i7, high frequency or low timmings?

barnei · 28 Aug 2009 at 10:18

I only bought 3Gb of ram to start with and now want to upgrade to 6Gb.

I was initially looking at these

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-162-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1389

but for £3 more should I just get the

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-159-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1392

I know the difference between 1600 and 2000 MHz will be unoticible for me as I only game, but for £3 more should I?
Or should I get the reaper with tighter timings?

nbkpsycho · 28 Aug 2009 at 10:39

If it was me i would pay the £3 extra. But it isnt as easy as that because that ram has been on preorder for weeks as i was going to order it for my i7 build, ended up going for the patriot viper.

sambo_joseph · 28 Aug 2009 at 12:35

personally I would go with the lower timings, because I believe 9-9-9-30 at 2000mhz works out about the same as 1600 at 7-7-7-24 in most tasks

barnei · 28 Aug 2009 at 12:39

sambo_joseph said:
personally I would go with the lower timings, because I believe 9-9-9-30 at 2000mhz works out about the same as 1600 at 7-7-7-24 in most tasks

If the memory module is rated 2000MHz 9-9-9-30, shouldn't it be able to run at 1600MHz 7-7-7-24? Therefore the Blade series just offers me more room to play around with?

I think it will end up being what ever is in stock or expected to be in stock.

mmj_uk · 30 Aug 2009 at 01:36

Ideally you want a balance between the two, although from what I've read the triple channel gives i7 more than enough memory bandwidth so low latency is probably better.

To run DDR at 2000MHz you'll need an i7 that can run Uncore stably at 4000MHz, i7 only officially supports DDR1333(2666MHz Uncore) so that's quite a considerable overclock.

Combat Fighter · 31 Aug 2009 at 15:08

barnei said:
If the memory module is rated 2000MHz 9-9-9-30, shouldn't it be able to run at 1600MHz 7-7-7-24? Therefore the Blade series just offers me more room to play around with?

I think it will end up being what ever is in stock or expected to be in stock.

I would have thought this would be the case, has been with other sticks of ram I've had over the years.. I would rather go for the faster memory, then run it slower with tighter timings if you want.