AsRock Z77 Pro3 - what is best RAM for it?

[existinguser]

I want to use my dual channel capability and i want the best (fastest response time etc) ram for this motherboard. I must mention that i am an old fart regarding to computers and i have been out of the game for many years. And I see that lots has changed.

So, i really need the help to figure out what is the best ram for this MOBO. MHz, latency are important for me. And price is not important.

And for the kicks - im building a pc with following specs so far:

Spoiler

AsRock Z77 Pro3
750 Watt XFX Core Edition PRO750W
Cooler Master HAF XB
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 OC 2GB GDDR5 PCI-Express 3.0

 

[csf60]

Well, if you really want the fastest ram today, i would say this one or similar http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231640&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

Although i personally dont recommend wasting more money than this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233276&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

The performance difference between 2800MHz CL11 is practically the same as 2133MHz CL9

EDIT: i forgot to say that to use faster than 1600MHz RAM you will have to overclock it

 

[ksham]

Corsair Vengeance, Crucial Ballistix, G.SKILL Ripjaws X, Mushkin Blackline/Silverline/Redline, Patriot Gamer 2, etc are all excellent choices. 1600 MHz is good. Yes, you can up the MHz for more $$$ but you really won't see much difference. At most, it'll be a few frames. I suggest you save money for something more important.

 

[existinguser]

Well, if you really want the fastest ram today, i would say this one or similar http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231640&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

Although i personally dont recommend wasting more money than this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233276&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

The performance difference between 2800MHz CL11 is practically the same as 2133MHz CL9

EDIT: i forgot to say that to use faster than 1600MHz RAM you will have to overclock it

what do u mean overclock it?

if mobo supports those speeds, i still will need to adjust voltage etc?


p.s.
could i use this and get all the benefit as well?

http://

 

[csf60]

What i mean is that, although your motherboard supports up to 2800MHz RAM, your CPU won't support more than 1600MHz natively, so you will have to manually set the clock and timings of your memory in the BIOS if you buy higher memory. This is called memory overclocking. If you're not experienced, I would recommend you to buy 1600MHz memory, because if you buy faster memory it will be set at 1600MHz anyway by default.

The memory you posted is rated at 2400MHz CL10 and 1.65V
First thing I recommend you is try to get 1.5V memory whenever possible. When you buy 1.65V memory, you are falling into a kind of "fraud", because to achieve the speed that the memory says (2400 in this case) you had to up the voltage. The speed achieved by pulling more voltage is not a measure of the real quality of the memory. That's why I don't recommend that memory in particular, unless you actually know you are really buying 1866-2133MHz RAM, not 2400MHz.
After finding 1.5V memory, try to get highest MHz first, then lowest latency.
As said, if you don't feel comfortable trying to overclock it, aim for 1600MHz, otherwise, your budget is your limit.

 

[existinguser]

What i mean is that, although your motherboard supports up to 2800MHz RAM, your CPU won't support more than 1600MHz natively, so you will have to manually set the clock and timings of your memory in the BIOS if you buy higher memory. This is called memory overclocking. If you're not experienced, I would recommend you to buy 1600MHz memory, because if you buy faster memory it will be set at 1600MHz anyway by default.

The memory you posted is rated at 2400MHz CL10 and 1.65V
First thing I recommend you is try to get 1.5V memory whenever possible. When you buy 1.65V memory, you are falling into a kind of "fraud", because to achieve the speed that the memory says (2400 in this case) you had to up the voltage. The speed achieved by pulling more voltage is not a measure of the real quality of the memory. That's why I don't recommend that memory in particular, unless you actually know you are really buying 1866-2133MHz RAM, not 2400MHz.
After finding 1.5V memory, try to get highest MHz first, then lowest latency.
As said, if you don't feel comfortable trying to overclock it, aim for 1600MHz, otherwise, your budget is your limit.

so the last thing:

i should find ram that is max 1.5V... but i see so many g skill ram that are at 1.65v and other brands as well..

 

[csf60]

so the last thing:

i should find ram that is max 1.5V... but i see so many g skill ram that are at 1.65v and other brands as well..

That's probably because you're looking at 2400+ RAM. It is ok for that RAM to be at 1.65V because it is otherwise very difficult to achieve such high speeds. My point is, that it is not wrong to buy 1.65V as long as you KNOW you are buying a RAM that won't get to 2400MHz at 1.5V (which is the standard DDR3 voltage, btw), but at 1.65V.

2400MHz or more: buy 1.65V, it doesn't matter because no 1.5V models exist today.
2133MHz is expensive at 1.5V. 1.6V is more common for that speed.
1866MHz is cheap at 1.5V.

However, even if you have decided to buy higher than 1600MHz RAM and overclock it, it's not guaranteed that your RAM will hit the speed it was designed for. In fact, many people buying ivy bridges and 2400 RAM don't get to 2400MHz stable, but others buying 2133 RAM did get to 2400MHz.