Ga-p55a-ud3 - memory recommendations please

[ajaj]

Can anyone make a recommendation as to which memory is compatible with the gap-55a-ud3 board? I'm looking for 8 stable gigs of ddr3-2000, preferably not to exceed 200.00. I have no intention of overclocking as this will be used for business 1st, gaming 2nd. I'll be pairing the board with the i7-860 CPU, if that helps any.

I would really appreciate any help you can give.

Please do NOT respond unless you have first hand experience with the modules you are recommending, preferably WITH the MOBO listed that I have in mind.

I know the specifications required and there are a lot of modules which meet them. I just want to be sure that what I purchase is going to be very compatible, stable, and preferably =< 200.00, if possible.

thanks in advance

"not sure why gigabyte does not come up under sub-category, so I apologize for the placement...

 

[Upendra09]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145286

you won't need 8 gigs for business or gaming

this should be plenty

 

[ajaj]

Is it normally acceptable to use triple channel kits in a dual channel system? The board in question has 4 memory slots.

Also, I tend to have a ton of windows open in my work, so I do not think 8G is too much.

Thanks

 

[Upendra09]

8 gigs is too much, there are no consumer apps that require it

unless you are doing simulations and very intensive vid editing 8 gigs is totally un necessary

you can put the triple channel memory in the but the processor will only recognize dual channel memory

but that is the only memory you can get unless you find 2x3 gigs somewhere. but that is hard to find

however, if you find definitely go with that

6 gigs is all you will need

 

[ekoostik]

Three things:

First, if you are not overclocking you do not need 2000 MHz RAM. The reason is because with an i7 860 you cannot run RAM at more than 1600 MHz without OCing. If you had an i5 750, I'd be telling you you cannot run RAM at more than 1333 MHz. A common misperception is that someone can run RAM at whatever speed it's rated for without affecting anything else. But that's not true. With an i7 860 you cannot run RAM at more than 1600 MHz with affecting your CPU speed. You either have to OC it. Or you have to change it so it stays the same while your RAM speed goes up. And as soon as you do that, things change - for example you lose Turbo. I've got a more technical answer saved off I can paste in if you're interested.

Second, while I agree with Upendra09 that there are not many applications that require more than 4 GBs of RAM, I disagree about getting 3 sticks. Your CPU and board support dual channel RAM. Two sets of two. If you're going higher than 4 GBs I don't see much sense in getting three 2 GB sticks and leaving one of those sticks un-paired. 2 x 2 GBs or 4 x 2 GBs is my advice.

Third, to your question, I have experience with and can recommend the following RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277
I do not have your motherboard, but I am running with a Gigabyte, the GA-P55M-UD2.

Personally, and this is what you didn't ask for, I'd consider the CL7 version. Or the new low voltage RAM. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231321 . (Or really, b/c the performance difference between 1333 and 1600 is so small, I'd consider these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231318 ). But, haven't used 'em so can't recommend them.

 

[ajaj]

Three things:

First, if you are not overclocking you do not need 2000 MHz RAM. The reason is because with an i7 860 you cannot run RAM at more than 1600 MHz without OCing. If you had an i5 750, I'd be telling you you cannot run RAM at more than 1333 MHz. A common misperception is that someone can run RAM at whatever speed it's rated for without affecting anything else. But that's not true. With an i7 860 you cannot run RAM at more than 1600 MHz with affecting your CPU speed. You either have to OC it. Or you have to change it so it stays the same while your RAM speed goes up. And as soon as you do that, things change - for example you lose Turbo. I've got a more technical answer saved off I can paste in if you're interested.

Second, while I agree with Upendra09 that there are not many applications that require more than 4 GBs of RAM, I disagree about getting 3 sticks. Your CPU and board support dual channel RAM. Two sets of two. If you're going higher than 4 GBs I don't see much sense in getting three 2 GB sticks and leaving one of those sticks un-paired. 2 x 2 GBs or 4 x 2 GBs is my advice.

Third, to your question, I have experience with and can recommend the following RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277
I do not have your motherboard, but I am running with a Gigabyte, the GA-P55M-UD2.

Personally, and this is what you didn't ask for, I'd consider the CL7 version. Or the new low voltage RAM. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231321 . (Or really, b/c the performance difference between 1333 and 1600 is so small, I'd consider these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231318 ). But, haven't used 'em so can't recommend them.

Thanks ekoostik. This information is helpful.

I did some more digging on the board and found that the specs are the following:

4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 16 GB of system memory
Dual channel memory architecture
Support for <b>DDR3 2200/1333/1066/800</b> MHz memory modules
Support for non-ECC memory modules
Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules

So it would appear that I would be better off with the 1333's since anything more might not work well? The only reason I suppose I might be inclined not to do that is if I could still make the 2200 work with the 860, and have it for future proofing if I wanted to upgrade the cpu later, and in the long run might be cheaper that way. Does that make any sense?

You mentioned the eco modules, but wouldn't that lower voltage be an issue given the board's 1.5 V spec?

Thanks for your input.

 

[ekoostik]

So it would appear that I would be better off with the 1333's since anything more might not work well? The only reason I suppose I might be inclined not to do that is if I could still make the 2200 work with the 860, and have it for future proofing if I wanted to upgrade the cpu later, and in the long run might be cheaper that way. Does that make any sense?

