Need advice for memory modules in new build (Asus Z97 pro gamer, 4690k)

[tostator]

Hello.

I'm planning to change motherboard, cpu and a SSD, mainly for the new games to come. I play games at 1080 (not a hardcore gamer). I think the Asus Z97 Pro Gamer reviewed here and a i5 4690k will be fine for me. I'll overclock de CPU (cooled on air) when needed, but not to the limits (4,3 will be reachable?). I am technologically obsolete, and even reading some tutorials to overckock this cpu, I cant understand if it`s worth to spend in memory modules up to 1600 mhz to overclock or not. I've read than the impact of memory speed in perfomance is minimum. So please, could someone recomend wich type of modules to get?

Please, excuse my bad english.

Thank you very much.

 

[peche]

sup!

nice decision, going for a new rig its always pretty exciting…!
There are several facts to know or taking on consideration with intel builds:

Memory: don't waste your money, 1866 is the top for most processors on the green side, don’t waste your money, get kingston Fury 1600 or 1866, also you can look for the better deal on 16GB, 32GB of ram memory is a big waste of money, 8GB is the current standard so 16GB is pretty excellent!

Cooling: most instel processors came with a stock cooler, that cooler is just capable of doing the job of pushing out the heat, but is not the best cooler on the earth, we recommend you Hyper 212 EVO from cooler master, is the best Bag for the buck, also Thermal interface material may be taken on consideration, arctic cooling MX series, Arctic Silver 5, prolimatek PK4 and Gelid Extreme are on the top of most comparisons boards, also coollaboratory liquid stufs is on the 1sts places, my recommendation, Arctic Cooling MX4, for the win,

Also, you decided to overclock with air cooler? 4th gen chip?
Delid it … for better cooling performance, delid is a dangerous process by the way!

SSD: A pretty fast drive must bring you a smooth experience with your computer, but may be expensive, I use mine just for OS partition and some work apps, not for gaming advantages are minimal en price per GB may be expensive on many SSD's, so there is no need of a big ass SSD, 64GB can handle the tasks without problems,

Case & Cooling: this is another point that most people ignore, case is important, a good cable management will improve airflow, airflow will bring a better ambiance for hardware, the most chilled hardware, the more lifetime it will have, also static pressure on fans, RPM's and noise are facts that many people researches for a excellent airflow,

PSU: and power: the most important and vital part on every Build, Power supply unit, don’t skimp on this part, 80+Bronze Certification is a must, remember energy is not as clean as it enters to you PC so a surge protector and suppressor may be appreciated by your hardware and a UPS may be the win!


Regards,

 

[Kursah]

1600-1866 is a good and affordable sweet spot for memory. I wouldn't recommend going slower than 1600, and I have had memory faster than 1866 and can't really recommend or justify going with faster. 2133 is really the fastest you'll need in most situations...odds are you won't really notice the difference. Beyond that is really only useful for benchmarking.

So it really depends on what you plan to use your system for, if gaming and light OC-ing is what you plan, then 1600-1866 will be the way to go. Also don't worry about OC-ing memory, memory clocks and CPU clocks are separate on this technology level now, so there is no worry of mixing FSB speeds with memory dividers anymore. Just in case you didn't know.

Another thing to remember with RAM, is more of it is better than less and faster memory. Even DDR3-1600 is many factors faster than your hard drive or SSD's could ever dream of being. Considering EVERYTHING you load, execute, need (OS, programs, games, etc) must be loaded to RAM to be ran, when you run out and have to rely on your HDD or SSD for page file usage, your super fast 8GB of memory will seem like garbage against the 16GB of 1600 plane Jane memory. So if there's a cost difference that is tough to justify, don't sweat going with 1600. Sure your benchmarks will be slower, and you might...just might lose a second or two or FPS or two on a game...but highly doubtful. With more memory you will have a smoother experience with more stuff open.

I prefer G.Skill as my go-to, but all the major players are good, Crucial, Mushkin, Corsair, etc. Get what is in your budget, and depending on your plans, decide how to do it. If you plan on expanding more, get that amount in fewer sticks (8GB in one stick instead of 4X2, or 16GB in 2 sticks (8X2) instead of 4 (4X4)).

