[SOLVED] RAM for an MSI B760 Tomahawk mobo with i5-13500 CPU ?

[will2power]

Almost finished deciding on build for new PC. I can get a i5-13500 and Tomahawk combination from a store for about $445, they have $40 off the Tomahawk and also money off for the combo.

I think I will grab Memory for PC and possibly a case, power, SSD too from same store within next few days.

Regarding the Memory part, initially wanted 64GB but maybe 32GB is more than enough. The main questions I have,

Is there a significant difference between cheap memory and expensive? In general. For example, I could go for cheapest memory at 64GB for $140 or expensive 32BG for similar. Is there a "sweet spot"?

1. Memory frequency. 3200 and 3600 etc. Are they important? I was told 3600MHZ is a good point of entry but not really sure what it means. Is the "CL" important, for example 3600 CL16-20-20-40?

2. The pin number, again no idea but 288 seems normal. Recommended for the board and CPU combination?

3. Voltage, is higher better? I guess it is faster but more strain on system? Guessing here. 1.35 is best?

4. There is a long number after the PC-4, for example 28800, or 25600, is this related to Pin or V or HTz? Should i be concerned about it?

Detailed info is good but also just a "go for this for your board" type answer is too. I am considering cheapest possible 64GB ram but do not want to miss something important in doing so. 32GB of more expensive ram would be 2nd choice, if there is good reason to buy something more pricey.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[Lafong]

I gather you want DDR 4.

If Intel, I wouldn't get overwhelmed by the 3200 versus 3600 distinction. Pretty much a tossup between CL16 3200 and CL18 3600. Nitpicking.

I'd stick with name brand (Corsair, G Skill, Kingston Hyper X, Crucial). One kit of 2 sticks.

Don't know what you do with a PC. It's rare anyone "needs" 64 GB. It's not like you'd be brought to a crawl if you had 32. I have NEVER had more than 8 and have no issues for my use case.

If you used 32 rather than 64, where would you spend the saved money? Stronger CPU? Better cooler? Wine?

If a desktop PC, you don't want "So-Dimm"; those are for laptops. You want standard 288 pin stuff, probably though not necessarily with a heat spreader along the top edge.

Voltage; 1.35 is quite common. Not sure you'd need to look elsewhere.

I would not get bogged down in the subtimings like CL16-20-20-38 unless you are an extreme hobbyist that will overclock RAM.

You might post a link to your 2 or 3 best RAM ideas and see if anyone sees a problem.

 

[will2power]

64GB was a kind of consideration because I seldom upgrade and was thinking about "futureproofing" but not necessary for what I am doing atm. If I get a full format Camera etc in future and working with video may be needed but for now I am running 8GB of RAM on system from 13 years ago and not noticing a massive problem. 32GB more than enough, 16GB prob ok.

For 32GB here are the otions I was thinking about.

Crucial CT2K16G4DFRA32A DDR4 PC4-25600
G.SKILL F4-3200C16D-32GIS
G.SKILL F4-3600C19D-32GSXWB

I heard G-Skill were good, Corsair too, Crucial as a back up. The cheapest are ADATA but only 1000 yen or less difference, prob $5 or so. G-Skill were what I was planning. Not big difference between 3200 and 3600 but as you and others mentioned likely not a big difference in performance either.

 

[bill001g]

You first consideration is that the memory is on the QVL list for your motherboard. It just makes things much easier if you know it has been tested to work, other memory might work it just has not been tested to work.

In general the timings on memory do not matter much for most applications. Compress/uncompress of zip files seems to be one memory helps and if you where going to use the video on the CPU rather than a actual GPU the memory seems to matter more.

A very rough way to compare memory is to divide the speed by the latency. This means 3200 cl 16 is better than 3600 cl 19 but 3600 cl 18 would be about the same. The recommended price/performance point you see in many charts is 3600 cl 16 or 3200 cl 14

 

[will2power]

You first consideration is that the memory is on the QVL list for your motherboard. It just makes things much easier if you know it has been tested to work, other memory might work it just has not been tested to work.

In general the timings on memory do not matter much for most applications. Compress/uncompress of zip files seems to be one memory helps and if you where going to use the video on the CPU rather than a actual GPU the memory seems to matter more.

A very rough way to compare memory is to divide the speed by the latency. This means 3200 cl 16 is better than 3600 cl 19 but 3600 cl 18 would be about the same. The recommended price/performance point you see in many charts is 3600 cl 16 or 3200 cl 14

That is great info. I will check and do quick calculations and also check what is listed on MB. Good price/ performance point is what I always look to, thanks