Trying to Upgrade Memory

Hey everybody,


Background info:

I have a custom build PC desktop and am looking into upgrading a few parts.

Firstly, I’m looking at memory. Here’s what I currently have:

G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL8Q-16GBZM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231539

And here’s what I’m looking into:

G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 64GB (8 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-1866C10Q2-64GZM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231711

Other parts currently in my build:

Processor: Intel Core i7-4930K 3.4 GHz LGA 2011 Boxed Processor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9116939&cm_re=i7_4930k-_-19-116-939-_-Product

Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth X79 LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...e=asus_sabertooth_x79-_-13-131-801R-_-Product


Question:

I’m not trying to overclock, I’d like to stay within specs. To my knowledge, the i7-4930k was only tested out to DDR3-1866, which is fine by me. My problem is, the x79 does not provide a QVL for a 64GB configuration under DDR3-1866. So, I’m not sure if the memory I’m looking into will work. Can anyone help me out with this?

Many thanks!

Are you actually using 32gb in the first place to warrant the need to upgrade?

99% of memory will work fine. But seeing as how you want to upgrade to so much, you may need to bump up some voltages to make it stable.

Gotcha. I'm actually not exactly sure on how maxed out the usage is. My build is workstation for video editing. It's working well, I just thought that given the chance I would upgrade it to its full potential. Would there be drawbacks?

Just out of your wallet. If you are not using it all or darn close to it, you will not get any performance gains. So I would check your ram use while editing to see if you are close to maxing out that 32GB before you make such an expensive upgrade for potentially no reason.

Will do. What sort of usage would justify upgrading to 64GB?

If you are not using it all or darn close to it

Click to expand...

Really its up to you, but so long as I had a couple/few GB free, I wouldn't bother

EarthDog said:

Are you actually using 32gb in the first place to warrant the need to upgrade?

Click to expand...

I am guessing 32gb should have been 16GB, which would have matched what the thread starter had stated that he already has.

quartertwelve said:

I’m not trying to overclock, I’d like to stay within specs.

Click to expand...

quartertwelve said:

To my knowledge, the i7-4930k was only tested out to DDR3-1866

Click to expand...

To specification (see http://ark.intel.com/products/77780/Intel-Core-i7-4930K-Processor-12M-Cache-up-to-3_90-GHz ), your memory options would be DDR3-1333, DDR3-1600, or DDR3-1866. I particularly would select to use run the memory as if DDR3-1600 so that your CPU's base clock/bus (100 MHz) is nicely divisible by the memory's I/O bus clock.

quartertwelve said:

My problem is, the x79 does not provide a QVL for a 64GB configuration under DDR3-1866.

Click to expand...

If the memory is standard, the memory's EEPROM or PROM data is not defective, and the memory controller and its dependencies (such as provided by system firmware) are not defective or crippled, the memory should work correctly. I, myself, have not used your Asus or intended RAM model, but I doubt that you should have a problem with the memory you linked to.



If you decide to upgrade memory I would recommend two to four of:
Crucial Ballistix Tactical 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model BLT4KIT8G3D1608DT1TX0
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148561&Tpk=N82E16820148561
(At the time of this post, 2 x 8GB is the cheapest per module of the 8GB DIMMs)

The memory is as decent as latency gets for this class of memory in these modern (latent) times and at 1.35 volts (but it still can run at and is set to run at standard DDR3 1.5v), seems reasonably priced, AND it also is of low profile. I have, myself, have used and use this particular memory.

Thanks for all the help everybody. Sorry for the delayed response. I've been meaning to get screenshots of my memory and cpu usage, but haven't gotten the chance until now:



I tried to push the system as much as I could. I had Adobe Premiere open, rendered some files, then started encoding a dummy video. Had multiple programs open and saw that memory usage maxed around 74% and CPU around 87%. Any thoughts?

Whatever you have is already fine are my thoughts...

^Agreed

Your highest utilization is 11.8, leaving you 4gb free. Going to 64 or even 32 really will hurt your wallet and give you nothing back in return. The amount of ram is only as good as you make use of, and seeing as you have over 25% available I don't see any reason to upgrade.

quartertwelve said:

I tried to push the system as much as I could...and saw that memory usage maxed around 74% and CPU around 87%. Any thoughts?

Click to expand...

Yes. At the present time, your usage is not very close to its usable capacity. If you plan to do more memory intensive computing in the future on that computer, you may benefit from a memory upgrade in terms of output performance, otherwise the benefit may be negligible. You may, however still might benefit some by using memory specified for a lower voltage which may result in a lesser power consumption and less thermal energy output from the RAM sticks.

I plan on much more memory intensive computing; animation, video rendering, transcoding. I'll need to have multiple high workload programs open at once and I'll need as fast processing as I can get. I was disappointed to see the everything max out so much from a simple encode which is why I'm considering the upgrade. I'd like to fill the full 64GB, but I want to make sure that what I'm going for is safe since the QVL couldn't say.

Thanks for your help everybody. I finally managed to find an updated QVL. Turns out, the configuration is acceptable. Thanks again.