Best ram choice for an old guy newbie.

[GMJim]

Hello all
I'm having a tough time with a new computer build and I'm stuck on ram choice and need some help please.
I've read quite a bit on this but am still confused about a few things. My board ASUS P7P55D-E Pro spec says 4 x DIMM, Max. 16 GB, DDR3 2200(O.C.)*/1600/1333/1066 Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory. My Intel spec for the CPU (i7 860) says Memory Types DDR3-1066/1333. Some say (usually sales guys) that I should use 1.65 (or higher than 1.5) because it will give me some head room if I should decide to over clock a little in the future. Where the 1.5 volt would become unstable if I did this. My thinking (probably wrong) is if the 1.65V memory requires 1.65V to reach the advertised rating, what makes it capable of exceeding it's voltage rating to overclock any better than the 1.5V ram? It would make sense that there is more room between 1.5 and CPU voltage (1.6) than 1.65 and the CPU voltage, making the 1.5 a better choice???

What doesn't help at all is most of the memory listed in the Asus P7P55D-E Pro QVL for DDR3-1600Mhz. capability for CPU at 2.8 and 2.93Ghz. says 1.65V and some higher??

What I'm also having trouble understanding is I was told this board is native 1600Mhz. Does that mean that the G.Skill we talked about DDR3 1600 1.5V will plug in and work at 1600 without adjusting the bios or do I have to set this manually. XMP?

My manual says
"Due to Intel spec definition, X.M.P. DIMMS and DDR1600 are supported for one DIMM per channel only. Asus exclusively provides two DDR3 1600 DIMM support for each memory channel."

Does this mean that if I want 8gb of 1600 ram that I have to buy 2 sticks of 4gb each instead of 4 X 2gb sticks? These two sentences seem to contradict each other. In the manual Under bios setup it says "To obtain the best performance of the XMP or 1600 Hz DIMM install only one DIMM on each memory channel."

Also there is a feature in the software for this board called Turbo V EVO and Auto tuning. I would assume that choice of memory would be important to take advantage of this feature too?

Initially I didn't want to overclock. I guess what I mean is that I don't feel confident getting into the bios to change timing and voltage manually. I would on the other hand like to take advantage of some of the automatic or safer methods of getting the most out of the computer.

I will continue to read and try to understand this stuff even if it drives me to drink. Having said that..................
Thanks
Jim

[Zero82z]

Originally Posted by GMJim

My board ASUS P7P55D-E Pro spec says 4 x DIMM, Max. 16 GB, DDR3 2200(O.C.)*/1600/1333/1066 Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory. My Intel spec for the CPU (i7 860) says Memory Types DDR3-1066/1333. Some say (usually sales guys) that I should use 1.65 (or higher than 1.5) because it will give me some head room if I should decide to over clock a little in the future. Where the 1.5 volt would become unstable if I did this. My thinking (probably wrong) is if the 1.65V memory requires 1.65V to reach the advertised rating, what makes it capable of exceeding it's voltage rating to overclock any better than the 1.5V ram? It would make sense that there is more room between 1.5 and CPU voltage (1.6) than 1.65 and the CPU voltage, making the 1.5 a better choice???

Actually, your thinking is basically correct. What you have to look at is the speed the memory is rated for. RAM rated at a higher speed and voltage is essentially guaranteed to run at the speeds it is rated at, whereas memory rated at a lower speed and voltage does have more room for voltage adjustment, but might not be able to overclock as well. For example, a set of 1600MHz sticks rated at 1.65V would generally be a better choice than a set of 1066MHz sticks rated at 1.5V.

Originally Posted by GMJim

What I'm also having trouble understanding is I was told this board is native 1600Mhz. Does that mean that the G.Skill we talked about DDR3 1600 1.5V will plug in and work at 1600 without adjusting the bios or do I have to set this manually. XMP?

