DDR3 1600 vs 1866 on bulldozer

[sikerun]

Hi, I'm buying components for an AMD bulldozer (FX series) build. I know there will be native support for DDR3 1866 but I'm sitting on deal for a 16GB Vengeance DDR3 1600 kit at 90$ with shipping and taxes.

I'm just wondering if I should go with that or pay the 50$(?) or more to get 1866 in a month or so.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[itzdanielp]

you would get probably around a 1-2% performance increase, IMO get the vengeance kit, I picked it up yesterday and I am happy with it.

 

[geekapproved]

Since BD isn't out and there are no benchmarks with different rams, nobody can accurately answer such a question.

 

[sikerun]

From what I gather, the gain will be somewhat small so I just bought it.

From Newegg.ca:
CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) for $88.18 incl. shipping and taxes.

Worst case, I'll buy another kit in a year when the DDR3 1866 or higher is cheaper.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[sikerun]

Best answer selected by sikerun.

 

[beenthere]

16GB. of RAM provides little gain over 8 GB. unless you run many apps concurrently or large apps like CAD, 3-D modeling, Video editing, etc.

If you're buying RAM for Zambezi I recommend 1866 Mhz. as that is the default RAM speed for Zambezi. 1600 Mhz. should work but 1866 Mhz. isn't much more expensive. While the performance diff may be relatively small, IMO there is little point in giving up the higher 1866 Mhz. RAM default speed with RAM prices being so low right now.

You don't need heatsinks on DDR3 RAM because it does not run hot, so there is little point in paying extra for the heatsinks unless they make you feel warm and fuzzy all over. In addition many HSFs have the bottom fin 37mm above the HSF base so RAM with top mounted heatsinks will often not allow the use of the first RAM slot or two.