G.Skill - Will Ares Work With Ripjaws X? [URGENT]

[ChuckFerrera]

Hello all!

Thank you in advance for any help/advice you may send my way. I really appreciate it.

I am currently looking to buy an extra 8GB of RAM to put in my other dual channel slots. I have some G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 at timings of 8-8-8-24.

Link to Ripjaws - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231445

I am wondering if these G.SKILL Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 at timings of 8-8-8 will be compatible with the Ripjaws.

Link to Ares - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231548

Thanks again!

-Chuck

 

[itzdanielp]

Technically they should work with no problem at all, especially since they have identical timings.

However. It is always suggest to use a *matched* kit, as memory can be very sensitive, and even purchasing the same model RAM at 2 different times is not guaranteed to work.

 

[ChuckFerrera]

Alright. That is what I have read. I just wasn't sure about the advertised timings on the Ares set. They show only 8-8-8 and no tRAS timing is shown. What does that mean?

I am also torn right now. I cannot find a low profile set of RAM that meets these specs:
16GB
DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
8-8-8-24
@ 1.5V

I would like to get a total of 24GB on my machine (or more) and the 16GB could do that. Do you know of any upstanding stick that can do the job for $100 or lower? Or do you think I would be better off just getting a 16GB set, selling the 8GB set I have now and waiting a little longer to get another 16GB?

Lastly, I would like to clarify that you are talking about one set of memory being in one channel, and the other (in this case the Ares) being in the second channel?

Thank you very much for the speedy reply!

 

[itzdanielp]

What are you using your machine for? There are *very* few cases that more than 8 is usefull and almost none that more than 16 is helpful at all.

 

[ChuckFerrera]

I plan on getting BF3 here soon. Read that is can take upwards of 7.5GB (with rest of computer). Also, my task manager tells me on idle I am using about 5.5GB of the Ripjaws I spoke about above. I don't see how this is possible but I haven't found any cause yet. I am using Win7 64-Bit. My mobo supports up to 32GB. If you can help with that then I have no reason to buy more RAM.

 

[arson94]

Unless you're running SQL server with a 3.5GB database in operation then 5.5GB seems high to me. My computer idles under 2GB, but that's also with only 50 or so processes running. It might be your AV or firewall software though as some of those tend to eat resources like there's no tomorrow. There's probably other software and processes though that you can disable from starting on boot. There also may be better AV/firewall software to replace your current.

 

[killerhurtalot]

What do you have on your pc...... even with bf3 and gw2 open at the same time... i still don't use 8GB of system ram...

 

[ChuckFerrera]

Unless you're running SQL server with a 3.5GB database in operation then 5.5GB seems high to me. My computer idles under 2GB, but that's also with only 50 or so processes running. It might be your AV or firewall software though as some of those tend to eat resources like there's no tomorrow. There's probably other software and processes though that you can disable from starting on boot. There also may be better AV/firewall software to replace your current.

Hmmmm. I have Trend Micro Titanium Antivirus... I counted up my processes on start-up/idle and it was 29. Something is not right here.

 

[arson94]

Make sure that it's showing processes from all users. You have to have more than 29 processes.

 

[ChuckFerrera]

Make sure that it's showing processes from all users. You have to have more than 29 processes.

Ahh. Enable that and now there are 60. Trend Micro says it is taking up 47MB and that is the highest out of any. All of the processes after Trend Micro are using much less memory. Considering this, let's say all 60 processes were taking up 47MB, that would mean that 2.8GB was being used. Nowhere near 5.5GB.

 

[arson94]

Yea, I'm not sure what's going on here. Go to msconfig, type it into the start menu search field, and go to the startup tab. Uncheck everything that's not your AV software and stuff you know needs to run, usually only a 2 or 3 processes that might be labeled as Microsoft or Windows processes. Basically, there should only be like 5 processes set to startup. Keep stuff that you want like Steam. But uncheck everything that's Office, Java, Adobe, Flash and whatever other bullshit in there. Just about any auto-updater process can be unchecked. Especially anything that's blank or unlabeled, uncheck it all. Reboot and see if RAM usage improves.

 

[ChuckFerrera]

Yea, I'm not sure what's going on here. Go to msconfig, type it into the start menu search field, and go to the startup tab. Uncheck everything that's not your AV software and stuff you know needs to run, usually only a 2 or 3 processes that might be labeled as Microsoft or Windows processes. Basically, there should only be like 5 processes set to startup. Keep stuff that you want like Steam. But uncheck everything that's Office, Java, Adobe, Flash and whatever other bullshit in there. Just about any auto-updater process can be unchecked. Especially anything that's blank or unlabeled, uncheck it all. Reboot and see if RAM usage improves.

I tried that and it didn't really change anything. I was still at 5GB being used on boot.

 

[arson94]

damn. have you done a virus scan yet?

 

[ChuckFerrera]

damn. have you done a virus scan yet?

Hahaha. Just "Damn."


I have Trend Micro Titanium Antivirus and it scans. Says I don't have anything. Would you refer another program?

 

[arson94]

I only use Microsoft Security Essentials and Windows Firewall. But something else is using like 3GB of RAM. My computer boots with about 50-55 processes and idles around 2.5GB. Only have 5 processes checked to in startup in msconfig and 2 of those are AIM and Steam. Yes I still use AIM, don't judge me lol. Has it been long enough to where you could justify to yourself reinstalling Windows if all else fails? You definitely shouldn't be using 5GB of RAM on idle.

Anything in Start Menu > All Programs > Startup folder? Any programs you don't use anymore that you could uninstall?