Help me pick ram

[csplinter]

I waiting on the following to arrive in the mail,

DFI lanparty p35-t2rs
Q6600 with G0 stepping
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme

I'm trying to find ram that is up to par with the rest of this system, but no too expensive. Ideally I'm looking to get 3.4-3.6ghz out of this thing. I need 8gb and have 4 slots to work with. What do you guys think? (I run alot of virtual machines and really do need 8 gigs)

[Nebulous]

Welcome to O/C Forums! :welcome:

First off I doubt very much you'll get 3.4-3.6Ghz using 8Gb of ram and populating all 4 slots. If you expect that kind of overclock, you'll have to use alot less ram and only 2 sticks.

Brands to use for high FSB overclocks:

Crucial
Gskill
Kingston HyperX
Mushkin
OCZ

[Sarsbaby]

Welcome to O/C Forums! :welcome:

First off I doubt very much you'll get 3.4-3.6Ghz using 8Gb of ram and populating all 4 slots. If you expect that kind of overclock, you'll have to use alot less ram and only 2 sticks.

Brands to use for high FSB overclocks:

Crucial
Gskill
Kingston HyperX
Mushkin
OCZ

I know this is off topic but, does the amount of Ram or does the amount of slots used affect OC'ing?

Is that why I have to use such a high vCore to get a stable 3.6?

And welcome, I would also suggest those brands, Corsair's not bad either.

[Nebulous]

I know this is off topic but, does the amount of Ram or does the amount of slots used affect OC'ing?

Is that why I have to use such a high vCore to get a stable 3.6?

And welcome, I would also suggest those brands, Corsair's not bad either.

I would think both come to play (as it did me), but you'll get better results just using 2 sticks as opposed to 4.

[RockyC2D]

I've got a pair of crucial ballistix, bought them 8 months ago and they been running great, stable at high fsb.

[csplinter]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys! I had read that two sticks was superior to four but I guess I underestimated the significance of that fact. What exactly is it that would be the limiting factor with four sticks? Does the northbridge get too hot? I'm not opposed to replacing the stock heatsink. Does anyone know where I kind find some charts, graphs, and so forth with benchmarks of different ram configurations? Like, 1x1gb vs 1x2gb vs 2x1gb vs etc. That would be wonderful. Also, could anyone explain or point me towards an explanation of why higher amounts of ram reduce overclockablity? Just too taxing on the memory controller? What is the consensus around here regarding higher memory frequency vs tighter timing? What are the pros and cons? I'm considering getting this kit for starters,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16820145197

What are your opinions? Sorry, I guess that's a lot of questions. Thanks in advance though.

[Sarsbaby]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys! I had read that two sticks was superior to four but I guess I underestimated the significance of that fact. What exactly is it that would be the limiting factor with four sticks? Does the northbridge get too hot? I'm not opposed to replacing the stock heatsink. Does anyone know where I kind find some charts, graphs, and so forth with benchmarks of different ram configurations? Like, 1x1gb vs 1x2gb vs 2x1gb vs etc. That would be wonderful. Also, could anyone explain or point me towards an explanation of why higher amounts of ram reduce overclockablity? Just too taxing on the memory controller? What is the consensus around here regarding higher memory frequency vs tighter timing? What are the pros and cons? I'm considering getting this kit for starters,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16820145197

What are your opinions? Sorry, I guess that's a lot of questions. Thanks in advance though.

That's a pretty good deal if you like dealing with MIR's. Make sure you buy it between the right dates if you do. Check out the form first.

[csplinter]

I'm fine with MIR's. Well, I bit, the corsair ram is ordered. Now I just need to decide whether or not to buy the second kit or not. So, if anyone comes up with any information about the effects of 2 sticks vs 4 in regard to overclockability, I would greatly appreciate it.

[csplinter]

I've got a pair of crucial ballistix, bought them 8 months ago and they been running great, stable at high fsb.

I considered these as well but the MIR on the corsair ram just made the deal too sweet. Thanks for your input.