Ram

XtremePhysX

New member
I'm looking for black RAM sticks, there is GSKILL 2144 for $155 and Corsair 1600 $170, why is the corsair more expensive and what do the 4 latency numbers mean? There is corsair platinium but it is extremely expensive, $400 lol
16GB RAM ranges from $95 to $400 so what should I be looking for in RAM?
 
You don't need 16gb for a start - get 8gb...

You don't need to know specifically what the latencies are - just know that the lower the better, and to get a higher clock on the Mhz, timings on the latencies must be increased.

If you're just using the rig for gaming, anything above 1600mhz is a bit pointless really. The only time anything higher comes into play is in very specific programs like rendering when render times may benefit a little from a higher clock.

I'd advise saving your money and getting 1600mhz - max get 1866mhz. The more you spend though, you'd hope you'll be able to overclock them a little, whether that's in upping the frequency, or tightening the timings.

But, you really don't need to waste a lot of money on RAM unless you're benching, or rendering or similar
 
You don't need 16gb for a start - get 8gb...

You don't need to know specifically what the latencies are - just know that the lower the better, and to get a higher clock on the Mhz, timings on the latencies must be increased.

If you're just using the rig for gaming, anything above 1600mhz is a bit pointless really. The only time anything higher comes into play is in very specific programs like rendering when render times may benefit a little from a higher clock.

I'd advise saving your money and getting 1600mhz - max get 1866mhz. The more you spend though, you'd hope you'll be able to overclock them a little, whether that's in upping the frequency, or tightening the timings.

But, you really don't need to waste a lot of money on RAM unless you're benching, or rendering or similar

But the 2144 MHz is cheaper than 1600 MHz for some reason, does it mean the 2144 MHz GSkill is bad quality?
I really dont wanna go with 8 GB, I want all slots to be filled, it's just for aesthetics :D
 
The RAM won't be bad quality from GSkill - just the Corsair is very good RAM, and a little over priced. It does have all the built in leds don't forget.

The standard Corsair Vengeance or Corsair Vengeance LP may be a good shout - that fits in well with your colour scheme
 
I dont get why 8GB Dominator Plat is twice as expensive as 16GB GSkill or Kingston LOL
I think I'll just got with 16GB black GSkill for $150
I gont like the yellow Vengeance, would be too much yellow, I think black with some gold is awesome :D
 
What Silver? That's black?

Every calculation your processor makes, it saves it to RAM. The memory saved in RAM is what you're using right now, ie, playing a game - whilst everything else is saved on the hard drive/SSD.
So when you first load a game, that loading screen loads from the HDD/SSD onto the RAM so it can be used immediately when the CPU needs it.

But, due to the way games and windows are coded (in 32 bit) the games cant use more than 4gb each - ie - Windows OS uses 4gb, plus the game using 4gb = 8gb. So it's basically a complete waste of money having any more than 8gb as it will never get used.
The only benefit of having more, is in very well coded applications like video editing/rendering where large texture files, and large video clips need fast access from RAM and so more of it will be used there. Or, if you do something like RAM caching, where say you open your email program once, that loads from the hard drive, but then caches to your RAM cache instead of back to the hard drive. This means it will be normal speed the first time you open the application, but then after closing and reopening, it will be a lot faster.
Feel free anybody to correct me if I'm wrong here - I'm sure I will be about something.

As for the aspects of gameplay - it doesn't really improve anything as long as you have enough of it. If you had 1gb of RAM and tried to play Battlefield, the game wouldn't be able to load from the RAM well enough as there wouldn't be enough, and so it would have to continually load from the hard drive, causing lag. But having 8gb would mean everything could be loaded onto the RAM and so the hard drive would never need to be re-accessed, and so your RAM wouldn't cause lag.
The faster RAM frequency you have, the faster games can then load up from that - up to a point anyway - can't remember why though ;)
 
Mkes so much sense, that's exactly why 8GB corsair is more expensive that 16GB GSkill. So what I really need is the best quality 8GB RAM I can possibly get because anything more than 8 won't be used.
I don't get the 32 bit windows thing, what about 64bit? do I need more RAM for that?
Also, when I said silver I meant the Dominator Platinum.
 
64bit just allows other programs to use more than the 4gb it uses itself. Even in 64bit mode it doesn't use more than 4gb itself.