When paird with an i7 860, a P55 motherboard cannot run RAM any faster than 1600 MHz without OCing. However, the 2200 RAM should still work. It'll just be running at 1600 or 1333 MHz (your choice). I don't find the future proofing game very interesting so I try not to speculate on it, other than to explain why: there's not much info about what's coming and the definition of 'future proofing' and answer to the question of whether or how to do it differ for everyone. The basic question is, would you rather spend the extra (let's say) $50 now, or save that money and maybe spend (let's say) $100 in two years. You can get more specific in the questions you ask yourself to make the decision. For example, what is your timeline before you upgrade components? Maybe it's 1 year, maybe it's 3, maybe it's never. What's your timeline for upgrading your system? For some people it's 2 years, for others it's 10. Since RAM won't run at 2200 on your CPU and motherboard w/out OCing or making trade-offs with the CPU, if you upgrade components in two years you'll have to upgrade either the motherboard or the chip or both, depending on what the manufacturers decide to allow. So at that point, why not upgrade the RAM too? (It's also possible that they will never increase the speed allowed with this generation of technology so you'll have to do a complete upgrade to get faster speed RAM and who knows, maybe that'll require DDR4 RAM?) It's a personal choice so I'll leave it to you.

You mentioned the eco modules, but wouldn't that lower voltage be an issue given the board's 1.5 V spec?

It's the higher V RAM that tend to give more problems. 1.5 V is the max spec. Then Intel has an "absolute maximum" which is 1.65 V. I've seen it reported that the Vtt Voltage has to be within .5 of the DRAM Voltage. The Vtt is usually 1.05 or 1.10 so RAM at 1.65V is already outside that range. Also 1.65V is the max that these boards can support so at that point there's no room for supplying additional voltage if needed for stability or for OCing. Also the DDR3 spec calls for 1.5V. I guess my point is, stay away from 1.65V. RAM that requires less V to run at comparable speeds and timings is better quality and generates less heat. So all else being equal 1.35 V should be better than the 1.5 V RAM which in turn is than the 1.65 V RAM. But the 1.35 V RAM is new so if you want to minimize risk we'll need someone who's used it to weigh in, or go with the 1.5 V RAM.

 

[ekoostik]

I should add, I usually throw this comment in but since you asked for comments from experience only I left it out before, there is very little performance difference between 1333 MHz and 1600 MHz. And, just because RAM is rated at 1333 MHz doesn't mean you can't try to run it at 1600 MHz. 1600 rated RAM is just 1333 RAM that manufacturers have certified can be set to run at 1600. Here's two articles you may find interesting:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ddr3-4gb-p55,2462.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-870-1156,2482.html

 

[Hayden_NZ]

Three things:

First, if you are not overclocking you do not need 2000 MHz RAM. The reason is because with an i7 860 you cannot run RAM at more than 1600 MHz without OCing. If you had an i5 750, I'd be telling you you cannot run RAM at more than 1333 MHz. A common misperception is that someone can run RAM at whatever speed it's rated for without affecting anything else. But that's not true. With an i7 860 you cannot run RAM at more than 1600 MHz with affecting your CPU speed. You either have to OC it. Or you have to change it so it stays the same while your RAM speed goes up. And as soon as you do that, things change - for example you lose Turbo. I've got a more technical answer saved off I can paste in if you're interested.

Second, while I agree with Upendra09 that there are not many applications that require more than 4 GBs of RAM, I disagree about getting 3 sticks. Your CPU and board support dual channel RAM. Two sets of two. If you're going higher than 4 GBs I don't see much sense in getting three 2 GB sticks and leaving one of those sticks un-paired. 2 x 2 GBs or 4 x 2 GBs is my advice.

Third, to your question, I have experience with and can recommend the following RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277
I do not have your motherboard, but I am running with a Gigabyte, the GA-P55M-UD2.

Personally, and this is what you didn't ask for, I'd consider the CL7 version. Or the new low voltage RAM. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231321 . (Or really, b/c the performance difference between 1333 and 1600 is so small, I'd consider these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231318 ). But, haven't used 'em so can't recommend them.

Hi ekoostik,

What Memory would you recommend for adding to a Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 mobo running a i5-760 CPU and a Raedon HD5770 graphics card?


Thanks
Hayden

 

[crum]

Hey I have the exact same motherboard with an i7-875k processor and 1866 ram. I know it doesn't technically have it listed in the general specs of the website but if you click a button on their website for supported memory they do have some 1866 modules that are listed as certified to work.

1.) I'm guessing those were running at 1600 and

2.) How do I get the ram speed up from 1600 by overclocking the cpu?

I have tried finding this answer elsewhere but I am at a loss. I can increase the multiplier easily and bring my cpu from 2.93 to 3.6 Ghz stable easily but my ram is still at 1600. I have also tried increaseing the FSB to 186 from 156 and lowering my multiplier but when I checked PCWizard it still showed at 1600. What am I doing wrong?

 

[ekoostik]

Wow this is an old thread. If you have a P55 motherboard and you increased the bclk, then your RAM speed changed as well. If it was running at 1600 before you upped the bclk, it's running faster now. Never heard of PCWizard but it sounds like it may be giving you specs on the RAM chips and not the actual speed its running at.