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Help Choosing Ram

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benen

Member
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Joined
Feb 28, 2012
Hi All,
I've pretty much selected all of the components for my upcoming build. However, I am at a loss when it comes to ram.
I'll be building an Ivy Bridge - Z77 system used mainly for photo and video editing but will also play the odd game.
I've decided 16gb is probably going to be the way to go if I'm doing full HD video editing?
I've been looking in particular at the G.SKILL ram. I can't really tell if the ripjaw or sniper or ares series are better than each other. I've just noticed that the faster frequency the ram, the higher the latencies seem to be. The voltages all appear to be 1.5v.
Would I even notice the difference between one offering over another? What is more important? Latency or frequency?
I haven't looked, but I'm assuming 1333 matches the stock i7 frequency so I'd want something faster than that if I want to overclock my CPU at all?

Thanks

Benen
 
Last edited:
16GB sounds perfect.

Latency and frequency are related. My numbers may be off but roughly

DDR3 1600 CL7 = DDR3 1866 CL9.

I would just grab some low latency DDR3 1600 @ 1.5v and call it a day. With this platform, you do not have to overclock the memory to overclock the CPU since its normally done with hte CPU multiplier.
 
Conclusion summary:

Conclusion of what to Buy
If you're the type of person that runs dozens of applications all at once, then a higher memory frequency does help, particularly when you're running demanding software. However, our testing shows that memory rated at over 1,866MHz doesn't give much extra performance. Worse still, in some applications only 1,333MHz memory gives a performance penalty, meaning that 1,600MHz memory is fine.

If you're doing anything other than heavy multi-tasking - this goes for gamers in particular - then a 1,600MHz or 1,866MHz kit is plenty. You could opt for CL8, as we saw some advantage in the video encoding test, but we wouldn't obsess over this factor, especially if a CL9 kit is much cheaper.
Click to expand...
 
Perfect. Exactly what I wanted. Cheers guys. I wasnt aware that new ram would be released for ivy.
 
Last edited:
Personally, Im not sure why you would want to wait... Hondacity, can you shed some light on what may be different? I mean, outsie of the marketing crap that its 'made for Z77'?
 
Well I'm waiting for ivy and z77 anyways so I guess I might as well wait to buy ram. If its just marketing bs then hopefully the prices of their current line up will drop a few dollars.
So you agree that 16gb would benefit video editing enough to justify the extra cost? I'll hunt down something 1600 or 1866.
 
1600 seems to be the sweet spot...and 16GB is so inexpensive that I say go for it if you can spare the extra 40 beans. Personally, I use it, but I accept that most will not. That said, even if you don't now, you may in the next several years...and matched RAM tends to be a good thing.

I like the G.Skill Ripjaw X's that I bought based on someone else's recommendation...primarily due to their limited height and associated flexibility with a wide range of CPU coolers. They are also well supported. Whatever you get, however, test them. My system booted and ran fine, but I had a couple of odd stability issues so I tested the RAM one stick at a time...and one was screwed beyond belief. 40,000 errors in the first minute of testing. The replacement passed with flying colors.
 
Pft, whatever. I'm yet to see any real world benefit over regular old DDR1333. I don't quite understand benchers. They're just numbers. Actual use is the main thing.

Mind you, some might say the same of me decking out my case with red CCFL's....
 
I thought this place was about performance lol.

oh well I won't post here any more.
 
I've found good old Kingmax DDR1333 runs just fine at DDR1600 speeds. Thing is, most RAM will run at DDR1600 speeds anyway.
 
Thanks guys, I think you've saved me some money here! I'll wait until I'm ready to purchase my cpu and motherboard to finalise my choice but I definitely won't be going top of the line since I won't even notice the difference unless I'm benchmarking.

Benen
 
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