i7 4790k Asus Z97 board looking for Ram suggestions

[bullshiz]

I am upgrading my motherboard, processor and ram.

I have already bought the i7 4790k and the Asus Z97-A (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132118). I am looking for Ram suggestions. I run 2 monitors 1 for gaming and one for watching streaming videos/tv. I'm not sure how important the clock speed vs cas lat is or what would work best with my cpu/moboard. Also would be interested in hearing thoughts on 16gb vs 8gb.

I was considering this on the higher end but not sure if that is way overkill for me or not, gskill trident 2400 16gb. (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231589)

Thanks in advance

 

[trents]

Great choice but consider clearance to cooler fan. Those high finned Ram modules can cause that problem.

On the other hand, high speed, low latency RAM makes very little difference in real world performance. But if you are really into benching, go for it.

 

[EarthDog]

Unless you benchmark competitively, there is little reason to go over 2133 CL9. That is about the sweet spot for DDR3. Much over that you pay a bit more and gain even less than a bit in most cases.

As far as 8GB vs 16GB. So long as you are not using close to 8GB, that should be plenty.

 

[funsoul]

Agree with what the others have said above. If this is a gamer/streamer/surfenboxen then just grab more or less whatever 2x2GB or 2x4GB sticks you can find (2133c9 is, as EarthDog said, a sweet spot but with the advent of ddr4, prices on ddr3 have more or less collapsed). If you're going to use the system for competitive benchmarking, try to find yourself ram with some nice PSC chips under the hood.

 

[trents]

Earthdog speaks wisdom here.

 

[bullshiz]

Not going to be doing benching at all, but I will overclock the cpu. Probably slightly oc the ram too depending on the consensus. I will be replacing my cooler as well to a liquid cooler probably one of the corsairs or whatever I can get a decent price on.

 

[EarthDog]

Little point in ram overclocking outside of the fun of it (which is reason enough, lol).

 

[bullshiz]

I'm confused with all of the choices. Like gskill makes several with the same stats that are the same price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...$$$$$$$;20-231-689:$$$$$$$;20-231-554:$$$$$$$

and these are about $5 more
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231587

 

[trents]

I'm confused with all of the choices. Like gskill makes several with the same stats that are the same price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...$$$$$$$;20-231-689:$$$$$$$;20-231-554:$$$$$$$

and these are about $5 more
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231587

Yeah, lots of unnecessary choices and the difference between them usually amounts to a hill of beans. Sometimes the only real difference is the color of the heat spreader which seems to be important to some people.

I purchased the GSkill Ares 2133 DDR3 this summer because it seemed to offer the best performance v. price point of their line. Short heat spreader for good clearance to cooler. No problems.

 

[Mandrake4565]

The Tridents are $5.00 more because they are 2400 Mhz and also say "Trident" on them. The reality is unless you're doing competitive benching you're not going to notice a difference between the 2133 Mhz sticks and the 2400 sticks. So if you're going for looks get what you like best, if for price just get the Ares.

 

[bullshiz]

The Tridents are $5.00 more because they are 2400 Mhz and also say "Trident" on them. The reality is unless you're doing competitive benching you're not going to notice a difference between the 2133 Mhz sticks and the 2400 sticks. So if you're going for looks get what you like best, if for price just get the Ares.

is there a difference in ares, sniper or ripjaw's?

 

[trents]

is there a difference in ares, sniper or ripjaw's?

I think the main difference will be in the aggressiveness of their timings at the same frequency level and also the size of the heat spreader.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Hoping this link will work correctly and I'm using this just for example. If you look at these three sets of sticks they all have the same primary timings, chances are they all have the same memory Ic's in them. They may not be but there is a good chance they are.

If you didn't know G. Skill does not make the memory Ic (Integrated Circuits) they are made by a few manufacturers and packaged by the various memory retailers, such as G. Skill, Corsair Kingston etc. Some examples of the memory manufacturers are Hynix, Samsung and Micron.

The sticks I used in the example 2133 9-11-10-28 timings are likely Hynix Ic's where as the Trident 2400's you linked earlier are likely Samsung Ic's.

 

[bullshiz]

Hoping this link will work correctly and I'm using this just for example. If you look at these three sets of sticks they all have the same primary timings, chances are they all have the same memory Ic's in them. They may not be but there is a good chance they are.

If you didn't know G. Skill does not make the memory Ic (Integrated Circuits) they are made by a few manufacturers and packaged by the various memory retailers, such as G. Skill, Corsair Kingston etc. Some examples of the memory manufacturers are Hynix, Samsung and Micron.

The sticks I used in the example 2133 9-11-10-28 timings are likely Hynix Ic's where as the Trident 2400's you linked earlier are likely Samsung Ic's.

so virtually no difference. I was considering those snipers, but for $1 more i can get the 2400. So would you just get these? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231667 or for $30 more i could get the 16gb version.

 

[devlos]

There really is not much difference in those and definitely not anything you would notice in gaming or watching tv. The snipers would be my choice but that is only because I like the way they look the best. But if I was you I would look for a kit with 1.5v instead of 1.65v just because you can.

 

[trents]

One thing that can be misleading when comparing timings in advertised products is the Command Rate. The next step up in a memory line may seem to have all the same timings but it will have 1T instead of 2T for the CR. Very small to nothing detail difference.

 

[Mandrake4565]

so virtually no difference. I was considering those snipers, but for $1 more i can get the 2400. So would you just get these? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231667 or for $30 more i could get the 16gb version.

For me I'd get the tridents you originally linked for 2 reasons. I like to push when benching and those Tridents will usually run 2600 Mhz without an issue, second you can take the top of the heat spreader off if you needed to fit it under a Air heatsink. You wouldn't have issue running the Snipers linked here under most Air heatsinks but for $3.00 more I'd just get the Tridents which have slightly better primary timings. Though, as said previously, in most everyday usage you'll never notice the difference between the two.

As far as 16g of ram goes, I use 8g every day for work and I have at least 8 browser windows open, a program I use for work, 3-4 news services and other software open on 4 monitors and still don't max it out. If you find you're using about 7g of ram normally or don't mind spending the extra money, then yeah maybe it's a good idea.

 

[bullshiz]

http://promotions.newegg.com/NEemai..._p1=&email64=SlBFVFJBQ0lDSEBVU0FUT0RBWS5DT00=

How do these 16gb ripjaws or corsair vengeance look compared to the others?

 

[trents]

bullshiz, you are obsessing over this.

 

[bullshiz]

bullshiz, you are obsessing over this.

Thats true lol