What ram to choose to go with i7-3770K and Z77 Sabertooth?

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Prince_

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Upgrading my core components for my workstation/gaming rig.

I've selected the Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz and Z77 Sabertooth so far but can't decide on ram.

I have a LCS and I want to do a conservative, possibly moderate OC, but nothing major.

I use a lot of apps and multitask like crazy. I use everything from photoshop to vegas and though my time is limited for gaming, I like it to count when I do.

Budget isn't a huge consideration, I don't want to pay double for 5% performance increase but I do want something that will take advantage of the mobo and oc. Something tried and true would be ideal cause I'm no pro overclocker and don't have a lot of time to spend on downtime and tweaking.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
 
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Prince_

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I want to OC the CPU for sure. I've never really understood OCing ram though I've done some minor tweaks before... I Had issues with it and had to revert to normal though.

I'd like a mobo/cpu/ram combo that has good OC potential and take from experience of others to find a stable moderate OC. ie copy someone else's working settings.

It's not necessary to me, but I have an LCS and I try to buy good components and figure I may as well try. I might just use the ez-mode OC in the bios in the end and leave it at that.
 
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Prince_

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btw, what is better to achieve 16: 2X8 or 4X4? Seems like I should maybe go for 2X8 in case I ever need to update later, yeah? Unless it causes a hit in performance in which case I'll just upgrade the 4x4 later as needed.
 
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bigcyco1

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well are you planing on overclocking cpu on air or water ? If air then i go with 2X8 because the heat sink might get in the way with 4X4
 
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Prince_

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I'm not offended and to be honest I don't know. I can tell you I clutter my computer very heavily, I frequently bounce around from task to task, keep software running, commonly have over 100 tabs open on a browser sometimes over 250. Even now just looking at all the ram possibilities I have an extra 50 tabs for forums and products open. I constantly have gigs of torrents going and I'm getting into video editing more and more. I game when I can on a 30" monitor at high res, have a 60" aux screen I use for work and rec.

I'm self employed and have to be a jack of all trades and use my computer for many facets for my business as well as many hobbies. I'm not technically savvy in all the nuances but I'm definitely a power pc user. I've tried to cut down on the clutter and open apps but even so I still see my ram meter in the 90% range at times. I can cope with 8GB, sure, but would I prefer to not worry about a potential bottleneck in spite of my retarded habits
 
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bigcyco1

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You need more than 8gb then so it makes sense to me now why you think you need that :lol: now to the next thing i wanted to talk to you about is the motherboard in all honesty, the Sabertooth is a more for looks type motherboard. Don't get me wrong, it's a decent mobo. But $220-240 what it offers is performance wise =$150-170 mobo. It's not worth it at all.If you want to spend that kind of money on a motherboard get something worth it and has lots to offer here are some recommendations Gigabyt UD5, ASUS V Pro, or an MSI GD65,or an ASRock Z77 Extreme6. These are all excellent boards for overclocking as well. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131819 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128549 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130643 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157295#top if you still want to stick with the sabertooth that's fine it's your choice at the end of the day of course! ;)

 
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bigcyco1

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top of the line might be overkill for you lol GIGABYTE G1.Sniper 3 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128552#top or ASRock Z77 Professional LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157299#top ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z ROG Motherboard - ATX, Socket H2 (LGA1155), Intel Z68 Express, 2200MHz DDR3 (O.C.), SATA 6.0 Gb/s, RAID, 8-CH Audio, Gigabit LAN, SuperSpeed USB 3.0, CrossFireX/SLI Ready http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=684814&CatId=7212
 
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Prince_

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I gave you some tasty troll food already, spentshells, move along now : )

Yeah, those $300+ boards are overkill for me at this point in my life. I'm gradually migrating to sensibility as the years go by haha.

I've been looking at this one you suggested pretty closely:
ASRock Z77 Professional http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157299#top
But it seemed to compare almost identically with the Sabertooth. Except the Sabertooth standard mem is 1866 while everything else was 1600. The ASRock looks like a great board and also has more sata6 which would have been a plus except I'm just now finally getting a nice NAS system and pulling all the extra HDDs out of my case.

Anyway, side by side they look mostly identical for the specs I'm looking at
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%20600093976%20600315497&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280|13-157-299^13-157-299-TS%2C13-131-821^13-131-821-TS

I'm also an artist of sorts so I'm compelled to the sleeker look, so thats another reason I'd pick the Sabertooth unless it was a crap board but its got 5/5 review ratings all over so it seems solid.

