Whats the "right" ram for me?

[finalguy]

with this build i wanted to get the ram that would cause me the least amount of issues, and give me the best speed the board was about to handle. the two things i've noticed are that a. board manufactorers dont keep their aboved list very up to date and for both amd and intel setups it "looks" like 1600 is the real cap with anything above just OC. i know from just my experience that asking what the "best" ram for me is far too nebulous without atleast saying what board im using and maybe even picking a ram company, so ill make this easy.

whats the best, fastest, most stable ram for the asus maximus IV Z board made by g.skill. asus's list doesnt really list any 4gb stick pairings i think because of the age of the list, while g,skill does list the newer offers they have as aboved. problem is they seem to be between series right now as the ripjaw x's seem to be being phased out and the ripjaw z are coming in. newegg doesnt have any ripjaw z's and seem to be very understocked on the different speeds of ripjaw x's. i'd find an approved pairing on g.skill then couldnt find any place that sold them. i dont know if this is forshadowing issues im gonna have with the ram or what, but i really would prefer to get something 2000+ in speed but no one seems to stock the 2000,2133,2200, or 2400s. maybe this is just with g.skill or maybe its because those speeds are so over clocked.

thoughts?

 

[o1die]

I would go by asus qvl and not go overboard on the ram speed. Get the max speed they tested with. 1600 ram is much cheaper anyway.

 

[finalguy]

well the board itself says it can use up to 2300, but im just finding it hard to find anything above 1600 spd in stock, and their "list is very out dated as most company with release new stick with different model numbers.

 

[gamer25]

Corsair DOMINATOR GT

 

[finalguy]

i guess one of my main questions is how much of a differenece would i see between 8gigs of 1600 vs 2133 with a z68 board,i5 2500 oc'd to 4.5ghz and just mainly gaming and surfing i suppose.

 

[o1die]

You won't see a big change. I won't pay double for a small performance gain, but maybe you will. It's your money.

 

[alrobichaud]

I am not very familiar with Sandy Bridge architecture but i beleive it has an integrated memory controller that runs at 1066MHz, correct? I found out the hard way that attempting to run 2000MHz RAM is a pretty huge memory overclock that requires a high memory controller voltage. On the i7 965 the max memory controller voltage (qpi/tt) according to intel is 1.355V and Patriot specs their Viper Extreme 12Gb triple channel kit to run at 1.6V which flashes red in my BIOS when I let the XMP profile make the changes. They also say that reaching the stock frequency of the RAM is dependant on the memory controller and some may not be able to run stable at the rated frequency. I payed roughly twice the ammount for a 2000MHz kit vs a 1600MHz. Now I understand why the 'sweet spot' for RAM is 1600MHz. I know I am comparing apples and oranges with the i5 2500 and the i7 965 but my point is make sure your integrated memory controller can handle the increase before you waste your money.

 

[o1die]

Newegg has a gskill 1600 8 gb stick for only $49.99 in today's email promos. Cheapest I've seen. So now you can max out with 32 gb on some boards for $200.

 

[finalguy]

Best answer selected by finalguy.