What would be the ideal RAM to use on this desktop?

[Van Damme]

Hi,

I'm building a mid-range desktop, I've got this motherboard: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1156/P7P55DE/#specifications and this processor: http://ark.intel.com/products/48496/Intel-Core-i5-760-Processor-%288M-Cache-2_80-GHz%29

And now I need to choose RAM, but I don't know what to choose.

Mainly I would like a fast RAM to play Warcraft on max settings, I know that it's not only the GB of the RAM that counts, so I want to ask your opinion about a high performance RAM, and a good performance-good price RAM, compatible with my motherboard.

 

[Raiddinn]

You can get a 2500k and Gigabyte 1155 motherboard for the same price as you can get those things and your performance would be better.

Also, it pretty much is the GBs of the RAM that matters.

If you have 1333 RAM and you check your FPS in some game and then you replace the RAM with 2133 RAM and check the FPS again, its pretty much always the same.

RAM is pretty much never the bottleneck unless you have a Llano processor and your regular RAM has to double as VRAM. Othwerwise, you might as well ignore it.

The only thing that shows gains with increased RAM other than Llano graphics is archiving programs like Winzip that nobody uses all the time anyway.

If you have a 64 bit OS, and you aren't doing heavy graphics, video, or audio editing, you should have 2x 4GBs of RAM as with CT2KIT51264BA1339.

If you are using a 64 bit OS, and you ARE doing that stuff, then get 2x of that part number.

If you have a 32 bit OS, just pretend like you are using a 64 bit OS and buy the 2x 4GBs kit from above and have the system not recognize all your RAM. It will all be recognized when you get around to upgrading later. One of the major RAM makers went bankrupt, so RAM prices are expected to increase from their current super low levels so you might as well get all the RAM you need now.

Anyway, I think you should use all 3 of these parts
i5-2500k
GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Crucial 2x 4GB 1333 CT2KIT51264BA1339

 

[g-unit1111]

You can get a 2500k and Gigabyte 1155 motherboard for the same price as you can get those things and your performance would be better.

I think the OP already has those items - and is just looking for new RAM to fill the slots.

Anyway the 1155 is a dual channel system and it uses 2 x DIMM pairs with max capacity 16GB and speed DDR3 1600 - but I always recommend low profile in case you want to install a cooler. So with that in mind something like this would work:

- Crucial: http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=P7P55D&Cat=RAM
- Corsair: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233196
- Mushkin: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226095

 

[Raiddinn]

He chose an i5-760 and an 1156 motherboard.

I want him not to choose those things and choose something else of equal price and better performance instead.

Also, I don't see any reason to make the RAM choice harder than it needs to be. I gave him a part number that is 99.5% likely to give him an awesome user experience and there is nothing on the market capable of increasing that figure.

 

[Soda-88]

don't buy 1156 platform, it's outdated and you can't upgrade it (it's more expensive too for some reason)

get yourself

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345

and if you plan on overclocking

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

 

[Raiddinn]

Why should he get the Corsair Vengence RAM instead of what I suggested?

It costs more, is more likely to fail out of the box, and gains him pretty much nothing. I don't get it.

 

[g-unit1111]

He chose an i5-760 and an 1156 motherboard.

I want him not to choose those things and choose something else of equal price and better performance instead.

Also, I don't see any reason to make the RAM choice harder than it needs to be. I gave him a part number that is 99.5% likely to give him an awesome user experience and there is nothing on the market capable of increasing that figure.

Oh true - you're also not likely P55 CPUs anywhere - Newegg only stocks 5 and they're all i3-based.

 

[Van Damme]

Thanks for all the replies to my post.

I agree with you, that I should go for LGA1155, but I already got the 1156 motherboard and CPU, and I don't believe I'm able to sell them now, so let's say, I'm "stuck" with them.

I've checked the specs of the i5 760, and about the RAM it says the following:

Memory Specifications

Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type): 16 GB
Memory Types: DDR3-1066/1333
# of Memory Channels: 2
Max Memory Bandwidth: 21 GB/s
Physical Address Extensions: 36-bit
ECC Memory Supported: No

So, I was thinking in buying 2 sticks of DDR3 1333 8GB RAM to use all the 16GB the CPU allows me to use.
But I wonder what the ECC means, and there's another thing I've heard, about cl8, cl9, I also don't know what is that.

Can you tell me your best pick for a memory that's compatible with my CPU?
About the price differences, I also wonder why it is like that, because I see RAM with those specs above for 25$ and others for $60, do you think it's worth paying more? Or the price goes up just because those fancy cooling plates?

 

[Raiddinn]

ECC means error checking. It basically slows down the performance of the RAM and in the process makes sure there are not any errors in the input and output.

In times long past, this used to be a pretty large problem, and ECC used to be awesome.

These days, even non ECC RAM is so error free that nobody really wants to use it except on servers where even the tiniest data error rate is unacceptable.

In this case, I don't think more RAM is going to help you. Indeed it might hurt more than it helps.

RAM is such that as long as you have enough for what you are doing, then anything more gains you pretty much nothing. For gaming, that amount is a spare 2GBs. Pretty much everybody has a spare 2GBs if they have a total of 8.

Especially so, since the page file is used by Windows to transfer things from RAM into in order to free up the contents of RAM to accept other things.

I suggested some RAM in the first response to this thread and I still think you should get it. It will work just as well with the 760 as with the 2500k.

The price differences mostly reflect 2 things, either:
1) Increased testing - the thing is more likely to work
or
2) Increased looks - The thing looks cooler, but is less likely to work

The "heat spreaders" as those fancy cooling plates are called, haven't been proven to aid people in any way that I am aware of.