Advice: Thinking about upgrading RAM > 1866MHz (M5A97-AM3/AM3+)

[RevOne]

Greetings TPU Community

Although this is my second build, I still consider myself pretty new to the DIY stuff... so here's my question (should anyone be kind enough to lend assistance):

• Current Mobo: Asus M5A97
• Current CPU: Phenom II X4 820 (O.C.'ed to 3.4GHz)
• Current RAM kit: Corsair Dominator 8GB (2 x 4GB) 1333mHz(CMP8GX3M2B1333C9)
  - *Note: Currently runs @ 1333MHz CL9 1.6v

System's primary purpose: Gaming

I'm strongly considering moving to the following RAM kit:

• G.Skill Sniper 8GB Memory DDR3 1866 RAM (2x4GB) F3-14900CL9D-8GBSR

What I'm Thinking:

• Buy the G. Skill kit now and run it @ 1600MHz with the current Deneb
• Upgrade to an FX-8350 in 3 to 6 mos.; at which time, run the memory @ 1866MHz (or higher if I can tweak it)
• It's on the QVL for the M5A97, so thinking I should get decent results.
• Keep the Corsair set for a secondary build (which I have almost all the necessary spare parts for already, except a CPU and RAM, which this set would work perfectly for)

For the more experienced builders, given the hardware, is this an upgrade you could advise @ $55 for the G. Skill kit? Any better alternatives for this board in the price/performance department?

[BarbaricSoul]

With your current CPU, you would notice no real improvement with the faster RAM. As for the future upgrade to the 8350, I want to say I read somewhere that Piledriver CPUs do benefit from faster RAM, but is it worth $55? Not really sure, but I would guess probably not.

[terrastrife]

You would be better off making sure your HT is at about 2600Mhz, as that gives a solid 5% boost over the stock 2000Mhz on PIIs.

Your Dominator can probably do 1600Mhz easy

[Jack1n]

Even when paired with a 8350 the performance benefit would be negligble,have you tried clocking your kit to 1600mhz?

[cadaveca]

Do it.

[BarbaricSoul]

Originally Posted by cadaveca

Do it.

Uh, Wait, What? Your saying the faster RAM upgrade would be worth the $55?

Don't get me wrong, no way am I more experienced with DIY builds than you are Dave. So if you say it's worth it, I'll take your word. I'm just curious how much the faster RAM would benefit the OP.

[brandonwh64]

Originally Posted by BarbaricSoul

Uh, Wait, What? Your saying the faster RAM upgrade would be worth the $55?

Don't get me wrong, no way am I more experienced with DIY builds than you are Dave. So if you say it's worth it, I'll take your word. I'm just curious how much the faster RAM would benefit the OP.

I think he meant the newer model CPU.

[cadaveca]

Originally Posted by BarbaricSoul

Uh, Wait, What? Your saying the faster RAM upgrade would be worth the $55?

Don't get me wrong, no way am I more experienced with DIY builds than you are Dave. So if you say it's worth it, I'll take your word. I'm just curious how much the faster RAM would benefit the OP.

Always pair builds with matching ram. Stock for ram for FX chips is 1866 MHz. He's gonna upgrade CPUs, might as well do the ram at the same time.

Intel IVB..I say 1600 MHz...SB/SB-E, AM3 Phenom, 1333 MHz. I WILL NOT build a system with less, performance difference or not. The CPUs are spec'd to support certain ram type for a reason, IMHO. To me, the FX design hinges on that 1866 MHz memory support.

[terrastrife]

Originally Posted by cadaveca

Always pair builds with matching ram. Stock for ram for FX chips is 1866 MHz. He's gonna upgrade CPUs, might as well do the ram at the same time.

Intel IVB..I say 1600 MHz...SB/SB-E, AM3 Phenom, 1333 MHz. I WILL NOT build a system with less, performance difference or not. The CPUs are spec'd to support certain ram type for a reason, IMHO. To me, the FX design hinges on that 1866 MHz memory support.

