Memory Questions (for new build)

[damithagg]

Hi I am planning a new build and have most of my parts purchased. I am looking into getting my Ram and have to decide.

My Mobo says it supports DDR3 1600(oc)mhz or 1333mhz

Are the settings hard to change in the bios if I go with the DDR 3 1600 (what exactly do I have to change the settings to and is it bad for the ram)?

P.S. on a side note where can I get 4-8 gigs of ram for cheap?

 

[seanspotatobusiness]

I'm only answering because no-one else has. I'm not the best qualified, but I hate to see people waiting days without answers so: something has to be overclocked in order for the motherboard to support 1600 (that's what the OC means). If your memory is 1600 rated, then it wont be bad for the memory, but, depending on the situation, it could be damaging to whichever component needs to be overclocked... the northbridge? I barely know what a 'memory controller' is, but I surmise that they used to be most common on the northbridge, and now they're appearing directly on the processor itself. I think you would therefore be overclocking that component.

Apparently, however, the difference in performance between 1600 and 1333 RAM is about 5%. [Primary source: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-ii-ddr3,2319-8.html] [Secondary source: http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,1493.0.html] - since 1333 memory is going to be cheaper than flashy 1600 RAM. you might consider going for that.

Exactly what make/model of motherboard do you have? I would advise checking the manufacturer's website for their list of compatible RAM modules, and then acquiring a 4 GB kit (two modules). Four gigabytes is probably going to be enough, and you can upgrade in a year or two when equivalent modules are even cheaper.

It's pretty easy to change the settings in the BIOS, but if you made a mistake, you could potentially do damage. Just exit the BIOS without saving, if you're at all unsure. I don't want to put you off. There was a time when I feared the BIOS. I had a history of learning things the hard way Deleting system files to free up hard-drive space is very, very bad! (I was a kid!)

 

[ekoostik]

^Not bad advice there. I would say I think the difference between 1600 and 1333 is actually less than 5% in most cases. The biggest difference s seen in synthetic benchmarks, not real world use.

To answer your question better, we need to know your motherboard and CPU.

Here's a couple articles you may find interesting (sean your link is broken)
Value DDR3 for P55: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ddr3-4gb-p55,2462.html
1156 Memory Performance: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-870-1156,2482.html

 

[EXT64]

Yep, we'll need more info, as each processor line is different (and AMD and Intel systems have much different requirements).

 

[damithagg]

Best answer selected by damithagg.