Sandybridge CPUs memory support

[fishyfish]

Hi, a quick and easy (hopefully) question. I have E5200@3.2GHz, 4GB RAM and GTS450 runs quite well, but I need more RAM for Ligthroom/Photoshop work and faster CPU for some gaming. DDR2 RAM is now twice as expensive as DDR3, so I thought I'll change whole platform. I'm about to upgrade my mobo/cpu/ram, budget is quite limited, so I'd go for Asrock P67 PRO (267321) and Pentium G840 (264712) so I can easily upgrade CPU to i5 later on.

Both G840 and i5 spec says these only support 1066/1333 RAM modules. Is there any point in getting G Skill 1600 RAM (264750), or should I stick with 1333 as it won't make any difference for i3/i5 CPUs?

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

Hi, a quick and easy (hopefully) question. I have E5200@3.2GHz, 4GB RAM and GTS450 runs quite well, but I need more RAM for Ligthroom/Photoshop work and faster CPU for some gaming. DDR2 RAM is now twice as expensive as DDR3, so I thought I'll change whole platform. I'm about to upgrade my mobo/cpu/ram, budget is quite limited, so I'd go for Asrock P67 PRO (267321) and Pentium G840 (264712) so I can easily upgrade CPU to i5 later on.

Both G840 and i5 spec says these only support 1066/1333 RAM modules. Is there any point in getting G Skill 1600 RAM (264750), or should I stick with 1333 as it won't make any difference for i3/i5 CPUs?

Yes there is and make sure the ram is 1.5v or lower.
the G840 is a great budget cpu that stands even against athlon II X3 and sometimes against the i3 530.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/pentium-g850-g840-g620.html

 

[fishyfish]

Yes there is and make sure the ram is 1.5v or lower.
the G840 is a great budget cpu that stands even against athlon II X3 and sometimes against the i3 530.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/pentium-g850-g840-g620.html

Thanks for quick answer, I'll order it then! This is my config, would you recommend anything better for the money?

G-Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz RipjawsX Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V £51.08
Asrock P67 PRO Socket 1155 8 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard £80.57
Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound £2.94 (for my scythe cooler)
Intel Pentium G840 2.8GHz Socket 1155 3MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor £60.74

 

[3xch4ng3]

Hi, a quick and easy (hopefully) question. I have E5200@3.2GHz, 4GB RAM and GTS450 runs quite well, but I need more RAM for Ligthroom/Photoshop work and faster CPU for some gaming. DDR2 RAM is now twice as expensive as DDR3, so I thought I'll change whole platform. I'm about to upgrade my mobo/cpu/ram, budget is quite limited, so I'd go for Asrock P67 PRO (267321) and Pentium G840 (264712) so I can easily upgrade CPU to i5 later on.

Both G840 and i5 spec says these only support 1066/1333 RAM modules. Is there any point in getting G Skill 1600 RAM (264750), or should I stick with 1333 as it won't make any difference for i3/i5 CPUs?

There's no reason not to buy faster memory if it's the same price, especially since Intel's Ivy Bridge CPUs will be fully compatible with the LGA 1155 Socket. If the CPU only supports 1333Mhz memory now, it'll clock down your RAM to meet this speed. However, whenever you decide to upgrade to a newer CPU that supports faster RAM, you'll already have the headroom on the memory.

 

[RetiredChief]

Extract from one of my preveous posts talking about the same issue edited for this.

Bottom line from a couple of reviews on Memory.
here is NO performance difference between the Between CL 8 and CL9 outside benchmarks. Also Going from DDR 1333 CL9 to DDR3-1600 CL9 - The performance increase is very Slight, and in most cases the average user will not notice any performance differnce.

That in Mind, rhe DDR3-1600, CL9 is considered to be the "Sweet spot" for the new Sandybridge (SB) Systems. Only go with the DDR3-1600 if the cost difference is Approx $10.
Also the intel Spec sheet for the SB CPUs states a Max ram voltage of 1.575 V (I use 1.60 V Ram and many others moved their 1.65 V over). As the 1.5 V ram is more common than when I bought mine - go with the 1.5 V