Memory for Benching

[Leegit]

How important is speed, timing, and latency for benching? What has the most impact and should be prioritized?

I'm looking to get 16GB (2x8GB) with 1600 - 1866 MHz. No idea on other stats tho

 

[ChanceCoats123]

For high end bench marking, you want as tight as you can get at the highest speed possible. Most people only go for sets of 2x2gb because more sticks adds stress to the memory controller.

As a baseline, sticks that run 2400 @ 7-11-7 timings are pretty good, with better ones either tightening the timings, or going higher with speed.

 

[EarthDog]

Yep.. 2x2 or 2x4... I can't see your Sig since I'm mobile, but you need a beefy imc to hit 2400+ with ambient Ivybridge. But assuming that is what you have, you want to be around there or 2666....again assuming you CPU can handle it. Depends in the bench as fat as what is more important, but speed is what I go for first...

 

[PolePosition]

I've always heard that latency being higher is more important than speed.

 

[ChanceCoats123]

I've always heard that latency being higher is more important than speed.

When you get down to shaving off milliseconds from a benchmark run, each is just as important as the other. When looking at a benchmark like Super Pi 32M, you would probably see 7-11-7 @ 2400 being faster than 8-12-8 @ 2600. It is pretty benchmark dependent, and sometimes it goes either way.

 

[Bobnova]

I've always heard that latency being higher is more important than speed.

Lower, but yes on older platforms.
On 775 latency was king (mostly, for most things) as long as you were running at least 1:1.
On stuff with IMCs speed is more important, not to the point of horrendously inflated timings (1866-8-8-8 beats 2133-11-11-11, for example, though 2133-7-10-7 beats it), but to an extent.
Without going into specifics that are benching lounge related, for IB benching you want something that'll run at least 2133 with a CAS a bit under 10, or 2400 with 10 or less.
It doesn't have to be rated there of course, just run there.

 

[Leegit]

And how does voltage factor in? Should I be looking for lower voltage sticks so I have more headroom to overclock? Also, do you typically have one set of 2x2 GB memory for benching and then you swap that out for higher GB sticks for everyday/gaming?

 

[moocow]

Having separate ram for benching and everyday use is generally a good idea.

Benching sticks generally run at much higher voltages than what you would want to run on an everyday set of ram. I know I have something like 10+ sets of benching ram currently since different IC's are ideal for certain types of benches.

 

[Leegit]

I'll be looking into those new Cosair V Pro sticks. How much headroom is there in the CAS btw? If I get a stick of 2133 with CAS 11, how easy/likely would I be able to drop it 10 with some work?

 

[Woomack]

For benching look for something 2133 CL9, 2400 CL9/10 or 2600 CL10. Best results for 2133-2400 are on Samsung based kits, better if double sided.
Most Corsair series are not best for benching lately. I would recommend something from G.Skill or Team Group as they offer better kits in lower price.
New vengeance kits will be better for high clocks than tight timings and best performance is somewhere in the middle.
I think that dropping CL from 11 to 10 will be quite easy for 2133 kits.

 

[Leegit]

Blessed by the presence of the memory guru himself. Must be my lucky day

I have been looking at the G. Skill Ares cause it fits my build and it isn't unsightly like the Ripjaws or Trident. I'll look into Team Group. Thanks.

 

[Woomack]

Lucky you that I live near and I'm mainly active on the forums at this hour ( most forum members from USA are still sleeping ).
I have ARES 2133 9-11-10 kit which is running fine @2666 11-13-12 1.65V. Review here. It's of course not guaranteed to make it on every kit.

Some other kits that I found on amazon. Probably you can find them cheaper in other stores. All below supposed to be Samsung but I'm not 100% sure. Also Hynix MFR double sided kits 2600+ are good.

http://www.amazon.de/Team-Group-Xtr...d=1370348185&sr=8-27&keywords=team+group+ddr3

http://www.amazon.de/Team-Group-Xtr...d=1370348216&sr=8-41&keywords=team+group+ddr3

http://www.amazon.de/Team-Group-Vul...d=1370348234&sr=8-54&keywords=team+group+ddr3

Cheaper series that you can also find as 2400 10-11-11. With some luck you can make 2600+ on them with quite tight timings but since it's Samsung then a lot depends from luck.

http://www.amazon.de/G-Skill-F3-240...8&qid=1370348264&sr=8-1&keywords=g.skill+2400
I'm testing kit of these right now. Manufactured in April and are making 2600 10-12-12 , tight sub timings, 1.75V 100% stable

http://www.amazon.de/8GB-Kit-G-Skil...&qid=1370348284&sr=8-26&keywords=g.skill+2400
Should be the same as above but different heatsink

Other thing is what you want to bench as maybe memory that you already have is good enough for everything. Most 3D tests are running the same no matter what memory you use. The same with benchmarks like wprime or some other that are using almost only CPU power.

 

[Leegit]

Lucky me. Shame I move back to the USA in 3 weeks... No more quicks reps from the guru :/ I saw that review and looks like a great pair of sticks. I'll have to bump up from the 1866 MHz I had planned. Or maybe one of the others you so kindly pointed out

I figured that whats good for benching and whats good for everday used would differ so I'm planning to get two different pairs of sticks. Is there a minimum GB needed for benching? Could I just run high-speed 2x 2GB sticks and be fine? (if I can find them)

 

[Woomack]

You won't find any good and not overpriced 2x2GB kits right now. For new platforms good are only PSC from 2GB sticks ( like already mentioned 2133 7-10-7 / 2200 7-10-10 G.Skill RipjawsX or similar kits ) but still most of them will perform worse than better Samsung/Hynix kits and will be harder to set at higher clocks.

 

[Leegit]

Roger that