[SOLVED] Is ddr3 enough

[ISAnsw]

Is ddr3 1333Mhz enough for gaming?
I may upgrade my ram but I don't want to waste money on that, I would like to upgrade my PSU and GPU at first time I will upgrade it to 8gb but I won't waste money to increase the speed.

Is my choice good?

The games I'd like to play are Rainbow Six, CS:GO, GTA V and etc.
Thanks!

 

[lga1156_ftw]

If you are 100% certain you dont overclock then get either i7-870 or x3470. Its basically same chip with different multiplier and xeon has better binning (less voltage needed for higher clockspeeds)
I7-880 just is twice as expensive and is same chip with higher multiplier , same with x3480 (this one is usually very expensive if found)

For gpu its hard to suggest without knowing what power supply you have and are you going to upgrade it. If you pair up gtx 950 with these i7 processors i suggested it will be the bottleneck. I would suggest atleast 960 from 900 series. But Gtx 970 would be way better with 3.5gb vram.

Your motherboard supports higher ram speed than than 1333/1600 and im sure you can get ddr3 on dual channel (2x4gb or 2x8gb) running at 1866mhz minimum. You can increase your fps for about 30% in some games going from 1333 to 1866 / 2133mhz. After that the gains drop very fast for higher dram frequency.
Just look for 2x4gb 2133mhz / 1866mhz ddr3 ram set with heatsinks, then enable xmp profile and set voltages accordinly if needed.

 

[ISAnsw]

If you are 100% certain you dont overclock then get either i7-870 or x3470. Its basically same chip with different multiplier and xeon has better binning (less voltage needed for higher clockspeeds)
I7-880 just is twice as expensive and is same chip with higher multiplier , same with x3480 (this one is usually very expensive if found)

For gpu its hard to suggest without knowing what power supply you have and are you going to upgrade it. If you pair up gtx 950 with these i7 processors i suggested it will be the bottleneck. I would suggest atleast 960 from 900 series. But Gtx 970 would be way better with 3.5gb vram.

Your motherboard supports higher ram speed than than 1333/1600 and im sure you can get ddr3 on dual channel (2x4gb or 2x8gb) running at 1866mhz minimum. You can increase your fps for about 30% in some games going from 1333 to 1866 / 2133mhz. After that the gains drop very fast for higher dram frequency.
Just look for 2x4gb 2133mhz / 1866mhz ddr3 ram set with heatsinks, then enable xmp profile and set voltages accordinly if needed.

Thanks! But I saw that my CPU supports 1333 Mhz, is that a problem?

 

[Wolfshadw]

Just curious, What is the cost of the GTX 950 for you?

-Wolf sends

 

[lga1156_ftw]

1866mhz set Will work fine with xmp profile. 2133mhz will need some tweaking.

 

[Third-Eye]

Thanks! But I saw that my CPU supports 1333 Mhz, is that a problem?

What do you have access to for DDR3 ram speeds and graphics cards? Which ones can you afford?

Your motherboard can support faster than 1333 ram speeds.

 

[lga1156_ftw]

2x8gb of ddr3 running at 1866 or 2133mhz can be quite expensive even used but you should get a good deal on 2x4gb. For 100% ram compatibility look memory support from manufactor site.

It doesnt really matter if you buy cpu or ram used these are the less dodgy parts when you buy second hand. I would not buy power supply used and there are usually issues with used gpu:s.

EDIT: if you see ram set which has dram voltage 1.65v for xmp that IS fine but that is the limit when you use i7 cpu. So from 1.5v to 1.65v is the safe range.

 

[ISAnsw]

Just curious, What is the cost of the GTX 950 for you?

-Wolf sends

150$

 

[ISAnsw]

What do you have access to for DDR3 ram speeds and graphics cards? Which ones can you afford?

Your motherboard can support faster than 1333 ram speeds.

Yes, my motherboard supports up to 2100 MHz but my cpu supports 1333Mhz, so that's the reason why I am confused

 

[Third-Eye]

Yes, my motherboard supports up to 2100 MHz but my cpu supports 1333Mhz, so that's the reason why I am confused

1333 is the official supported speed, but you can use ram sold specifically as an overclockedable kit that can be set to an advertised speed with XMP or manually set by the user. You can take a memory kit intended for say 1333 and overclock it to 1866 or even higher by changing the voltage and timings until it's no longer stable enough to pass a memory test without errors.

For your use case, I doubt you will see much benefit going past 1866 and should save money toward a new system by buying cheaper slower ram. As I stated before, I personally wouldn't buy slower than DDR3 1600, because it's basically the middle ground for good performance and good pricing compared to faster 1866-2400 DDR3. You could buy a cheap kit and overclock it, but you might not get more than 1600-1866 out of it depending on the quality of the ram. You will also see limited fps gains in most games with faster ram.

 

[Corwin65]

$150 for a used GTX 950 is ridiculous.

 

[lga1156_ftw]

$150 for a used GTX 950 is ridiculous.

Was about To say. I brought 980ti used for less than 200.

