RAM recomendations/questions for Asus P6X58D-E

[amoebachiba]

I'm specing out a new box, which will use an i7-950 on an Asus P6X58D-E mobo. I will be doing no overclocking. I would like to get some triple channel action going on, and I'm thinking of doing 6 gigs of memory.


I'm looking over the recommended ram lists in the board's manual ( http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1366/P6X58D-E/E5435_P6X58D-E_manual.zip), and have a few questions.


Speed: Well, in a nut shell, ddr3-1866 or ddr3-2000? Are there any limitations present in my cpu/mobo setup that might make going 2000 not optimal?

Matched sticks: I'm so used to buying matched pairs of ram that the idea of using 3 sticks of 2 gig ram throws me for a loop. Any insight on this front? (clearly Things Have Changed since I last put a box together, heh).

Timings: given that I will not overclock, the whole timing thing is not important for me, right? So, were I to settle on a brand, within the selection memory listed in the manual, which offerings would I avoid? Related, anything I need to be aware of on the voltage front?

Brand: well, go to town with the advice on this front 😛


Thanks!

 

[amoebachiba]

Hm, clearly I need to write my questions better - 102 views, no replies 😛

So, here's the ddr3-2000 qvl from the mobo manual (sorry it's an image: the pdf is protected, so I can't copy text out of it). I'm thinking of doing 3x2gig for 6 gigs of memory.

My brand awareness is now some years old - so we have here G.Skill, Kingston, OCZ, and Patriot. What brand(s) are considered groovy these days?

As I asked above, is there anything I should know about ddr3-2000 memory, vs something slower? IE "if you aren't going to overlock/etc, then you don't need that" or anything?


Any insight or recommendations much appreciated, thanks!

 

[andrern2000]

There's G.Skill 'GBRH' <- this is Ripjaws series which is popular.
There's also G.Skill 'GBTD' <- this is Trident series which is known to clock better.

There's also good Kingston 2000 Mhz, and the most bottom part Patriot with XMP profile is also good.
Just remind you what kind of memory channels do you have, is it dual or triple channel, because those memory in list comes in dual and triple kits.

Yes, there's limitation to CPU processor bottleneck. Core i7- only uses 1333 Mhz memory speed. Actually 1333 is enough. Going even to 1600 Mhz will only provide slightest performance increase, because it's already bottlenecked in processor. However, some ppl do like some headroom, so mostly people go for 1600 Mhz. To go past the bottleneck processor limitation, you overclock processor.
There's actually no need to go 2000 Mhz unless you do "very heavy overclocking", like, with Nitrogen acrylic pipes and open-cased circuitry with halogen cooling pipes. 2000 Mhz will be suitable to people who overclock, like, 5 Ghz processor speed.

 

[amoebachiba]

Best answer selected by amoebachiba.

 

[jaquith]

Duh the 2000 MHz is good for BCLK >160~180+ and good for 4GHz OC, and good 1600 MHz will add 2~5+ FPS over 1333. Use the Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D

ASUS P6X58D-E Corsair Tested list -> http://www.corsair.com/configurator/product_results.aspx?id=1522755
Newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145224