Hardware noob needs a bit of advice.

[zenonithus]

Hey guys,

Even though I've researched alot into this I'm still a little confused over the technicalitys.

I'm building a system mainly for intense 3d and 3d graphic work as well as playing games.

Thinking of getting the Asus P6X58D Premium Intel X58 motherboard because it supports more ram (24 gig) incase I wish to upgrade to more in future, and has a better cooloing system than the -E version. Though is this something that will make a big difference? as the price between the premium and -E is pretty significant.

Also I'm thinking of getting an intel i7 950 processor, possibly try to over-clock it to 4ghz.

Though what memory do you guys reccomend for this board? I read if I wanted 12 gigs it doesn't support 1600ghz memory? Is that true? So much different types of Ram out there, I really want descent fast ram @ 12 gigs, so would really appreciate any recomendations on what to go with if anyone has good knowledge of this board.

cheers

 

[zenonithus]

sorry meant 3d and 2d work. forum wont let me edit post :\

 

[Ar-el-es]

I don't see where it says that you cannot use 6 4gb sticks of 1600mhz memory. I'm going by what Asus' website says. I looked at the QVL and KINGSTON
KHX1600C9D3K3/12GX(XMP) should work.

 

[zenonithus]

cheers Ar-el-es. I'm thinking of just going for one of the i7 cpu/mobo/memory bundles on ebay allready overclocked. They usually come with Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600MHz memory. Is that pretty good ram to have do you think?

 

[Ar-el-es]

Most people think so while there are a few bad eggs out there that ruin the experience for some people. Pretty much when you read reviews there are always going to be a few people who get defective chips and then claim that all of the chips from that manufacturer are crap. Corsair is a very good brand and iy my newegg combo hadn't had Kingston RAM I would've gone with Corsair. If you do get a bad chip, which is unlikely, just RMA to newegg within 30 days and they'll send you new ones before you even ship out the bad ones. If you wait past 30 days you should still be able to RMA it with Corsair.

 

[zenonithus]

Is it true that in order to have say 12 gigs instead of 6 gigs it reduces the maximum overclock from say 4 ghz to 3.6ghz? and if you use 12Gb of memory in an i7 setup, it will only run at 1333MHz??

whats the best solution for this? using 2000mhz (not overclocked) memory?

 

[Ar-el-es]

Speed wise there isn't any noticable difference between 800mhz or 1600mhz when it comes to the viewpoint of the user. I don't see any reason why you can't run 2000mhz memory. This is of course if you insist on having the fastest memory as possible which isn't going to help with graphics much anyway. Your GPU is where the graphics are going to be handled. From what I've read 1333mhz is the sweet spot for applications. Unless you have an unlimited budget it'll be best to go no higher than 1600mhz. 2000mhz memory also have a bad track record when it comes to stability unless things have changed recently.

There is no reason that you would have to underclock a CPU unless your PSU can't produce enough power or if your motherboard can't handle the extra voltage of running the CPU and memory that high. Also there isn't a very good reason to run with 12gb unless you have an extrememly intensive 3D application. 6gb looks like more than enough if you mainly need it for gaming.

It's hard to find any real up to date info and I haven't had a chance to expereince this first hand.

 

[zenonithus]

Thanks for the info Ar-el-es. I went with the 12 gig in the end as I do alot of intensive graphic work. Just got a shop to overclock everything, leave it to the experts