I'm not entirely certain how XMP works, so I can't comment on that. However, as far as traditional RAM tweaking goes, you would have to set whatever speed you want manually.

Originally Posted by GMJim

My manual says
"Due to Intel spec definition, X.M.P. DIMMS and DDR1600 are supported for one DIMM per channel only. Asus exclusively provides two DDR3 1600 DIMM support for each memory channel."

Does this mean that if I want 8gb of 1600 ram that I have to buy 2 sticks of 4gb each instead of 4 X 2gb sticks? These two sentences seem to contradict each other. In the manual Under bios setup it says "To obtain the best performance of the XMP or 1600 Hz DIMM install only one DIMM on each memory channel."

That's basically just marketing speak for "Intel only says that you have to be compatible with one DIMM per channel, but since ASUS is so great, we made it work for all the DIMM slots." In other words, XMP is supposed to work on your motherboard even if you populate all four RAM slots.

Originally Posted by GMJim

Also there is a feature in the software for this board called Turbo V EVO and Auto tuning. I would assume that choice of memory would be important to take advantage of this feature too?

Initially I didn't want to overclock. I guess what I mean is that I don't feel confident getting into the bios to change timing and voltage manually. I would on the other hand like to take advantage of some of the automatic or safer methods of getting the most out of the computer.

My advice would be to forgo automatic overclocking altogether. It generally results in the BIOS automatically using settings that are not ideal for your components, and your overclock might not be stable even then. If you're going to overclock, you should learn how to do it properly, so if something happens to go wrong, you'll be able to troubleshoot it.

[GMJim]

Thanks for the help. So in your opinion if I don't overclock what memory would you use on this board with this processor to achieve the best speed and stability? Will DDR3 1600 ram run at 1600 on this board without special bios settings or will it run at 1333? Money is not an issue as most memory is affordable.
Thanks

[MarkOne]

if you don't oc and if you change nothing in the bios you board will run at 133 , so the memory will run at 1066. with the Asus EVO software it's very easy to run the I7- 860 with the board at 166, in that case you need memory at 1333 , but running it at 200 ( with memory at 1600) , need more tweaking , so with 1333 memory you are good, of course those memory speed is with the bios set to auto.

[MonsterSound]

further to the above;
If you want to run your ram at 1600, you can easily with the XMP profile, provided your ram choice can accept the XMP settings.
I use the G.SKILL F3-12800CL7D-4GBRH which will automatically run low latencies 7,7,7,24 at 1600mhz with XMP, 1.65v. The RH models are very good overclockers beyond 1600mhz as well if so inclined. Other XMP ready G.Skill's are:
G.SKILL F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM DDR3-1600 CL7-8-7-24 - not as good for OC.
G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 - even less OC.
and so many more to choose from.
P.S. Don't go more than 1.65v
P.P.S. Rem, to search and pricematch.

[ZZLEE]

when you have some time to read look up this post Corsair Introduces 24GB Memory Kit | Hardware Canucks Way overkill I know but a very informative article.

Edit: there was avery good article on this that day DEC 14. The sorce aricle that was in the news section is what I was looking fore. cant find it :(

[GMJim]

Is there a noticeable difference from 1333 to 1600? When would the 1600 be most advantageous.
Here is the ram I'm thinking of buying. Does anybody know if this ram has Intel XMP (Extreme Memory Profile) Support?

8GB of Newegg.ca - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL - Desktop Memory

or 8gb of Newegg.ca - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH - Desktop Memory

Thanks
Jim

[ZZLEE]

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source...IS3K5fRz6YMtIg

Thred at asus forum about ripjaws. they are talking AMD bords but same memory.

Edit : http://dlsvr04.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/...-E_PRO_QVL.zip

List of recomended ram From ASUS

[GMJim]

Could someone please give me an opinion on this memory instead of what I chose above?

Newegg.ca - G.SKILL ECO 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7Q-8GBECO - Desktop Memory

Thanks