Memory advice for a Q9450 build

[ErlendA]

So I intend to build a Q9450 computer this february.

This is my preliminary setup

Case: Antec P-182

PSU: Corsair HX-620

Motherboard: Asus Maximus Formula SE (I would also like some advice on mobo choice. I am not convinced that this is the best board for me)

CPU: Intel Q9450

Cooler: Thermalright Ultra-120 with Nexus Real Silent Case fan D12SL-12

Graphics: Some 3870x2 card.

OS HDD: Western Digital Raptor X 150 GB

Memory: ?


So, I feel that PC8000 memory with tight timings is quite expensive, but at the same time I am concerned about whether PC6400 RAM will be a bottleneck in the setup or not.

I intend to overclock the system as much as I can as long as I get stable results during heavy testing.



This is the RAM that I currently consider:

Mushkin DDR2 8 GB extreme Performance. XP2-6400 4x2048MB 800MHz. (4.4.4.12). Part number: 994580

 

[ErlendA]

I should add that I will be using Windows Vista Business 64-bit as the operating system.

 

[Maziar]

Go for a PC2 6400 RAM with 4-4-4-x or lower timings
that RAM that u have choosed is solid and has pretty good timings

also if u had the $, i would still recommended PC2 6400 instead of
PC2 8000/8500 because the difference isnt much and also PC2 6400 OCs very well too

 

[hughyhunter]

Go for a PC2 6400 RAM with 4-4-4-x or lower timings
that RAM that u have choosed is solid and has pretty good timings

also if u had the $, i would still recommended PC2 6400 instead of
PC2 8000/8500 because the difference isnt much and also PC2 6400 OCs very well too

I am considering building a similar system. The only difference is that I am going with a 780i board (I want to run an SLI setup) and am only going to consider 2x2 set of memory.

When you say that the DDR2800 overclocks well you arent talking about running it out of spec are you? In other words that it will run out of the DDR2800 speeds? You mean that the cpu will overclock well with that memory right? I'm a bit new to overclocking intel chips but am learning fast.

 

[Maziar]

U can do many things with RAM:

1_Rasie the timings (For example if a RAM is 4-4-4-15,u raise it to 5-5-5-15)
And then u will rasie the MHZ of the RAM for example if its DDR2 800 u will make it DDR2 800+ Like 850,900........

2_Lower/Keep the timings its the thing what i did, i kept the RAM @
4-4-4-15 and lowered the MHZ to DDR2 712 and its very fine

the difference between 1 and 2 isnt much and a good DDR2 800 RAM can OC well in either way