XMP Ready Memory

[Hooptymobile]

Are there pros/ cons to buying XMP Ready memory vs. memory w/o XMP?

A trusted pc tech friend recommends, "My advice get some with “XMP” settings programmed on the SPD of the chip

for simplicity and stability, otherwise you risk damaging your cpu and memory at the same time."

I limit myself to a very small selection of ram to buy though. If purchasing memory w/o XMP ready affects my ability

to overclock beyond 5GHz I would like to know. ~Thanks~

 

[hmmblah]

I never use XMP, I always set things manually. You won't risk damaging anything unless you set volts to some crazy height and don't cool things properly. XMP wouldn't even be a consideration for me when purchasing RAM, but I'm pretty sure the last few sets I've purchased all had an XMP profile.

 

[Hooptymobile]

Can I ask another question?

I was initially going to buy 16gb of ram for a decent price (@ 1600mhz speed) but my friend says if I want to overclock my pc,then none of my selections were viable.

Below are the four I suggested to him:

1. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...231428&cm_sp=DailyDeal-_-20-231-428-_-Product

2. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231433

3. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231445

4. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231449

So for the past few hours I've been online hunting for something else to consider:

> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231433 <

What do u think? (In terms of supporting high overclocking to cpu). I will only purchase 8gb total at this time. Thanks for reply!

 

[hmmblah]

Is this on Sandy Bridge? If so, memory doesn't matter so much anymore as you don't overclock with the bclk, it's all CPU multi now.

Edit: I have no hands-on experience with Sandy Bridge so you will probably want to wait until someone confirms what I have to say.

AFAIK, SB supports certain memory speeds. 1600, 1866, 2133 etc. Get the fastest memory with the tightest timings that you can afford.

 

[Hooptymobile]

Is this on Sandy Bridge? If so, memory doesn't matter so much anymore as you don't overclock with the bclk, it's all CPU multi now.

Edit: I have no hands-on experience with Sandy Bridge so you will probably want to wait until someone confirms what I have to say.

AFAIK, SB supports certain memory speeds. 1600, 1866, 2133 etc. Get the fastest memory with the tightest timings that you can afford.

Yes, this is a Sandy Bridge build (Core i7 2600k, ASRock P67 Extreme 6 mobo , only lacking memory)

I want to push my CPU beyond 5Ghz etc.

As much as I am certain you are well-informed and experienced w/ computers I would like someone to confirm whether it

would be best advised to purchase higher ram (1866, 2133) or would 1600 allow me to reach 5Ghz sufficiently.

If 1600mhz is perfectly fine to push my i7 2600 in to 5+Ghz I will get this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231445 (can buy 16gigs total for 143.77-converting from usd to gbp)

If it is crucial to purchase higher ram in order to sustain 5+ overclocks then I would get this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231433 (would only buy 8gigs due to high price for 90.80-converted from usd to gpb)

Anyone who can advise me on which path to take would be greatly helpful.

 

[Grizzly]

Like hmmblah said memory speeds aren't essential when it comes to overclocking a sandybridge CPU, unless you get the Gigabyte UD7. However faster RAM will mean a faster running PC anyways, do you really need 16GB as opposed to 8GB?

 

[Hooptymobile]

I dont know how to select the actual phrase (quote) in forum but to answer you about ram necessity.

Hmm well Im not sure if I need or not.

I play pc games like Final Fantasy XIV, Starcraft 2 etc.

But my main reason I suppose for wanting 16Gb ram is for streaming live hi-def from ps3 to pc (w/ my Avermedia capture card)

people mention that it requires a good pc (cpu especially ) and wanted to 'cover my bases' in regards to memory.

I guess overall I just want to future-proof my pc since I wont purchase again until the Haswell cpu is released in 2014.

I tend to keep same cpu for roughly 3years as a rule of thumb.

I havent purchased the ASRock Extreme 6 but its a done deal unless you can persuade me otherwise to reconsider UD7. That was my 1st choice but I thought I was only paying for more powerphases, 2x 16lane pcie 2.0 etc. Seeing as Im only using one gpu I decided on the cheaper mobo but havent purchased yet.

 

[Technex]

It's a load of rubbish (and normally set very relaxed), set speeds manually... But most RAM comes with it so don't worry...

If you want a 100% stock/stable and don't want to spend a while (and don't mind perhaps loosing a bit of speed as if you do it manually) then it's a good feature.