1.5 is considered low, but this is 1.35, meaning you could probably at least get to 1600-1800 MHz without going above 1.6, which is still lower than average.

 

[ultima_weaponx]

Awesome, thank you very much. That makes sense.

One last thing, if I ended up not overclocking at all, would I see much difference between the 1333, 1600 or Eco sticks? Would you still recommend the Eco sticks for the P55A-UD4P and i5 750?

I ask just incase I get cold feet for whatever reason.

 

[jerreece]

If you don't want to OverClock, you shouldn't really see difference between 1333 or 1600. If you do Overclock however, there some advantage to higher RAM clock speeds, in that it can make it easier to find a stable setting that allows your CPU speed and RAM speeds to match 1:1 or close too.

 

[jerreece]

The Eco RAM that ares1214 suggested looks pretty good:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231318

At 7-7-7-21 it has good timings, and at 1.35V it's very low power consumption. This should give you good room to overclock the RAM if you ever want too, and can help with keeping temperatures down a bit. At least RAM temperatures anyhow. Would probably be good RAM to use in a HT-PC I'd imagine.

 

[ares1214]

yea, its great, and the 1600 MHz is 7-8-7-24 and it cost 10$, same voltage. idk which one is better, but i would go with either one of them.

 

[Stokesperc]

The Eco RAM that ares1214 suggested looks pretty good:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231318

At 7-7-7-21 it has good timings, and at 1.35V it's very low power consumption. This should give you good room to overclock the RAM if you ever want too, and can help with keeping temperatures down a bit. At least RAM temperatures anyhow. Would probably be good RAM to use in a HT-PC I'd imagine.

Do you know if the bios in the GA-P55A-UD4P lets you volt the mem at 1.35 volts?

 

[aced]

Do you know if the bios in the GA-P55A-UD4P lets you volt the mem at 1.35 volts?

Sortof. The lowest manual setting is 1.3, the next level up is 1.4V. The default is to automatically pick up the DRAM voltage through SPD, which it does just fine and displays '1.35V' as the desired voltage. However, the actual measured voltage shown in a BIOS status page indicates a DRAM voltage output of approximately 1.41V.

I have that same Eco RAM and mobo. Still testing the replacements, first set had a bad stick.

Note that on this mobo you need to enable the "Extreme Memory Profile" (XMP setting) in order to make use of the memory's timing values stored in SPD, or set the values manually. The DRAM voltage is used from SPD regardless of the setting.

By the way, when testing DDR3 RAM on any P55 mobo, do yourself a favor and use Memtest+ V4.00, which has improved detection of the i5/i7 family, DDR3, and P55 chipsets. Doesn't impact the actual test, I think, but the displayed component info is more detailed and accurate.

 

[ekoostik]

One last thing, if I ended up not overclocking at all, would I see much difference between the 1333, 1600 or Eco sticks?

If you are not going to overclock you will not be able to run the RAM at 1600 MHz. With an i5 750, the maximum frequency you can hit at stock CPU settings is 1333 MHz.