1600mhz vs 2133mhz

[nsaylor95]

I'm building a gaming computer and I'm troubled on the difference between 1600mhz RAM and 2133mhz RAM. They are both 8GB kits. I know there will be no performance difference, but as far as overclocking (CPU) goes, will the 2133 mhz ram be better? The 2133mhz is $17 more than the 1600mhz ram. Both are Corsair Vengeance. The 2133mhz has a timing of 9-11-10-30 and the 1600mhz has a timing of 9-9-9-24. I will be running a i5 4670K on a MSI Z87 G45 motherboard. Which kit would be better for overclocking?
Thanks in advance.

 

[ur6beersaway]

2133 will always oc better & stable. It can always downclock also, but 1600 can never run past 1600.

 

[nsaylor95]

So for $17, the upgrade to 2133mhz is worth it?

 

[Pinhedd]

I'm building a gaming computer and I'm troubled on the difference between 1600mhz RAM and 2133mhz RAM. They are both 8GB kits. I know there will be no performance difference, but as far as overclocking (CPU) goes, will the 2133 mhz ram be better? The 2133mhz is $17 more than the 1600mhz ram. Both are Corsair Vengeance. The 2133mhz has a timing of 9-11-10-30 and the 1600mhz has a timing of 9-9-9-24. I will be running a i5 4670K on a MSI Z87 G45 motherboard. Which kit would be better for overclocking?
Thanks in advance.

There is about a 5%-10% performance difference between DDR3-1600 and DDR3-2133 on memory intensive applications or when paired with bandwidth hungry graphics cards

 

[ur6beersaway]

I would have no choice. yes

 

[nsaylor95]

I will mainly be gaming on this computer, but it is my first computer that will actually have some sort of "power" for me to be able to play the games I want on high settings and such. I will most likely get into other things besides gaming too. This PC will have to last me many years, so I'll probably go ahead and get the 2133mhz when it comes time to order. Pinhedd noted that there's a performance difference on bandwidth hungry graphics cards. Would a MSI 770 Lightning be bandwith intensive? Thanks everyone for your input so far. I really appreciate the help.

 

[Pinhedd]

I will mainly be gaming on this computer, but it is my first computer that will actually have some sort of "power" for me to be able to play the games I want on high settings and such. I will most likely get into other things besides gaming too. This PC will have to last me many years, so I'll probably go ahead and get the 2133mhz when it comes time to order. Pinhedd noted that there's a performance difference on bandwidth hungry graphics cards. Would a MSI 770 Lightning be bandwith intensive? Thanks everyone for your input so far. I really appreciate the help.

All modern high end cards are rather bandwidth hungry.

One thing that I did not mention above: High speed memory modules require overclocking the memory controller. Haswell retains the native DDR3-1600 support found in Ivybridge and some Sandybridge processors. While Intel has a very nicely defined way of going above this speed (XMP profiles) and most processors can easily handle DDR3-2133, stability and life expectancy are not guaranteed.

 

[nsaylor95]

By stability and life expectancy, are you talking about the CPU or RAM or both? Which would you recommend on a computer that will be mainly used for gaming on max settings at 1080p?

 

[Pinhedd]

By stability and life expectancy, are you talking about the CPU or RAM or both? Which would you recommend on a computer that will be mainly used for gaming on max settings at 1080p?

That would refer to the memory controller on the CPU. I run 32 GiB of DDR3-2133 (8 DIMMs x 4GiB) which is far beyond what Intel specifies as being native supported but it runs just fine. There were some rumors of 1.65 volt memory modules destroying Sandybridge processors a while back but these were unsubstantiated. The memory modules themselves are designed to take a beating, so don't worry about them.

As for what I would recommend, I use Mushkin Redline DDR3-2133 9-11-10-28. It's marginally more expensive than DDR3-1600 of the same capacity yet has 33% more bandwidth and lower latency. In order to get the integrated memory controller to handle 8 DIMMs, I had to bump the CPU VTT (Intel only, AMD calls it something different) to 1.15 volts and have had no problems since.

If you can get it working via the XMP profile, great. If not, it should have a profile for DDR3-1600 as well which does not require overclocking or overvolting the IMC.

 

[nsaylor95]

Are you happy with your Mushkin RAM? Would you recommend it over Corsair? Thanks for all the help so far.

 

[Pinhedd]

Are you happy with your Mushkin RAM? Would you recommend it over Corsair? Thanks for all the help so far.

I've used Mushkin memory, Patriot memory and Corsair memory extensively.

Mushkin Redline Frostbyte DIMMs are indistinguishable from Corsair's Dominator GT DIMMs at the performance level yet are $50-$100 cheaper per 4x4 set. The tradeoff is that the Mushkin Redline DIMMs are rated at a high voltage; I have found though that this makes it easier to reach stability.

There are other DDR3-2133 sets out there which have less demanding timing constraints or lower DIMM voltage requirements, such as Mushkin Blackline (1.5 volts 10-11-10-28), G-Skill Ripjaws X Series (1.6 volts 10-12-12-31), G-Skill Ripjaws Z Series (1.6 volts 11-11-11-30), Corsair Vengeance (1.5 volts 11-11-11-27), Corsair Dominator Platinum (1.5 volts 9-11-10-30), and of course Corsair Dominator GT (1.5 volts 9-11-10-27).

The Corsair Dominator GT lineup is the thousand pound gorilla but they also costs a buttload by comparison.

 

[nsaylor95]

I haven't researched any of those yet, save for the Dominator, and it's pretty expensive. I'm not looking to spend over $80 on RAM. I'll have a look at the Mushkin. I'm not very familiar with that brand yet but I've seen reviews on the Ripjaws and Vengeance, and those are more in my price range. I was looking at the Corsair Vengeance 8GB 2133mhz Red model. Are those good sticks?

 

[Pinhedd]

I haven't researched any of those yet, save for the Dominator, and it's pretty expensive. I'm not looking to spend over $80 on RAM. I'll have a look at the Mushkin. I'm not very familiar with that brand yet but I've seen reviews on the Ripjaws and Vengeance, and those are more in my price range. I was looking at the Corsair Vengeance 8GB 2133mhz Red model. Are those good sticks?

Corsair Vengeance kits use standard voltages and timings rather than optimized voltages and timings, so they're by best mainstream lineup for compatibility and are among the most highly recommended on these forums.

 

[nsaylor95]

I think I'll go with a Vengeance kit then. So for mainly gaming/overclocking, would you use 1600mhz or 2133mhz?

 

[Pinhedd]

2133

 

[nsaylor95]

Thanks for your help!

 

[sedona]

Can you overclock the CPU to 2133MHz, and still use a cheap 1600MHz memory kit? Or it is a must to use 2133MHz kit, and then overclock the CPU? Does it mean that a 2133MHz memory kit cannot be overclocked further?

 

[vklyvis]

im happily running at 2133
with 10 11 10 30 1T. While my ram is 1600 veangeance. So the only way they wont work if you enable xmp profile and set it to 2133 if your ram is 1600, if you disable xmp overclocking will work.