Hope that helps!

 

[GreiverBlade]

agreed with both above me 1866 is enough, even if i used 2x4 2133 Corsair Vengeance Pro (got a good price on it) and now 2x8 2400 G.Skill TridentX (got a real good price on them ... well got them free i should say ... )

also if you find a nice price for a kit above 1866 go for it, be it C9 C10 or C11 (i used C9 and C11 in 2133 not much difference) and my 2400 is C11
for brand i go with @Kursah recommendation : G.Skill 1st the rest in second

for OC 4.3 on Air should be doable, mind the cooler (Cooler master Hyper 612S or Thermalright HR 02 Macho or Raijintek Erebos or Scythe Ashura, ofc you have many more but these are Price/perf KINGS! )

 

[tostator]

Thank you so much for your advices!!!!

Memory: don't waste your money, 1866 is the top for most processors on the green side, don’t waste your money, get kingston Fury 1600 or 1866, also you can look for the better deal on 16GB, 32GB of ram memory is a big waste of money, 8GB is the current standard so 16GB is pretty excellent!

Ok. 1600 or 1866. So 2400 and higher speeds are just marketing tricks?

I prefer G.Skill as my go-to, but all the major players are good, Crucial, Mushkin, Corsair, etc. Get what is in your budget, and depending on your plans, decide how to do it. If you plan on expanding more, get that amount in fewer sticks (8GB in one stick instead of 4X2, or 16GB in 2 sticks (8X2) instead of 4 (4X4)).

The motherboard supports "Dual Channel Memory Architecture", so does it mean I have to pick two modules like my old Asus P5k or just one? Money is not the main factor, but like peche says, dont want to waste money.

Another thing to remember with RAM, is more of it is better than less and faster memory. Even DDR3-1600 is many factors faster than your hard drive or SSD's could ever dream of being. Considering EVERYTHING you load, execute, need (OS, programs, games, etc) must be loaded to RAM to be ran, when you run out and have to rely on your HDD or SSD for page file usage, your super fast 8GB of memory will seem like garbage against the 16GB of 1600 plane Jane memory. So if there's a cost difference that is tough to justify, don't sweat going with 1600. Sure your benchmarks will be slower, and you might...just might lose a second or two or FPS or two on a game...but highly doubtful. With more memory you will have a smoother experience with more stuff open.

My supplier works with Crucial and Kingston brands. They are 1,35 or 1,50 v, cas 8 to 11, 1600 or 1866 . Which factor is the most important? More Gb although slower? Full of doubts, you see....

for OC 4.3 on Air should be doable, mind the cooler (Cooler master Hyper 612S or Thermalright HR 02 Macho or Raijintek Erebos or Scythe Ashura, ofc you have many more but these are Price/perf KINGS! )

My current cooler is a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme. I have read that is still a decent cooler and will recycle it (buying the vx BTK II adapter). Hope it works... That is the exciting side of overclocking.

SSD: A pretty fast drive must bring you a smooth experience with your computer, but may be expensive, I use mine just for OS partition and some work apps, not for gaming advantages are minimal en price per GB may be expensive on many SSD's, so there is no need of a big ass SSD, 64GB can handle the tasks without problems,

REgarding the SSD, i've chosen the Samsung 850 Evo. People all around recommends it.


Let me thank you all again.

 

[GreiverBlade]

yep the ultra 120 is a neat cooler, on the memory i would not say 2400 and above are a marketing trick: it does help but from 1866 to 2400 i hardly noticed any difference in day to day usage. (currently 2446 and a mild OC to 4.4 back from 4.6 because of some random freeze in a game ... but i think the culprit was the game ... not the OC )

i use 2400 because i got them free (and on the plus side it was a 2x8gb TridentX kit) but i used all kind of speed and timing (i still have a pair of 1600 C11 Dragon from GEIL that i keep aside for a next HTPC build)
single vs dual channel : you can have only 1 stick but it's not, let say, practical (tho the drop is 1% iirc) better take a good kit of 2x4 or 2x8 depending on your needs (not that i really needed 16gb but i often play with a overloaded Chrome and lots of tabs open)

Kingston have some good kits (i used some HyperX Fury 1866 because they where cheap at the time) but the Predator line is a bit better tho , Crucial i have no experience with it but if they are with the RAM as they are with the SSD then you can also trust that brand: take the one that has the best price/speed/class ratio

 

[peche]

Thank you so much for your advices!!!! :

we are help to help each other!

