Did I buy the wrong memory ? G.Skill Ares PC12800

[drednoxx]

I'm wondering if I could have done better for my RAM.

I got these G.Skill sticks:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231606

Rest of my system is as follows:

Intel i5-3570K
GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-D3H LGA 1155 Intel Z77
GIGABYTE GV-R787OC-2GD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP
Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s
Intel 320 Series SSDSA2BW160G3H 2.5" 160GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
SeaSonic M12II 750 SS-750AM 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC
LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Internal Model IHAS324
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit


The 2 things that struck me about this RAM which I should have double checked before final purchase:

1. I read some reviews, after the fact when its already en-route, which state, that this RAM requires XMP profile to run at 1600, and when the XMP profile is enabled it defaults to 1.56v instead of staying at 1.5v on most boards. Can anyone comment on this if they've had any problems, instability etc. ?

2. I'm also wondering if I shouldn't have gone with a set of 2400 instead of the 1600 sticks, the 1600 have actually better timings, but I was unable to find any specific comparison benchmarks as applied to gaming. Does it make any actually noticable difference ?


Note:

I do not plan to OC, at least not for a long while, this system should be able to handle all I need it to do games included. Maybe 2 years down the line or so, I will start bumping it up, incrimentally with time, but not until then.

This specific RAM is listed as tested and verified in the Motherboard manufacturers specs on the Gigabyte site.

Also looking for some specific RAM benchmarks showing FPS on multiplayer online games such as Medal of Honor, BF3, GW2, SWTOR, which would show FPS differences between same model 1600 and 2400 RAM. Tried Toms, a few other sites, google, found some benchmark utility graphs, which showed the differences to be too small to humanly notice, but I have not been able to find any actual gaming FPS graphs and stability reviews. So if anyone could post a direct ling I'd appreciate it.


Thanks

 

[GhislainG]

Did you read this review? http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/ram/38613-gskill-tridentx-ddr3-2400-ivy-bridge-memory/ You'll have to use benchmarks to see the difference even when playing online games.

 

[drednoxx]

Thanks for the link, appreciate it, and yes, read the reviews for my RAM but they are all dated, thus no comparison for what is currently available. Just as per what I have gathered so far, looks like the difference is overall negligible from a practical application view, but I am still concerned about that whole XMP profile and forced 1.65v vs the 1.5v and was wondering if some memory gurus or people who run this RAM at such voltages and speeds with similar systems could chime in.

 

[abekl]

That's the thing about the Ares that is less than desireable. That is that at 1600MHz it wants 1.65 volts.
If you can exchange it for true 1.5 V memory, then I would do so, but if your return policy is limited to same item only, then I'd just stick with it. It probably won't do much harm in the long run to run it at 1.65 v.

 

[drednoxx]

Yea, going to call Newegg tomorrow morning and just return it unpacked, I also came into several different posts by people having this come up with other lines of G.Skill RAM, not just Ares. This issue seems to be quite common with last years RAM and many motherboards. So in light of the situation I think I will just order a pair of Corsair sticks to be on the safe side, I have always used Corsair before, never had any issues whatsoever.

I'm kinda bummed out about it and was looking forward to try out G.Skill. I need a low profile good RAM though, not Ripjaws or anything that sticks out like that because of the size and fit of my CPU cooler.

 

[edtheguy]

If you can exchange it for 1.5v, better safe than sorry, but I made a similar mistake and did not realize it until after my build. When I checked my system I found that the mobo had already set the RAM to run at 1.5v instead of 1.65. Apparently RAM often has different profiles that the right MOBO's can select from in a given environment (like an ivy bridge cpu), which is why it is good to choose from vendors qualified ram/mobo lists, if the parts are set up to work together they can save the builders' behind (not to mention preventing the occasional unexpected freeze/crash).....