Help me choose RAM for i72600k & P8z68 board-urgent!

[rajareddy43]

My configuration for a new PC is almost final. Want to place order today. Need help in choosing RAM.

Use- Photoshop & gaming

CPU - i7-2600
Mobo- Asus P8Z68 V Pro
CPU Cooler - Cooler Master Hyper N620 CPU Cooler
Graphics - Asus 560Ti (single card now, may add one later in SLI)
Case - Cooler Master 690 II
Monitor-Keyboard-Mouse got already
PSU - Corsair 850 W
SSD - 160GB for boot & HDD for storage
Overclocking - I am not interested in manual overclocking. If there is simple one-click solution then yes.

Questions-

1. Should I get 8GB or 16GB? Will it make big difference?

2. DDR3-1333 or DDR-1600? what is supported on this setup?

3.i72600 & P8Z68 - does this combination support quad channel RAM? Should I go for dual channel or quad channel?

4. I see all RAMs with CL9 in the market. Where are CL8 or CL7 RAMs? Please give model no. Prefer Corsair or Gskill.

5. If I get 2x4GB kit now, can add one more 2x4GB kit (same model) later? Or does it have to be 4x4GB kit?


Please help.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

For gaming 8GB is plenty. 16GB will help using programs like Photoshop.

DDR3 1600 cas 9 is pretty much optimal for the 2600 if you are not overclocking, even then the memory is not linked to overclocking in Sandy Bridge like in past Intel chips.

The lower the cas latency the faster the memory although the only place you will see any difference is in benchmarks and the difference is slight.

The Z68 chipset supports dual channel.

If you buy 16GB it is probably cheaper to buy 2 kits of 2 x 4GB rather than 1 kit of 4 x 4GB. As long as the kits are identical you will have no problems.

I have used GSkill and Corsair both in many systems with no problems. I generally use GSkill Ripjaws X when building a computer with an aftermarket heatsink as it fits under them where as Corsair Vengeance has high heat spreaders that can get in the way sometimes. You will be fine with either brand.

 

[rajareddy43]

Thanks anort3 !

 

[reitoei]

I had the same question and this setup is almost identical to the one I'm building (same CPU and mobo, anyway)... I was going to go with 4x4GB but a friend told me that filling all 4 slots can degrade performance and 8GB is enough for gaming. Would you agree?

I'm going to update my build wishlist with one of these kits based on this new information.

Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

I had the same question and this setup is almost identical to the one I'm building (same CPU and mobo, anyway)... I was going to go with 4x4GB but a friend told me that filling all 4 slots can degrade performance and 8GB is enough for gaming. Would you agree?

I'm going to update my build wishlist with one of these kits based on this new information.

Thanks.

You really should have started a new thread.

Using all 4 slots for 16GB will not degrade anything but 8GB is fine for gaming. To be honest you see only a little gain in going from 4GB to 8GB if it is just for gaming. Some newer games do better with 8GB though. And DDR3 is dirt cheap.

The orignal poster was building for Photoshop as well as gaming. In their case it makes sense to go with 16GB because with Photoshop or any kind of video rendering you can not have too much memory.

 

[reitoei]

Cool, thanks for the additional info.

I hate polluting forums with extra threads, heh. I'll go ahead and do that next time.

 

[nikorr]

Best answer selected by nikorr.

 

[nikorr]

This topic has been closed by Nikorr