• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Help spend my birthday money for new comp!

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.
Got this from Gigabytes website,

"Expansion Slots

1. 2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (The PCIEX16_1 and PCIEX16_2 slots support ATI CrossFireX technology, and conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)
2. 3 x PCI Express x1 slots
3. 2 x PCI slots "

Here's the link:
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products...d&ProductID=3005&ProductName=GA-MA790FXT-UD5P

If you want 6mb of cache, then why not get a Phenom II X3 720? It's only 3 cores, but it's black edition which means you'll have an unlocked multiplier and will probably be able to overclock it more than the X4 810 anyway. Then just upgrade later to one of the AM3 X4's when they are available.

The other option is to wait a little longer :) Rumors say the X4 955 3.2Ghz CPU will be available April 20th.

I would probably just get the X3 now since we don't know what the prices will be on the new AM3 quads. You might want to get the X3 and run that until prices drop.
 
Now to figure out which kits of ram to get...

Mushkin has been looking good to me but I have never had any first hand experience.
 
Well, did you actually decide for sure on that AM3 Gigabyte board? How much ram did you decide on getting?

Unfortunately the 2x2 DDR3 kits are not as popular yet since Core i7 and its 2x3 kits are stealing the thunder. The 2x2 kits don't have very reassuring reviews on Newegg right now.

The memory support list on Gigabyte's website doesn't list any Mushkin, but that doesn't mean a whole lot. Can't go wrong with Corsair or G.Skill. Either way, that Gigabyte board supposedly supports up to DDR3 1666, so I would definitely go with one of those DDR3 1600 kits. Man... that's 1000Mhz faster than my DDR2 667 on my laptop :(

Edit: Actually the Corsair XMS3 DHX kit has slower timings than the Muskin and the G.Skill HZ's, so I wouldn't go for those.
 
couldn't I just get a 2x3 kit and use only two (believe it or not looking at the prices that doesn't seem like too bad an idea...)
 
In my experience with ram, the more you have and the faster it is, the more picky and finicky your computer becomes. When I went from 2x1gb to 4x1gb on my last desktop it took me weeks to get it 100% stable again. Using 4 slots as opposed to only 2 seems to put a lot more stress on the motherboard. I actually had to run my ram at slower than stock timings to get it completely stable. I had a budget overclocking motherboard though, so the case might be different with a more expensive board.
 
I think I am going to end up getting the 1333 ballistx tracer ram. I have always wanted the twinkle. I just cant find anyone that has used them with the board I am going to get...
 
I put some tracers in the last computer I built for one of my college roommates. They are pretty sexy, but they get to be a little annoying if you're gaming with the lights off. The whole room feels like a disco :)
 
I have all the products I need in my card including 8gb of ram for 480 (including shipping). But I am glad I waited until this morning though,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220347

That ram has a big MIR and it runs at 1600 instead of 1333. The thing is I don't know if my board will do 8gb at 1600 so I was ok with doing the tracers at 1333. But perhaps these patriots would have tighter timings and lower voltage at 1333 than the tracers if I had to go to that speed? Is that accurate?
 
Patriot!?!?! Where's the corsair dominators!?!?! Or the Ocz gold!?!?! I think better ram would have beena good investment.
 
Patriot is ok stuff. Just the timings are a little loose and cost a bit more than other pickings.

As much as I used to like OCZ. They are mundane now. Plus I have had issues with DOA sticks, I also know a few others who had the same issue. RMA was painless though.. They are not the awesome possum they used to be sadly.
My pick instead of OCZ now, is GSkill. I got some sticks that were pretty inexpensive, yet allowed me to overclock the snot out of them. One set I own is rated at 800 and runs 1066! Not a bad investment. While having ok timings.
 
I'm with Enablingwolf on the ram. I used to like Corsair but it seems that Corsair and OCZ have both gone down hill over the last couple of years. GSkill is my top choice now.

I don't see anything wrong with Patriot. Ram is cheap to replace anyway so there's no reason not to try something new.
 
In the review section of the egg. Patriot monitors issues. Which is sort of a perk. Means they look for issues to fix or get the most out of the modules.. Which to me might mean there must not be a whole lot of problems. For them to monitor for that kind of thing. If there is a lot, they won't be able to keep up. Like OCZ used to do. They even used to hang out here and help.
Nice touch when they seek out issues and correct them before the customer has to. Not an end all thought, but helps when they give helpful tips/advice just because.. You bought their product.

Pros: It arrived in good time.

Cons: out of 6 peices only 3 ran at the stated specs. The other 3 had to be ran at 1333mhz.

Manufacturer Response:Dear Customer,

When using high performance modules it is not recommended to occupy all memory banks as the higher bandwidth on these modules will require the timings and the voltage to be even more tweaked and may cause instability with the system. We do have screenshots of the BIOS for this particular kit, but for one kit installed. You can look over at the settings made by our engineers, that way you can compare it to the settings you made. It might not be the same motherboard, but the settings should be very similar. This is the link, http://www.patriotmemory.com/forums/forump.jsp?catid=7.

With Regards,

Guy
Click to expand...
 
Well I will definitely let everyone know what my overclocking brings. I read a few reviews and it seemed like those patriots were on par with the other ddr3 ram offerings plus the fact that the $40 MIR brings it down to $80. The only other set of 1600 ram that I was looking at for that price was a set of mushkin but in the end I went with the patriot because Gigabyte lists a patriot set (not the exact one I bought but one that is close) as one of their tested sets.

I just don't see a lot of people with that board so getting a definitive ram recommendation was not really in the cards.
 
When Patriot first came out. It was when OCZ started to make it's move. More along the lines of change it's reputation. Since OCZ used to be known as total crap and liars. They did do well changing that rep though.
Now, during that time. Patriot had some good overclocking results, I don't recall anything fantastic from the brand, but nice and respectable.. Sadly the brand got lost in the OCZ media hype and them being all over what seems every review site and forums.

I would expect good results with that brand. I never really heard anything bad about them. Just an oddball respectable brand that never really made a huge move on publicity. Same as Mushkin.
 
Last edited:
Moen, you should post lots and lots of pictures. I want to see all the action :)

BTW, are you putting this in your stacker?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

hafaphoto
  • Locked
Video Card Upgrade. Suggestions?
Replies
18
Views
750
EarthDog
EarthDog
antonio112
Thought on new build I am looking into
Replies
15
Views
386
antonio112
antonio112
D
New Build questions
Replies
9
Views
132
Droidriven
D
T
New config. advice
2
Replies
30
Views
756
shalena20
S
B
Need Help, new PC not posting
Replies
6
Views
159
Nebulous
Nebulous
Back