Which RAM is for me ?

Hi !

I've got a little question for you.

First of all, my actual configuration :

Asus Technologies Motherboard: Asus Maximus Formula / Intel X38 Express Chipset / ICH9R Southbridge / Intel 45nm Processors Ready

Intel Core 2 Duo Central Processing Unit -> E8400 / 3.00 GHz / 6 MB L2 Cache / 1333 FSB / LGA775 Socket / 45nm Transistor Architecture

Zalman Technologies CPU Cooler : CNPS 9700 CPU Fansink / 120 MM Fan / 2-Ball Bearing Fan With Blue LED / Pure Copper Design / Disspation Area : 5,490 cm sq. / Weight : 764g / 19.5 dBA Minimum / 35 dBA Maximum

Crucial Technologies RAM: Ballistix PC2-6400 / 2048 MB / Dual-Channel Enabled / 800 MHz RAM Clock / Timings 4-4-4-12

Pioneer Optical Drive: 212D / Serial ATA Physical Interface

Seagate Hard-Disk Drive: Barracuda Series / 250 GB / 7200.10 / 16 MB Cache / 7200 RPM / 78 MB/s Sustained Data Rate / RAID 0 Configuration With ICH9R On-Board RAID Controller

Cooler Master Enclosure: CM 690 / 1 Front 120MM LED Fan / 1 Rear 120MM Fan / 1 Side-Panel Tri-Cool Red LED 120 MM Fan / 1 Top 120MM Fan / Front Air Filter

Microsoft Operating System: Windows Vista / Business Edition / Service Pack 1 / 64-bit / English

Corsair Power Supply (Manufactured by Seasonic): HX 520W / 2 PCI-Express 2.0 Power Connectors -> CrossFire Possibility / 120MM Fan / Three 12V Rails For Better Stability

PowerColor Technologies GPU: Radeon HD 4850 / RV770PRO / 512MB / Quimoda GDDR3 Memory / Hardware CrossFire Capable / 6-Pin Power Connector Required / PCI-Express x16 2.0 -> Working on a PCI-Express x16 2.0 Bus With INtel X38 Chipset

Samsung Technologies Display: T220 / Digital Interface / 300 cd/m2 Brigthness / 20 000:1 Contrast Ratio / 1680 x 1050 (WSXGA+) Screen Resolution / 2 ms Response Time



I'd like to sell my Ballistix kit to buy 2 kits of 4 GB since the RAM is sold to a ridiculous price.

I already see people saying that 8 GB of RAM is useless, but I'm an enthusiast PC user and I always want to have more performance out of my PC. And the upgrade wouldn't cost me a lot of money. With this amount of RAM, I'll deactivate the Windows' pagefile. I also like to work on virtual machine with VMWare. In the future, I would like to overclock my E8400 on a 500x8 bus configuration which is, I think, an easy overclock for a E8400 and a Max Formula. I only plan to overclock my PC when I'll feel to need of doing a such thing because as of now, I don't really feel the need of a faster CPU. It will be probably when my PC will get 2 to 3 years old.

The problem is that I'm lost with all the RAM brands available on the market.

I would have continued with Ballistix, but the 2x2 GB kit is not available on newegg.ca and is sold at a high price on directcanada.com ( I'm a canadian from Montreal )

So I've looked for other 4 GB kits. I've found the G.Skill PQ Series.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122

or

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231145


Since the RAM will be overclocked, I want to be sure the memory chips will handle a 100 Mhz overclock.

Then comes the G.Skill PI Series at a slightly higher price.


http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231211
or
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231209

Kingston HyperX:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104038

I've chose the PC2-8500 speed for the HyperX since I've read the PC2-6400 chips don't pass the 475 Mhz overclock.

Finally, I've found a Patriot kit :

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220293

This last kit has a really nice price with the 20 $ mail-in rebate.

So the question is simple : which one of these kits you think is the best one to fit my needs ? I also want a RAM that has good quality chip, not the one that has no transfer rate... Which one do you think can reach the 500 Mhz the most easily ? If the Patriot kit is a good choice and can reach a DRAM speed of 500 Mhz, then, I won't spend more on another RAM kit that offers the same result to me.

Here is the Maximus Formula QVL :

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/2558/qvlfs0.jpg

And a photo of my PC for the layout :

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?179c095067.jpg


Thank you for your advice !

Ghost.26

I have hit 1000 with 4x2GBs of the G.Skill PQ sticks, but was very near their limit. Great memory for $$$s.

I think you'll want DDR2 1000 or better I'd suggest the G.Skill 1066 4GB kit http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166

Thanks for your replies

So you think I should go with the PK 8500.

The kit is at the same price anyways.

G.SKill's website shows that this RAM is compatible with the Rampage, so I have no doubt that it is compatible with the Max Formula since it is the same PCB.