Ok. 1600 or 1866. So 2400 and higher speeds are just marketing tricks? :

I can't tell if it’s a market tricks … just the basics… 1866 is the maximum frequency you should buy!

The motherboard supports "Dual Channel Memory Architecture", so does it mean I have to pick two modules like my old Asus P5k or just one? Money is not the main factor, but like peche says, dont want to waste money. :

if you have normal dual chanel DDR3 memory on your old build, you want to re-use its "OK", I have reused memory from old rigs on several builds for office and friends, again if you have compatible memory you can reuse it!

My supplier works with Crucial and Kingston brands. They are 1,35 or 1,50 v, cas 8 to 11, 1600 or 1866 . Which factor is the most important? More Gb although slower? Full of doubts, you see.... :

what do you mean? I didn’t get it

My current cooler is a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme. I have read that is still a decent cooler and will recycle it (buying the vx BTK II adapter). Hope it works... That is the exciting side of overclocking. :

excellent, that cooler may perform flawless even on light OC, just be sure that get the correct adapters and also decent thermal interface material such as Arctic Cooling MX series!

REgarding the SSD, i've chosen the Samsung 850 Evo. People all around recommends it. :

Pretty nice SSd, Evo drive it's as fast as cheetah on cocaine!

 

[tostator]

Hello again.

better take a good kit of 2x4 or 2x8 depending on your needs (not that i really needed 16gb but i often play with a overloaded Chrome and lots of tabs open)

Ok I'll buy 2 modules of 1866.

My supplier works with Crucial and Kingston brands. They are 1,35 or 1,50 v, cas 8 to 11, 1600 or 1866 . Which factor is the most important? More Gb although slower? Full of doubts, you see....

I'm sorry about my poor explanation, peche. I put some examples:

Module RAM Crucial Ballistix Sport - 4 GB (1 x 4 GB) - DDR3 SDRAM - 1600 MHz DDR3-1600/PC3-12800 - 1,35 V - No-ECC - Unbuffered - CL9 - 240-pinss - DIMM
Module RAM Crucial Ballistix Tactical - 4 GB - DDR3 SDRAM - 1600 MHz DDR3-1600/PC3-12800 - 1,35 V - No-ECC - Unbuffered - CL8 - 240pins - DIMM
Module RAM Kingston HyperX - 4GB - DDR3 SDRAM - 1866 MHz DDR3-1866/PC3-14900 -1,50 V - No-ECC - Unbuffered - CL9 - 240 pins

I've marked bold the factors that confuse me. I mean, which are the most important? The CLx or the Mhz? And why some works with 1,35 v and the others with 1,5? Does it matters? Which one would you choose? They are almost any difference in price. I guess 1,35 V and CL8 should be the best, isn't it?

Pretty nice SSd, Evo drive it's as fast as cheetah on cocaine!

I'll get it, definitely

Thank you so much.

 

[peche]

I've marked bold the factors that confuse me. I mean, which are the most important? The CLx or the Mhz? And why some works with 1,35 v and the others with 1,5? Does it matters? Which one would you choose? They are almost any difference in price. I guess 1,35 V and CL8 should be the best, isn't it?[/QUOTE]
the bold letters means voltage on every dimm, this may vary according manufacturer, models and sh*t, nothing to be afraid!

my all time favorite memory kits has been Patriot Intel Extreme Masters, basically is a patriot viper memory kit htat says intel ...lol
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008MF3R82/?tag=tec06d-20
but given your options i'll chose kingston hyper X kit, i rather 2x8GB = 16GB



Regards,

 

[tostator]

Thank very much!!!

Best regards.