If you are getting i7 there is no point with 950 even on stock, get atleast gtx 970 those are really cheap. You should get it less than 100$

EDIT: i meant you should get GTX 970 for less than 100$ used, for 950 i wouldnt pay more than 30 or 40

 

[ISAnsw]

1333 is the official supported speed, but you can use ram sold specifically as an overclockedable kit that can be set to an advertised speed with XMP or manually set by the user. You can take a memory kit intended for say 1333 and overclock it to 1866 or even higher by changing the voltage and timings until it's no longer stable enough to pass a memory test without errors.

For your use case, I doubt you will see much benefit going past 1866 and should save money toward a new system by buying cheaper slower ram. As I stated before, I personally wouldn't buy slower than DDR3 1600, because it's basically the middle ground for good performance and good pricing compared to faster 1866-2400 DDR3. You could buy a cheap kit and overclock it, but you might not get more than 1600-1866 out of it depending on the quality of the ram. You will also see limited fps gains in most games with faster ram.

I think I may buy 1600Mhz at this point

 

[hildebranddj]

Been running DDR3 1600 in dual channel 4x4. GB with no issues for years. Runs Minecraft on almost max, even pushing it hard in rendering on 3D Cad. I've been having super luck with TeamGroup Ram in the last 6 builds I've done. I have played a bit with overclocking it but I'm not expert. 1600 seems to do just fine, and my last budget build with almost the same specs as my workhorse (same CPU, newer MoBo, but Team DDR3 1866 ram, I virtually saw very little difference in the benchmark. So I figure it's not worth seeing if I can OC my ram.

 

[ISAnsw]

Been running DDR3 1600 in dual channel 4x4. GB with no issues for years. Runs Minecraft on almost max, even pushing it hard in rendering on 3D Cad. I've been having super luck with TeamGroup Ram in the last 6 builds I've done. I have played a bit with overclocking it but I'm not expert. 1600 seems to do just fine, and my last budget build with almost the same specs as my workhorse (same CPU, newer MoBo, but Team DDR3 1866 ram, I virtually saw very little difference in the benchmark. So I figure it's not worth seeing if I can OC my ram.

I see you are still with 1600Mhz ram

 

[hildebranddj]

Yes still running 1600. After building a similar unit with 1866 for a friend, I saw no real benefits to spending the extra $100 to upgrade to 1866, side by side on a ram test there was negligible difference, Team says I can OC my current ram to that point but won't give out how to or the clocks to do it.

 

[lga1156_ftw]

Yes still running 1600. After building a similar unit with 1866 for a friend, I saw no real benefits to spending the extra $100 to upgrade to 1866, side by side on a ram test there was negligible difference, Team says I can OC my current ram to that point but won't give out how to or the clocks to do it.

There are some games and software which benefit alot from faster dram, thing is you need to take in consideration timings aswell. Loosening timings enough results in same performance than lower dram speed itself. Ive actually benchmarked fortnite earlier and got about 40% fps boost testing with 1333 and 2133mhz ram on similar board. Going from 1600 to 1866 is not that noticable.
You where right about not spending 100$ extra for that little performance boost that was the right choice but now time is different and used ddr3 is very cheap, for p55 i suggest either 2x4gb or 2x8gb running in dual channel instead of 4x4gb running dual channel.

What place you buy used parts from so we can give some suggestions? There might be only 5$ difference between 1866 and 2133mhz used kit. You can always run it lower speeds if its not stable at higher and tighten timings, these models have usually good heatsinks you need 1.6-1.65v to hit 2133mhz.

 

[ISAnsw]

There are some games and software which benefit alot from faster dram, thing is you need to take in consideration timings aswell. Loosening timings enough results in same performance than lower dram speed itself. Ive actually benchmarked fortnite earlier and got about 40% fps boost testing with 1333 and 2133mhz ram on similar board. Going from 1600 to 1866 is not that noticable.
You where right about not spending 100$ extra for that little performance boost that was the right choice but now time is different and used ddr3 is very cheap, for p55 i suggest either 2x4gb or 2x8gb running in dual channel instead of 4x4gb running dual channel.

What place you buy used parts from so we can give some suggestions? There might be only 5$ difference between 1866 and 2133mhz used kit. You can always run it lower speeds if its not stable at higher and tighten timings, these models have usually good heatsinks you need 1.6-1.65v to hit 2133mhz.

I am not sure that I will buy used ram or gpu...

 

[lga1156_ftw]

I somewhat agree with new gpu since those can really have problems when bought used even if price is alot lower. If you are buying new you should get gtx 1060 or 1050ti, there is no point in getting 900 series card new those have worse optimatization anyway unless you get cheap deal used.

 

[ISAnsw]

I somewhat agree with new gpu since those can really have problems when bought used even if price is alot lower. If you are buying new you should get gtx 1060 or 1050ti, there is no point in getting 900 series card new those have worse optimatization anyway unless you get cheap deal used.

yea but my processor will have a big bottleneck with these series

 

[lga1156_ftw]

1050ti not really, if you get i7 x3470 or i7-870