2600, 2133,1866, or 1600? which is best?

[DarrenP]

Which is best as far as ram?
I'm building a PC as many of you likely know, and i was wondering what should i go with? i was thinking 4 sticks of 2133 corsair dominator platinum? would that be fine with my 3770K? or should i go to the 1600? or the 1866? i'm so confused... also, it's going to be Corsair Dominator platnium ram no matter what... so what speed should i get? Also i'd rather get 32GB in than 16, but 16 is okay-ish... (i'm sorta a RAM Hog)

Usages:
Gaming (extreme gaming), editing, rendering, word processing, Auto CAD, and other design programs.

 

[EarthDog]

Paying through the nose for that ram... but... your choice.

If any of your applications respond to faster memory, than get something in the 2133Mhz area. Much above that and your IMC on the CPU may not be able to run it.

 

[DarrenP]

Thanks for your reply EarthDog

I like the cosmetics of the RAM, and i really like corsair. So that's why it's going to be that (most likely) if i were to venture in to other areas of RAM companies, what would be another good company, I know crucial is good, but could you reccomend some RAM that would be really good (dual channel) and 4 dimms and 32 GBs of it? it has to be more than 1600 Mhz.

 

[EarthDog]

Ram is ram my man...really. But if its bling you are after and price out the door.... you got the right sticks in the new Dominators.

 

[DarrenP]

yeah, i just looked at a dominator platinum kit 32GB 550 bucks. i don't bloody think so... so what could you recommend that is overclockable and runs stock at 1866mhz? 32GB kit? less than 250 bucks?

 

[Operant]

As far as I know, the gains you'll receive from the faster ram will be minimal for your usage. I'll have to look around for benchmarks but I'm fairly certain that any of the design programs like autocad will show little difference. A solid 1866 kit should do nicely in 4x8GB DIMMs.

Edit: ah, I see new replies slid in before mine. Most of the stuff from corsair, g.skill, and crucial has been good. You just want a solid set so you don't have to worry about what IC it uses.

 

[Woomack]

From Crucial, these are good.
I wouldn't buy 1600/1866 Dominators Platinum as many of these kits have bad IC for overclocking ... but that's me. Since their price is really high then better go for 2133 kit which shouldn't cost much more than 1866.
I would also look at other brands like G.Skill or Avexir if you are looking for good quality and fast memory ... also cheaper than Corsair and with better IC selection in lower clocked kits.

 

[DarrenP]

I like how those ones look, but could i paint them say white? or would the paint melt off during a hardcore gaming period?

edit: and if i OC'ed them? would that melt the paint too? ( i have a bright white system) OH OH and could i paint the heatsinks around the CPU pre-installed on my Asrock Extreme6?

 

[TheHutchTTU]

This looks good.

 

[Operant]

The paint should adhere fine permitting they are cleaned properly and stickers are removed (I don't have a lot of experience with painting ram modules so this is just coming from past experiences with similar materials). You'd have to be careful though when removing the heatsinks as you can damage the chips. As for the reliability during extreme gaming periods, that won't be an issue. DIMMs do not get that hot and the paint will take any heat that they put out.

 

[DarrenP]

This looks good.

I can't view that... can you give me the name of them? (canadian newegg is already linked to me so i can't view the american page -_-)

 

[EarthDog]

I like how those ones look, but could i paint them say white? or would the paint melt off during a hardcore gaming period?

edit: and if i OC'ed them? would that melt the paint too? ( i have a bright white system) OH OH and could i paint the heatsinks around the CPU pre-installed on my Asrock Extreme6?

Ram doesnt get hot at the voltages you will be using, so I wouldnt worry about that. Or honestly. Overclocking the ram. With this platform, I would just buy the ram speed you want to reach since bclk is quite limited anyway. But that is just me...

 

[DarrenP]

Hmm, i wasn't planning on taking the heatsinks off.. just painting the exterior.. (steady hands, young artist..) and just peel the stickers off and paint the logo on again..

Edit: Didn't see your reply till now EarthDog, thanks for the reply guy! so i should be fine? and Woomack, do you think i could peel the stickers off them and reapply them? Seeing as you own the chips i was hoping you'd know, or could perhaps test this

Edit #2: Nevermind after looking at the RAM again, i'd just remove the serial number stickers... and put tape over the logo and paint it white!

 

[Operant]

With a steady hand I suppose you could paint around the stickers/logo. I was just suggesting the all out option

 

[Woomack]

If you get Crucials ( 32GB 1600 LP cost ~$250 on newegg ) and you install them on board then you almost won't see that yellow sticker. I doubt that you can reapply sticker. It's probably better idea to get white stickers for 2 sticks on sides if you want to cover that yellow part than paint them or you lose warranty.
These sticks are scalling up to ~1.65V but even if you get something with higher max voltage then max temps are rarely above 50*C even without any fan in the case.

From white heatsink memory you can get Geil EVO Veloce in Limited Edition, Frost White but except that they are white, they look kinda bad http://geil.com.tw/products/list/id/92 , price should be about the same as for red sticks.

 

[DarrenP]

I think i like that idea Woomack! thanks guy!

should i go with a ram cooler?

 

[EarthDog]

should i go with a ram cooler?

No.

 

[DarrenP]

Okay, thanks guys!

 

[fandroid]

Hey guys, not to but in or go off topic but I am dying to find out what the difference between these 3-5 hundred dollar ram kits is from just your standard 50-70 dollar kit? I mean its not the turn of the century anymore, memory shouldn't cost that much in my mind lol.

 

[Operant]

It's a combination of frequency, timings, the specific IC used, and marketing. Namely, these kits are marketed towards the overclocking community. For normal use, they only serve as "bling."