Newbie Need Help

Forum Motherboards & Memory : Memory Newbie Need Help

I am a college student who need a new PC fast, I been researching what ram to get for GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R for the past 6 hours (grr class tomorrow) and because my lack of knowledge I am still not sure.

I have a few questions

1. Alot of memory on newegg say they are optimized for p55 with dual channel (are they saying this to make more money?). Will they be comparable with x58 if they are 1.65v right? Especially when the board states: Dual/3 channel memory architecture. (This is basically the most important question)
2. If answer to question 1 is yes, and I buy a pair of 2gb for now and later I buy another 2gb stick, can I convert that to a triple channel? or is there something special about the "kit"?
3. I know that triple channel very very slightly improves the performance compare to dual channel how does that effect compare to CAS Latency?

The dual channel I was looking at is
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1600C6LV4GK

* DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
* Timing 6-8-6-24
* Cas Latency 6
* Voltage: 1.65V
* Multi-channel Kit: Dual Channel Kit
* Timing: 6-8-6-24

85 42.5/g

The triple channel I was looking at is

OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK

* DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
* Timing 8-8-8-24
* Cas Latency 8
* Voltage: 1.65V
* Multi-channel Kit: Triple Channel Kit
* Recommend Use: High Performance or Gaming Memory
* Model #: OCZ3G1600LV6GK
* Item #: N82E16820227365
126 42/g

So basically which one is better? Say if I have 3 set of dual channel with Cas of 6 or 2 set of triple channel with Cas of 8?

If there is no noticeable difference I will get the dual channel because I dont have that much money right now and it is easier to buy another set of 4gb later than another set of 6gb.

Thank you ahead for the response.

Message edited by Spiker101 on 09-13-2010 at 12:18:59 PM

Reply to Spiker101

I just checked the motherboard's user manual and almost positive that I can use dual channel stuff (however they only show how to install 2 sticks and 4 sticks... so i dont know if 3 sets of 2 would work but I dont think I will ever need 12gb lol) . But I am still not sure about question 2 and 3.

Reply to Spiker101

Hello.

1. Yes you can use 2 sticks in an X58 they just run in dual channel.
2. No there is nothing special about the kit just that there are three sticks instead 2. You can buy another 2GB later but generally it will be much cheaper to buy the 6GB straight up.
3. Hard question. There is not much performance increase with latency or triple channel memory with standard use. I believe the performance is not worth the cost of the latency when on a budget.

Many people do not like OCZ memory and it is not very cheap anyway. I would recommend G.SKill Ripjaws or the ECO series.

1600MHz is only required for HIGH OCs, decide if your are going to be OCing really high thus whether you need to get them over the 1333MHz. Though the G.Skills are not much different in price.

Generally I would prefer to run triple channel on X58 systems not because of the performance but just because they seem to be more optimized for it. Because of this I like to lean towards triple channel memory for X58.

Something like this should suit your needs (note 1333MHz):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

The CAS 8 is $6 more then the CAS 7 to $10 more again.

For triple channel I would suggest this kit:
$130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

If you can afford the Triple then go for it, however if you are only gaming and using reqular apps then 3GB of memory is fine. This allows you to run in triple channel using 3 1GB DIMMs. The set below should be good though I don't know much about 3GB kits ($10 more for CAS 7):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

This is the cheapest option and you won't lose any performance with the 3GB as long as your only doing "normal" stuff. So I think I'd lean towards the two triple channel kits...

Hope that helps somewhat.

[EDIT]
I don't think I answered you questions very well. The dual channel low latency would have performed better then the high latency triple channel...

Message edited by Wolygon on 09-13-2010 at 01:19:12 PM

Reply to Wolygon

well the reason I am considering the OCZ is because they have a discount and a 20$ rebate making them exact same price as the gskill 1333

Reply to Spiker101

I said a lot more than just that you should not get the OCZ RAM and yet you have nothing else to say? No questions, no comments?

I see your point with the OCZ RAM. However that rebate expires on the 9/17 so even if you ordered now you probably wouldn't qualify for the rebate.

Reply to Wolygon

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