Memory Speed Question

[Guest]

I need a little help with some research that I am doing involving memory speed. I am planning to build a gaming rig early next year for around $2,000 after Haswell is released by Intel. I was considering an overclock kind of setup, but haven't decided for sure if I will go that route or not. I at first thought I figured out what needed to be done to avoid a bottleneck between the RAM sticks, CPU, and motherboard, but I seem to be getting contradictory information about RAM sticks needing to match the specs of the motherboard or CPU.

1. If I build a gaming system without overclocking, do I need the memory speed of the RAM sticks to match or exceed the memory speed of the CPU to avoid a bottleneck?

2. Again without overclocking, if the CPU such as an Intel i7-3770K has a memory speed up to 1600MHz, and the motherboard, such as the GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 Intel Z68 Motherboard is designed to use RAM sticks with speeds up to 2133MHz without overclocking, would I get a noticable performance improvement if the 2133 MHz have the same latency as RAM sticks with 1600MHz?

3. I am planning to use 16GB of RAM. Would I get quicker response times with either two 8GB or four 4GB RAM sticks if both sets have the same latency? Also which of those two setups would produce less heat?

 

[inzone]

Memory doesn't affect performance as much as your thinking it does. The cpu and video card/s are the main components that affect performance. If you get 1333mhz or 1600mhz then you will be fine with what ever you do with the computer.
The motherboard will support a variety of different memory speeds but almost everything over 1600mhz is in an overclocked state. If you look at the specifications of a motherboard and at the memory section you see the speeds that the board will support and when you see the (oc) after the memory speed that means overclocked. There are some boards that will support 1866 and not overclocked but most are 1600 mhz and 1333mhz.
Don't forget this is all determined by the cpu's memory controller.
The quicker response times will depend on the speed of the ram and not the size of the sticks or how many sticks. You'll get faster response times with 1866mhz then with 1333mhz but it woun't be enough to make a big difference.

 

[Guest]

Memory doesn't affect performance as much as your thinking it does. The cpu and video card/s are the main components that affect performance. If you get 1333mhz or 1600mhz then you will be fine with what ever you do with the computer.
The motherboard will support a variety of different memory speeds but almost everything over 1600mhz is in an overclocked state. If you look at the specifications of a motherboard and at the memory section you see the speeds that the board will support and when you see the (oc) after the memory speed that means overclocked. There are some boards that will support 1866 and not overclocked but most are 1600 mhz and 1333mhz.
Don't forget this is all determined by the cpu's memory controller.
The quicker response times will depend on the speed of the ram and not the size of the sticks or how many sticks. You'll get faster response times with 1866mhz then with 1333mhz but it woun't be enough to make a big difference.

Here is the link for the motherboard that I had mentioned: <http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=353599&CatId=7212>.

Are you saying that even though the specs don't have overclock listed next to the 2133MHz speed, it is still an overclock speed?

 

[inzone]

No , in my post I was saying that when you see a memory speed and right after it you have the (oc) it means that the ram is supported in an overclocked condition. If you look at the motherboards detail spec's you will see the memory speeds it supports and the ones with the (oc) are the overclocked and the ones that don't have it are supported without overclocking.
This Gigabyte board doesn't have the (oc) on any of the supported memory speeds and that's unusual to see a board support 2133mhz without the (oc).