So what you're saying, is that 1333Mhz RAM will destroy its performance? uhh no.
You'd probably be better off with 1333 CL6 1T than 1866 CL9 2T anyway. The FX series especially, RAM and HT aren't as important as they were with the PII, or new APU.
Thubans didn't even officially support 1333 if you populated 4 slots :P

[cadaveca]

Originally Posted by terrastrife

So what you're saying, is that 1333Mhz RAM will destroy its performance?

Did I say that? Nope.


However, yes, I have benched FX from 1066 and up to over 2600. 1866 is the sweetspot, for sure. It's pocket change, $55...and I don't really care what anyone buys for themselves, but for me, I personally wouldn't skimp out on memory at all. I'd be using 2400 MHz or higher, gains or not. Otherwise, it's like running an F1 car on pump gas...sure it works, but there's more power available... I like to use my power.


OF course, all I do is run benchmarks and play games all day.

[terrastrife]

You said "hinges" ie, "depends on" having 1866 RAM when it certainly does not. $55 could be spent better elsewhere, wait for the new CPU and prices could go down even further and get 16GB, then you can cache disk with fancycache for super performance. I run 32GB on my X6 (1740Mhz CL10 2T), the sole purpose of having 20GB dedicated as a disk cache to speed up my SSD and 10,000RPM Raptor, and the performance increase is very easily noticible.

[RevOne]

Wow... great response to this guys. Thank you everyone!

Yeah, I tried taking the Dominators to 1600MHz, but I don't know if it was the CPU, the board, or what (most likely my lack of experience/skill)... it just wouldn't fly. Tried everything from increasing voltages to raising timings; and no dice. Well, ONE of the two sticks would do it... the other, no dice. Memtest showed nothing was wrong with it, but it just wouldn't let me hit 1600MHz stable no matter what I did.

When/if I were to drop the G. Skill set in there, I wasn't really looking at the short term benefit (if any, really); although I have heard that 1600MHz is the sweet spot for most Denebs. But even if it's a neglible difference with my current processor, I was thinking more toward preparing for the future CPU upgrade. The 1866MHz is available as an Intel XMP profile, but no biggie, 'cuz that could be set manually once I drop the Vishera in there (@ stock 1.5v, too). If I were to drop it in there right now, it would automatically default to 1600MHz @ 1.5v with no need to worry about OC'ing or anything like that. My Dominators right now barely do 1333MHz CL7 @ 1.6v.

[terrastrife]

1600Mhz on a PII is technically overclocking, as the CPU IMC only supports 1333Mhz, and 1066 with 4 modules.
But there's usually no problems hitting 1600Mhz, My X6 is horrible, it can't even do 4Ghz but can run 2 modules at 1900Mhz CL9 1T.

I would try 9-9-9-24 2T 1.75v with the doms.

[RevOne]

Originally Posted by terrastrife

1600Mhz on a PII is technically overclocking, as the CPU IMC only supports 1333Mhz, and 1066 with 4 modules.
But there's usually no problems hitting 1600Mhz, My X6 is horrible, it can't even do 4Ghz but can run 2 modules at 1900Mhz CL9 1T.

I would try 9-9-9-24 2T 1.75v with the doms.

Thanks! I might actually give that a shot, but at the time, I wasn't sure just how high I could take the voltages (the highest I tried was 1.7v)

I know they will both do 1600MHz CL9 2T @ 1.7v, but I usually get a stopped worker in Prime95 about an hour after starting the test. This was the problem I kept encountering, and gave up since I thought I hit my "voltage wall".

[terrastrife]

You might need to up the CPU-NB volts a bit too, if you're failing in prime blend. if you're failing prime small fft, it's more of a cpu and not memory related problem. CPU-NB will be needed for more HT, but no more than 1.35v.

[RevOne]

It looks like the general consensus is to stick w/ the 1333MHz Dominators for now and try to tweak them to 1600MHz if I can... which I have to admit, based on the feedback, seems wisest.

