z87 Sabertooth w/ 4770k, what RAM should I get?

[ZiPP3R]

This computer is being built primarily for gaming purposes. I know enough tech to get myself out of trouble, but certainly haven't deep-dived into this yet. I know the sabertooth supports up to 1.65v, but when it comes to timing and cycle rate I lose myself.

Looking to do 8GB, possibly 16 if the price isn't bad, as this is JUST for gaming currently. I do graphic design, photography, and video on separate devices.

I'm not terribly worried about height of the RAM, as i don't intend to overclock the processor too terribly much to begin with, so a cooler should be an issue.

Any suggestions or testimonials?

Also: I'd prefer something that isn't BRIGHT red, but if the price and performance are right I can overlook the aesthetics.

 

[itzdanielp]

I personally have, and love both an 1866MHz Corsair Dominator Platinum 8GB kit, and a 1600MHz Kingston HyperX T1 8GB kit. Niether are red

What you are looking for is basically going to be either an 8 or 16GB kit, DDR3, 1600MHz or 1866MHz. That is really all that is important. If you have 2 kits that are almost identical and you are having trouble choosing, take the one with the lower timings.

I personally almost always go with Kingston, but G-Skill and Corsair are both extremely good brands.

If you have any questions about specific kits just let us know.

 

[Tradesman1]

With the Sabertooth and a 4770K in a non-red think I'd start by looking at 16GB 2x8GB sets in 2133 (the Haswell's love fast DRAM) so prob something in 2133/CL9 like the Ripjaws X F3-2133C9D-16GXH, sorry you don't like Red, but the GSkill Tridents are aimed direct at Haswell and the 1150 socket...Killer sets, GSkill spent this week at Computex setting a number of World Records with these various sets, I run 32GB of their 2400 on my IB and am planning for 32GB of at least 2800 when I build my Haswell

 

[ZiPP3R]

With the Sabertooth and a 4770K in a non-red think I'd start by looking at 16GB 2x8GB sets in 2133 (the Haswell's love fast DRAM) so prob something in 2133/CL9 like the Ripjaws X F3-2133C9D-16GXH, sorry you don't like Red, but the GSkill Tridents are aimed direct at Haswell and the 1150 socket...Killer sets, GSkill spent this week at Computex setting a number of World Records with these various sets, I run 32GB of their 2400 on my IB and am planning for 32GB of at least 2800 when I build my Haswell

Thanks for the suggestions!

I'm curious as to the reasoning for 16 over 8GB.

 

[ZiPP3R]

Assuming this is purely for gaming, i've read that there really isn't a huge advantage to more than 8GB, as well as anything higher than 1600, given that the timing is good. So if the choice was between these two:

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231445

G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-2133C10D-8GSR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231655

Which is the better choice?

 

[Tradesman1]

On a strictly performance level speedwise, those two are about on a par, have to give an edge to the 2133 for higher bandwidth, but generally speaking just look at steps going up 1 on both freq and CL 1600/CL8 is a hair slower than 1866/CL9 which is just a hair slower than 2133/10 (bandwidth however goes up more as freq increases) at 2133 there is also the Snipers in CL9 (F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR2) which will outperform either of the two mentioned sets and also show a bit more bandwidth than the similar 2133/10 Snipers. As far as gaming, my clients generally want the highest freq/lowest CL they can put into their budget, which will also be handy as more games exploit using faster DRAM which we will probably come with the advent of the Haswell CPUs and their ability to run up to 3000 and better DRAM

 

[Astralv]

This is what I got for my new build. Still in the mail. http://promotions.newegg.com/Corsair/13-2321/index.html It was supposed to be released in gold, silver, red and blue. I have Asus Deluxe mobo in gold and I was waiting for golden version of Corsair. I called the company and they told me that it will be released later this month. I have all my parts already delivered, I could not wait, so I got it in Red. My case has red fan, so I will be ok with gold mobo. If you have time, you can wait for gold- they are very pretty. I use Corsair Vengeance older model and it works fine, so this should be good as weel. They were just released with Haswell. I would take 2 x 8 Gb, for the future.

 

[Tradesman1]

Once you get a few parts in, think most people start getting antsy

 

[Astralv]

Yes, we are! Now check this out: I have all parts minus memory, and realize- I only have 3 stand offs that came with the case. (and 3 more from other build). Had to order them and they will not come for another few days. I am so tempted to drag the memory out of other build and do outside version while waiting for the stand offs.

I wanted to add that if you go for Corsair- they have letters at the end of model number. R stands for red, B for blue. Still no gold yet. I got 1600 Mhz. I was convinced that in a long run it is better for all parts to keep it simple and not overheat/overclock/overuse.

 

[Tradesman1]

No real need to wait, do a bench build and can start running now, then when standoffs arrive just pop all into the case....I generally do all builds as bench (on a work bench/table) to make sure all works and to experiment with other components to see how they all work together