Z710-A/i6700K RAM Options

[darthfusion]

Hi there,

I'm building a new system, and I'm just curious about some "future proofing" and the last time I built a system, there were very clear "go to" Ram options. The options available now are a bit more overwhelming.

I have an Asus Z710-A with an i7-6700K. Not planning to overclock out of the box, but I picked the K version just in case.

The MB supports up to DDR 3000, not overclocking.

So the first question is:

If I overclock the CPU, should I count on having the RAM overclocked as well? - I've read quite a few posts on here that suggest overclocking ram doesn't warrant enough gain, however, I thought overclocking the CPU went hand in hand with the RAM to a certain extent (Unless that is no longer the case). Essentially - Is it worth getting DDR 3200 or higher?

If overclocking the RAM isn't really worth it, then the DDR 3000, would be the target. If that's the case, the next part of my enquiry would be in the details.

From the suggested RAM Qualified Vendors list (while I know this typically isn't necessary, I am a fan of G-Skill, so I figured I'd look at what they recommend), there are several options which don't seem to spec very differently:

G.SKILL F4-3000C15D-16GRR 16GB(8GB*2) DS Samsung K4A4G085WD 15-15-15-35 1.35V
G.SKILL F4-3000C15D-16GRB 16GB(8GB*2) DS Samsung K4A4G085WD 15-15-15-35 1.35V
G.SKILL F4-3000C15D-16GRK 16GB(8GB*2) DS Samsung K4A4G085WD 15-15-15-35 1.35V

These seem to just differ by color, but if you look at even just the available chips in the same range from the same brand, I'm still looking at 8 potential options:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=Ripjaws+PC4+24000&N=100007610%20600006072&isNodeId=1

The CAS Latency sees to vary from 14, 15, or 16

And the available timings are 15-15-15-35, 15-16-16-35 and 14-14-14-34.

I'm just wondering if there's an obvious pick and I'm missing something, or how these other numbers come into play?

Thank you for your time.

 

[Outlander_04]

Numbers? like 15-15-15-35 1.35V
These are how long the RAM takes to respond . Smaller numbers here are always better .
But for many tasks the frequency of the RAM is more important .

It does look like those GSkill models are just color because the chips all seem to be identical .

 

[darthfusion]

Numbers? like 15-15-15-35

CAS Latency, and RAM Timings are somewhat new to me, and a lot of the info I'm seeing online seems to be somewhat conflicting or very situational as to what is better.

 

[Outlander_04]

Generally lower timings are always better

But in some situations like gaming trading increased timings for higher frequency results in better performance .
The margins will be unnoticable if you had say
2666 MHz RAM at 15-15-15-35
vs
2800 MHz RAM at 15-15-15-35
But when you have 2133 MHz vs 2800 then slightly larger timings are acceptable and will give better performance

 

[darthfusion]

That helped quite a bit.

So if I'm looking at a 3000 vs a 3200 both with a latency of 14-14-14-34, the difference in the response time appears to be marginal.

The question comes back around to the overclocking. Is it worth it? Could it have a negative effect on the lifespan of the system? If overclocking the RAM at all, is it worth going all the way? Other than financial restraints, is there anything else to be wary of?

 

[Outlander_04]

If you check the board/processor spc I think you find that RAM speeds above 2666 are not officially supported and are actually RAM OC's

As for processors . It depends . I have run a chip overclocked by 1 GHz for 8 years [ so far] and because it has a very good cooler its still absolutely fine .
Stay under 60C temperatures and dont add extra voltage and you will get moderate cpu OC's and not harm the reasonable life of a processor is a pretty reasonable rule of thumb