Memory for q6600 + EVGA 780i FTW

I recently bought a q6600 g0 and EVGA 780i FTW and I was wondering what ram you guys would recommend to go with it. I think I want 2x2GB and I would like to spend roughly $100 or less. I will also be overclocking the q6600 to hopefully around 4GHz and it will be watercooled. I assume that DDR2 1066 is the way to go, but I have seen some people in other posts saying there is no reason to go above DDR2 800. What do you guys think?

If you're going to stay with a Nvidia chipset board for awhile the 800 should be fine because you can underclock it if needed. If you wanted to change to an Intel chipset board there might be some debate about moving up to 1000.

Any of the major brands will meet your needs. I've been using G.Skill for the last couple years and am quite happy with that too.

For the 680i/780i, for Vista the Patriot Viper 2x2GB in 1066 treated me very well. I had them up to 1200 at stock settings long enough to do some benches. Would most likely require some tweaking to have them stable. I believe they do use the Micron d9gkx chips the same as the EP series 8500's but can't be sure if that's only on 2GB kits. They will be d9's either way. I have used both series of RAM with equal success.

2x1GB would may likely clock better for XP applications, but haven't tried them.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/FORUMS/showthread.php?t=182502
http://www.overclock3d.net/news.php...r_series_ddr2_pc2-8500_enhanced_latency_kit/1
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?type=3&id=175&page=1&desc=patriot

I dont see any reason to go above DDR2 800. With a Q6600 @ 400 x 9 you will hit 3.6GHz and you RAM will be link'd and sync'd. Since you have a SLI capable board I would say go with SLI Ready RAM. I have had some bad luck with SLI Ready RAM but I am hoping it was just a couple bad sticks or 1 bad stick and a brown out / power spike that fried the RAM the second time.

The EPP timings and ability to OC has been good to me so far OCZ SLI ready 2x2GB. I got this stuff running @ 850MHZ with out even thinking about it. I am sure it could go higher.

These: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146755

Thanks for all of your input so far. What do you think about the sticks below? They are cheap, a little faster than I should need, and not sure how important it is but they are SLI and EPP enabled.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227352

I am also considering some Patriots. Is there a difference here other than color?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220315

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220334

I dont see any reason to go above DDR2 800. With a Q6600 @ 400 x 9 you will hit 3.6GHz and you RAM will be link'd and sync'd. Since you have a SLI capable board I would say go with SLI Ready RAM. I have had some bad luck with SLI Ready RAM but I am hoping it was just a couple bad sticks or 1 bad stick and a brown out / power spike that fried the RAM the second time.

The EPP timings and ability to OC has been good to me so far OCZ SLI ready 2x2GB. I got this stuff running @ 850MHZ with out even thinking about it. I am sure it could go higher.

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Why not go for RAM that's rated to run 1066 out of the box? With the price of DDR2 nowadays it doesn't really matter. That being said, any DDR2 800 worth it's salt should do 1066 no problem anyway. And I ALWAYS got better overclocks, and more options by unlinking the RAM on my 680i. The same went for my 780i for the short time I had it.

And SLI Ready memory. What the hell does that even mean?
I'll bet a dime to a dollar that if you told any experienced RAM Overclocker that you were going to buy SLI ready memory because it's going to perform better with your SLI board they wouldn't be too quick to agree. In fact they will probably tell you what I'm going to tell you; Read the reviews, see what the benching teams are using, find a good deal and overclock the hell out of it. Forget the gimmicks.

I am also considering some Patriots. Is there a difference here other than color?

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And UBERCOOL, as far as I know, the color difference is due a new lineup of memory, most likely corresponding to the release of the DDR3 Vipers. I haven't been able to find any difference between the two, but then, I haven't really researched it that hard.
Google it, all the info is there.

These: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146755

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I like! They took a long time to get down to a decent price though.

baditude_df said:

And SLI Ready memory. What the hell does that even mean? Forget the gimmicks.

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QFT

You want to hit 1100 MHz? This will do it :http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146755

Review: http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/mushkin_pc28000_redline_2x2gb/