But I'll also be taking what both cadaveca & terrastrife stated into very strong consideration:
Once I get the Vishera in 3 to 6 mos., I'll definitely get some 1866MHz memory to pair it with. By then, the prices should have theoretically come down a bit, and I could probably score more (although I barely if ever use the 8GB I already have), or just get the initial amount I was thinking of for less, at least.

The secondary's board is an Asus M5A78L-M LX... not good for OC'ing at all really. I was thinking the best I'll probably get for that would be 1333MHz memory, anyway. So, two birds with one stone, I suppose

Thanks all! I'll be sure to update in case I get too impatient and end up pulling the trigger now anyway lol (c'mon... who doesn't love new toys?)

[BarbaricSoul]

Originally Posted by cadaveca

Always pair builds with matching ram. Stock for ram for FX chips is 1866 MHz. He's gonna upgrade CPUs, might as well do the ram at the same time.

Intel IVB..I say 1600 MHz...SB/SB-E, AM3 Phenom, 1333 MHz. I WILL NOT build a system with less, performance difference or not. The CPUs are spec'd to support certain ram type for a reason, IMHO. To me, the FX design hinges on that 1866 MHz memory support.

Originally Posted by cadaveca

Did I say that? Nope.


However, yes, I have benched FX from 1066 and up to over 2600. 1866 is the sweetspot, for sure. It's pocket change, $55...and I don't really care what anyone buys for themselves, but for me, I personally wouldn't skimp out on memory at all. I'd be using 2400 MHz or higher, gains or not. Otherwise, it's like running an F1 car on pump gas...sure it works, but there's more power available... I like to use my power.


OF course, all I do is run benchmarks and play games all day.

So basically what I said in my first post was correct(not knocking on you, just want to know for future reference in giving advice). His current Phenom II won't see a benefit, but when the OP upgrades to the 8350, he would benefit some, whether or not it's worth it is a personal opinion, like the F1 and pump gas comparison. It'll work either way, but is the little gain worth the extra cash? Up to the OP there.

[RevOne]

What i'm getting out it, is that I won't see any immediate difference, especially if I can potentially get the same performance (1600MHz) out of my current kit. And even once I get the FX-8350, the bump up to 1866MHz RAM will probably be where I see the increases least (in real-world, normal taks and gaming). But the FX chips have shown to work very well with it and there will be a greater sense of system "balance" (?..... if that sounds right) than pairing the 8350 with my 1333MHz (or even 1600MHz) kit.

In the end, the only real place that I would most notice a tangible difference would be in benchmarks; but it's still recommended for attaining that greater "harmony" or "feng-shui" between components.

It's more of an optimization thing for fine tuning the overall machine, if I'm understanding things correctly. (is that right?)

Haha Just as I was typing, I got an email notification from Newegg... The 16GB kit of this same RAM is currently $15 off with a promo code: G.SKILL Sniper Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 ... .

However, even at $85, I don't know if there might be better kits I could get in that price range.

[Hood]

Originally Posted by cadaveca

Did I say that? Nope.


However, yes, I have benched FX from 1066 and up to over 2600. 1866 is the sweetspot, for sure. It's pocket change, $55...and I don't really care what anyone buys for themselves, but for me, I personally wouldn't skimp out on memory at all. I'd be using 2400 MHz or higher, gains or not. Otherwise, it's like running an F1 car on pump gas...sure it works, but there's more power available... I like to use my power.


OF course, all I do is run benchmarks and play games all day.

I just upgraded from 1600 to 2400 (HyperX Beast, $65/2x4GB) knowing the actual performance gains would be negligible, but like you I like to run hi-test and it's only pocket change after all. My throughput increased a couple thousand MB/s and my latency dropped from 50 to 35 ns, so I'm happy, and on to the next tweak or upgrade. Like you, I also sit around all day benchmarking, playing games, and reading the latest hardware reviews and forum posts. And as you may have guessed from the title I'm also known to some as Dave. I've never met a Dave I didn't like...

[HammerON]

RevOne - there is no reason to double post when you can easily use the "Edit" feature. I have merged your posts. Please refrain from double posting in the future