Thanks for your input so far, its been helpful.
 
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Prince_

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Ok, one more followup before I make up my mind.

Out of your recommendations I would pick this:
G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231503
But there is also this lot:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233230
Which is $100 bucks more and identical but has a 1.5v as opposed to 1.65v.

From what I gathered from this thread
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/313756-30-16gb-compatible-sabertooth
1.6+ might be an issue

But, according to the QVL
http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1155/SABERTOOTH_Z77/SABERTOOTH-Z77-Memory-QVL.pdf
there are many 1.65v sticks @2133 that are approved.

I'll go with the GSkill unless there is some advantage with the Corsair Dominator that should change my mind or if the 1.65v would cause issues. I know Corsair used to be the holy grail back when I was keeping up with specs years ago. No idea these days. Sounds like many are good. And prices are amazingly low compared to the past; competition is great.
 
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bigcyco1

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No problem it's my pleasure so you want to keep the sabertooth that's fine on a plus side of that choice it does come with a 5 year warranty now let's move on to CPU i would recommend i7-3770K because of all the different things you mentioned you do on your p.c. also do you have a good PSU this is very important it's the heart so to speak of your rig As much as the power (Watts) requirement matters, the current requirement, measured in Amps is as important if not even more important. This is especially true if you have a or several dedicated video card(s). As a general rule of thumb, you’re aiming for the highest number on the 12V line.Power Supplies that are certified 80 PLUS have been independently tested for their efficiency. Now, there are 4 different 80 PLUS certifications, depending on how efficient the power supply is:

80 PLUS: The power supply is at least 80% efficient at 20%,50% and 100% load
80 PLUS Bronze: The power is at least 82% efficient at 20% and 100% and 85% efficient at 50% load.
80 PLUS Silver: The power is at least 85% efficient at 20% and 100% and 88% efficient at 50% load.
80 PLUS Gold: The power is at least 87% efficient at 20% and 100% and 90% efficient at 50% load.

The 80 PLUS and higher certifications are the way to go when you are looking for an efficient power supply.

Do not trust specifications such as “Efficiency: 80% to 85% Efficiency Typical” that are not 80PLUS certified. 80 PLUS is an independent standard test. No 80 PLUS and “Efficiency: 80% to 85% Efficiency Typical” means that it is 80% to 85% efficient, according to the manufacturer that is, using their own in-house test, which may or may not so much represent real efficiency.Brand name doesn't really matter since almost all have made bad psu at one time or another aside from seasonic imho.so anyway if you have a PSU which model or brand is it if i may ask
 
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bigcyco1

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The GSKILL is a fine choice to be honest imo kingston,gskill,Corsair,Crucial ,Mushkin there all the dam same it's a bunch of hype at least imo it is as to which is better there all good and any of those brands i mentioned i never had any issues with others i have but those are pretty much top of the line these days it's the timings that matter if anything at least that's imo but nobody can prove otherwise so i rest my case for o.c. some are better than others but any those i listed will suit you and the gskill you picked comes with life time warranty and there known for honoring it ;)
 
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Prince_

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I've got a Thermaltake Toughpower 700W right now and thought about a 1000w PSU but I prefer to push one strong card and since I don't have literally 12 drives draining the system anymore (down to 4 now and will be at 2 or 3 soon once the NAS is all set up) I think 700 is adequate. If I upgrade it will probably be to replace the single card. I feel like this is usually best cause of the constantly changing technology.

I'm using a GTX 580 and it was updated more recently compared to the rest of the parts, along with a Intel SSD 160GB drive at the time for the OS. Think it was a x25 or x18 or something like that. Might update that later this year after I see what current SSDs are doing (sounds like they've increased performance in the last year even) It'll be a nice excuse to reformat for a fresh slate, especially since I'll have an organized data center for file clutter

As for the cpu, glad you agree since I already ordered that one hehe, I'm looking forward to it.
 
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bigcyco1

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o.k. that's a decent PSU i don't think you need a upgrade yet GTX580 are pretty nice and you don't need to upgrade that for a few years i don't think but i can't tell the future so you never know lol but for now i wouldn't get a different GPU yours is solid oh and you already ordered CPU :lol: well at least you didn't make a bad choice :sol:
 
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bigcyco1

bigcyco1

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As for the SSD yeah man they have really step up there game i have just some little ones because like a dummy i bought mine when they almost first came out and were overpriced still i can't complain i just use mine to keep the OS on only and my rig boots iin about 15-20 seconds before it use to take about 2 or 3 minutes lol
 
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