Why the PK over the PI series PC2-7200? The PK kit seems to have more problems according to users than the PI kit.

Thank you !

Ghost.26 said:

Thanks for your replies

So you think I should go with the PK 8500.

The kit is at the same price anyways.

G.SKill's website shows that this RAM is compatible with the Rampage, so I have no doubt that it is compatible with the Max Formula since it is the same PCB.

Why the PK over the PI series PC2-7200? The PK kit seems to have more problems according to users than the PI kit.

Thank you !

Click to expand...

Just find the cheapest 1066 ram kit you can with good reviews... The gskills seem just fine.

-D

Thanks for your input.

You've got 8 GB of HyperX. The Kingston also please me well with the reputation they've got.

For the same price than the G.SKill PI or PK, I can get the HyperX which are very well rated except for overclocking. According to the multiple reviews I've read on the HyperX, the PC2-8500 can achieve 1110 MHz with 5-5-5-17 timmings, which is not really good but more than enough !

Are you satisfied with your HyperX 8 GB kit ?

Thank you.

hmm...ther'es the OCZ Flex II 1150mhz 4gb kit.

but if price is a matter. don't worry about what i just suggested
although i haven't checked prices lately. and i'm in Aus, so your prices may be different.

Sorry, the price is too high for this kit. I don't want to pass the 60 $ CND limit, remember that I want a total of 8 GB

If anyone has any other comments on the HyperX kit, please, write your comments !

8GB is entirely useless except for very specific applications (running 5 VMs at a time?). Even 4GB is arguably overkill.

IMHO 2GB is practical, 4GB is "go for it if you have the money, but you won't notice much if any difference", and 8GB is just pouring money down the sink.

I regularly run 2-3 VMs at once, and 4GB is more than enough (RAM usage never goes above 2.5-3GB). Page file can already be disabled with 4GB of RAM (but I recommend leaving it on as a fail-safe thing, since Windows won't use it anyways if you have enough RAM, and if you are thinking about 8GB of RAM I'm guessing you don't mind wasting a few GB of harddrive space)

Your computer's performance won't scale indefinitely to the amount of RAM you have, contrarily to popular belief.

cyberfish said:

8GB is entirely useless except for very specific applications (running 5 VMs at a time?). Even 4GB is arguably overkill.

Click to expand...

Sometimes overkill is the goal.

cyberfish said:

IMHO 2GB is practical, 4GB is "go for it if you have the money, but you won't notice much if any difference", and 8GB is just pouring money down the sink.

Click to expand...

For the price of DDR2, it's more spilling a few drops than pouring. Seriously, the stuff is getting cheap enough that, "Just because the slots were empty" is becoming a good enough reason. My last memory upgrade doubled the RAM in my PC, for $10 after rebate.

Agreed. I doubled up on BF for $20 after MIR.

Hehe true.

Just making sure the OP knows that it is overkill and he won't be seeing any improvement, so he can make an informed decision.

I wouldn't mind adding 4GB to my computer for $10, though .

I wouldn't be so sure more than 4GB of ram is useless. WIN7 x64 has refinements to superfetch over Vista and with alot of memory is very smooth. 64bit OSs are finally hitting their stride.

No numbers yet, just speculations.

I have been running 64-bit OSes for a few years (64-bit Linux for development work), and upgrading from 2GB to 4GB brought no improvement at all, let alone 4GB -> 8GB.

It's difficult to quantify smoothness of multitasking. I too run Linux and find little difference between 4G & 8G under Gentoo or Ubuntu. However Linux is efficient and MS is well...let's say other than efficient.

The PC is used for almost every usage. From office usage to heavy tasks. Gaming, multimedia, heavy compressing tasks, data server, encoding tasks, virtual machines... Almost everything as you can see, and sometimes I feel like 2 GB isn't enough, especially when I'm doing heavy multi-tasking.

I know that 8 GB is ridiculous. I agree with those saying this, but I though that 8 GB for 100 $ CND was a good deal. I consider me as an enthusiast PC user. I'm 17 years old and I'm passionate into this domain.

I run Linux too. Ubuntu distrib. I'm also a Beta tester of Windows 7.

The pure "speed" won't be higher, but my PC will be more responsive. I know that.

So, is the HyperX a good buying ?

I'll post the answer of Kingston when I'll get it.

Thank you.

Ghost.26 said:

I know that 8 GB is ridiculous.

Click to expand...

Right!! 8 GB is ridiculous. 16 GB is ludicrous.
4GB is only light speed.


Sorry...it's saturday night, and the beer is underclocking my brain.

Any other advices ? Kingston HyperX PC2-8500, G.Skill PI PC2-7200 or G.Skill PK PC2-8500 ? I'm hesitating between these kits. All seams to have good performance. What's your favorite ?

They do, they're both excellent. Additionally I've had good experiences dealing with both companies through email & RMA. Buy the one that's cheaper or pertier.