And you don't really need to get the best possible RAM tbh - I have 1600mhz Mushkin RAM - nothing special, just relatively cheap - not gunna see any difference between that and 8gb of 1600mhz dominator platinum in gaming really. You're best off just saving money and getting something cheaper.
Something else will *bottleneck* (for the sake of a better term) your system before 1600mhz of RAM will anyway - ie - the CPU won't be able to process the RAM fast enough, or the GPU will lose out on frame rates before or something like that.
Tbh - you're better off saving money and getting 8gb of normal Corsair Vengeance LP. Can always add another 8gb later if you want all the slots filling up - and then you can spend the money on a better gpu or something...

I can probably talk you out of getting the 3770k too btw - it's the same kind of thing as this on the waste 8gb of 16gb...
 
My final order is:
i7 3770k ($300)
MSI Z77 MPower ($250)
Intel 520 240GB ($220)
Black tubing, XSPC RayStorm CPU Waterblock Chrome Edition, Fitting, Corsair Fans ($200)
Corsair 8GB 1866MHz RAM ($100)
About $1100 in total :D
The rest of the system is in my Sig, so what do you think? I know you are against Intel 520 but it is the exact same price as the Samsung 830 but so many people say Intel is more reliable which is what I want, I want reliability :D
I'm still not sure about the XSPC RayStorm CPU Waterblock Chrome Edition, should I get that or Koolance CPU-370 CPU Waterblock or EK Supremacy, they are all around $90, the XSPC looks awesome, actually they all look awesome, not sure.
 
The 520 isn't bad - It's one of the top 3 SSDs around... In the UK it costs like £30 more in the UK than the Samsung and the Crucial - so it isn't worth it. It isn't a bad choice by any means though...
Have you already bought the case and psu?

You don't need an i7 whatsoever for gaming, so you're better off saving money and getting the 3570k.
 
The 520 isn't bad - It's one of the top 3 SSDs around... In the UK it costs like £30 more in the UK than the Samsung and the Crucial - so it isn't worth it. It isn't a bad choice by any means though...
Have you already bought the case and psu?

You don't need an i7 whatsoever for gaming, so you're better off saving money and getting the 3570k.

My brother has i7 in his laptop, there is no way I getting i5 in my system :huh:
I already have 800D Case, AX850 PSU and MSI 580 Lightning, might upgrade graphics in a year or so to 780 whenever it comes out or 770 SLI, we'll see. I'm also thinking about getting 27" IPS monitor, my current monitor is amazing but kinda small.
I think I'll get the koolance 370 waterblock, looks really good. Especially in a black case as in this pic
http://imageshack.us/f/803/dsc3379.jpg/
or should I get EK Supremacy black, looks good too
http://www.ekwb.com/uploads/EK-Supremacy_mounted_800.jpg
 
No point in getting SLI for a single 60hz screen - and I wouldn't plan for a monitor anytime soon as 4K is coming out next year (hopefully).

The Raystorm is one of the best blocks around - I'd probably say stick with that. It looks awesome too.

I get that about the i7 :p Mine was for a similar kind of reason tbh.
 
No point in getting SLI for a single 60hz screen - and I wouldn't plan for a monitor anytime soon as 4K is coming out next year (hopefully).

The Raystorm is one of the best blocks around - I'd probably say stick with that. It looks awesome too.

I get that about the i7 :p Mine was for a similar kind of reason tbh.

Wow, I never heard about 4k before, seems promising. Will wait.
Yeah, I'll stick with the mighty 580 for a while, will definitely get a 780 single GPU when it comes out, should be compatible with 4k
Yeah, might get the Raystorm, $20 more expensive than the other two though, but as you said it's worth it.
I'm about to start the HSC (Higher School Certificate) in a month or so, (final year before uni) so this is my last chance to play around with computers.
I'm planning on doing Physics + Medicine combined degree so if I get 100UAI I can do tutoring as soon as I finish High School in 2014 which will give me some money to buy new stuff, at the momment I'm relying on my parents :(
Sometime I dream that when I'm older and have money I buy a $20k computer and build it myself LOL Will work hard to achieve that dream :)
 
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Can confirm 8gb is enough. Additionally a lot of people don't know this but faster RAM is better for livestreaming for people who do that. It's not going to make your quality any better really but it will make streams more smooth and less buggy. Just a note a lot of people don't know. But in reality it doesn't do much so 1600Mhz is really fine.
 
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