3GB or 6GB for my i7 rig??
 

Hey guys. I certainly have my own thoughts on this, but I'd like to get some other thoughts and opinions. I'm getting my i7 rig together. I've bought an i7 920, a DFI DK x58, and 3GB of Corsair Dominators. I'm wondering if I should have spent the extra $30-$50 on a 6GB set of something else. I'm running Vista Home Premium. Do you guys think 3GB will be enough? All CONSTRUCTIVE comments and opinions are apreciated.

man if it was an extra 30 to 50 then you made a HUGE mistake, it might be a bit harder to OC with 6G but it's the way to go, if your running an OS that can handle it!

Phenom II not good enough ? :D

With my previous system, Cryris consumed up to 2GB of memory during benchmarks. (Phenom + 4GB DDR2 900) + video card memory cache (SLI 8800GT) + Windows itself, left the system really lil memory to spare.

With my X58 system, a brandnew Windows Vista x64 take up 28% of memory (~1.6GB) when it finished booting.

3GB is not enough, 6GB is more than enough.

4GB is quite right but not on triple channel.

I'd do 3gb. 6gb just seems like a waste.. I didn't really notice much going from 2gb to 4gb so to me 3gb is more than enough for Vista and gaming on Vista.

I use photoshop/premier/flash/aftereffecrts do a lot of rendering and encoding, plus i do a lot of programming, so 6G is a no brainer. Plus the speed gain for my renders and encodes is like 30% so to me the i7 is a Must have, I LOVE THE SYSTEM<!

I was just doing a project yesterday and when i loaded it up, just aftereffects used 2.6G of memory so 3G was no where near enough.
SSo it dep[ends on your usage. For $30-50, I say it's a no brainer, you are future proofed plus you have it when you need it, you know OS's will only get heaver and games too..

So 6G is a must! :p

Just the life of a hardware junkie. :laugh:

I have 6GB of TC DDR3 1600MHz memory from OCZ. My PC never felt better. The advantage is better multi-tasking and overall performance, since there is more free memory which is like lifting paper for the CPU.

Darkside bastard!!!!!!!!! :laugh:





just kidding Paulie boy you know I still love ya. In a non homosexual way :D

I noticed a huge gap between going from 2GB-4GB (1GBx2 to 2GBx2).

Especially in games like Company of Heroes, and Crysis Warhead.

6gb nuff said. I mean it's cheap enough now.

Yeah, I noticed a big jump b/t 2GB and 4GB too, but I've never run 3GB before. Seems like people are leaning toward 6GB. Though I'm really not sure. My primary activities are benching and gaming. I don't really do much encoding, nor do I run programs like photoshop etc very often.

One thing I want to avoid is trading a really good set of 3GB for a crappy set of 6GB to fit my budget. Can anyone find me a GOOD 6GB set of DDR3 1600 for less than $150 shipped? Please remember I'm in TN, so add another 9% with any Newegg suggestions.

I would say the 6GB is the way to go, as it also makes it so you don't need to add any later. having the 6GB makes it possible for you to do just about whatever the hell you want. 3GB might hold you back depending on what you are doing. And for 30-50 bucks more, the 6gb was the way to go

However, at some point DDR3 will drop even more in price.

Agreed. I think it is a great time to get it now rather than later, not only because of the recession but also now that the Spring sales are starting to show up soon. I bought my kit for $200 CAN.

Go with 3gb it will overclock better and 3gb of DDR3 is fast as hell. Try theses http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227384

or these even though they are ddr3 1333 they will do alot higher http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231229

for 6gb it would get these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227381

I've got a 3GB set on the way. They are Dominator 1600's. I was just thinking of returning them for a 6GB set.

I ran a Corsair 3GB DDR3-1600 triple channel kit for a few weeks on my i7 setup. I got the kit at the local MicroCenter at the same time I was getting the mobo and CPU. I just needed a basic kit to get the machine up and running. Later on I upgraded to a 6GB Mushkin triple channel kit. Many people say that 6GB kits will mess with the CPU overclock, but I haven't experienced any OC issues when going from 3GB to 6GB. At the same clocks and same timings both kits perform identically in Everest cache and RAM benchmarks. You can get some decent 6GB kits on Newegg for $110 to $130. I paid my 6GB Mushkin kit $128. It is running at DDR3-1840 now.