Which RAM do I choose for SB set up?

[TRACEY_BLAKE]

Hi. I need some help with RAM choice for my new set up. I'm NOT an overclocker or gamer!! I will only be using the set up for digital audio mixing & recording & Video/photo editing, nothing else. So far I've decided on Intel i7 2600k & Asus P8h67 M-Evo Mobo (don't need dedicated graphics for what I'll be using it for). I have chosen to go for the 2600k instead of 2600 so I can take advantage of the HD3000 integrated graphics! As RAM is going to be important for my needs I need some help deciding how much & which sticks to choose. I don't want any less than 8gb & either 1333mhz or 1600mhz sticks will be fine (H67 mobo only supports 1333mhz max.), which ever is cheaper!! Firstly, should I go with 8gb (2x 4gb sticks) or 16gb (4x 4gb)?? I'm told I could never have too much memory for my needs!
I've been looking at the blue Corsair Vengeance & G skill Ripjaw/G Skill Ripjaw X. I am a little concerned about the height of the vengeance sticks but as I won't have a graphics card or need any cooling systems as not overclocking so only be using the stock heatsink for cpu, do I need to be concerned about the height?? I know there are the 'low profile' option but they are over budget & not needed.
I've seen the normal G Skill ripjaw & the ripjaw X-would both these sticks work well with sandybridge i7 2600k??
I've seen the Corsair XMS3 sticks at a good price too, would you recommend these with the i7 2600k?? Or are these sticks not the best for i7 SB?? My max.budget is around £100, maybe a few quid over.

Thanks in advance

 

[Surveyor]

I've no idea if you need 8 or 16GB for the work you'll be doing.

You might as well get one or two kits of these:

Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit

£44.99 at the minute and cheaper than 1333MHz RAM at OcUK.

If the prices have changed when you order just get the cheapest RAM by a good manufacturer which will work at around 1.5V for Sandy Bridge.

 

[Ginger-Menace]

The corsair vengeance ram u have said will be fine with the stock cooler. Would it not be better to get a z68 motherboard as the ram is 1600mhz . I have the vengeance black 8gb very happy and very stable. All of the ram u have mentioned will be fine with SB.

 

[Nightglow]

+1
Great memory.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-094-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

Definitely go for 16gb of memory, using CS5 Extended myself, I found jumping from 8gb to 16gb very useful.
Also look at Z68 boards as well.

 

[TRACEY_BLAKE]

Thanks for the link Surveyor they are nice sticks. Are these Kingston Hyper sticks as good as the likes of Corsair Vengeance & G Skill Ripjaw X? Do you think that the height of the vengeance sticks will matter for my needs?(no graphics card, no overclocking, only using stock heatsink for i7 cpu)?? The blue sticks will look good on my blue asus mobo you see.

 

[TRACEY_BLAKE]

The corsair vengeance ram u have said will be fine with the stock cooler. Would it not be better to get a z68 motherboard as the ram is 1600mhz . I have the vengeance black 8gb very happy and very stable. All of the ram u have mentioned will be fine with SB.

I'm not familiar with the z68 mobo, is it ok for SB i7? Does it have integrated grahics as don't need graphics card you see?

 

[cmndr_andi]

The Z68 is a newer type of board that can access the onboard graphics and also allows overclocking (basically rolling together the best features of P67 and H67 boards). It fully supports the i7 SB CPUs like the 2600K.

Also I should point out that all s1155 boards will only say they support up to 1333MHz RAM (and offer higher RAM speeds with the "OC" proviso) this is not to do with the motherboard - this is to do with the CPU since the memory controller is on the CPU and is only rated by intel to 1333MHz in dual channel mode. However, it is well known that you can run memory faster than this without any issues (1600MHz is the most popular type of memory to use).

As for using an aftermarket CPU cooler - this is not only for overclocking but for achieving a low-noise system, since the Intel stock coolers tend to get a bit loud when you put the CPU under full load.

 

[TRACEY_BLAKE]

The Z68 is a newer type of board that can access the onboard graphics and also allows overclocking (basically rolling together the best features of P67 and H67 boards).

Also I should point out that all s1155 boards will only say they support up to 1333MHz RAM (and offer higher RAM speeds with the "OC" proviso) this is not to do with the motherboard - this is to do with the CPU since the memory controller is on the CPU and is only rated by intel to 1333MHz in dual channel mode. However, it is well known that you can run memory faster than this without any issues (1600MHz is the most popular type of memory to use).

As I'm not an overclocker, would I be able to put in 1600mhz sticks in the Z68& they will run at 1600mhz stock speed? Or would they only run at 1333mhz & therefore would I have to overclock in order to achieve the 1600mhz??

I am going for the 2600k cpu so I can take advantage of the HD3000 onboard graphics (as opposed to HD2000 with the 2600), would this still be an option on the Z68? Sorry I'm a newby!!

 

[Hyburnate]

+1
Great memory.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-094-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

Definitely go for 16gb of memory, using CS4 Extended myself, I found jumping from 8gb to 16gb very useful.
Also look at Z68 boards as well.

Really? I'm going to be using an i5 and I use a lot of Photoshop CS5 Extended, I've got 8GB in my cart should I upgrade it?

 

[TRACEY_BLAKE]

Originally Posted by cmndr_andi
The Z68 is a newer type of board that can access the onboard graphics and also allows overclocking (basically rolling together the best features of P67 and H67 boards).

Also I should point out that all s1155 boards will only say they support up to 1333MHz RAM (and offer higher RAM speeds with the "OC" proviso) this is not to do with the motherboard - this is to do with the CPU since the memory controller is on the CPU and is only rated by intel to 1333MHz in dual channel mode. However, it is well known that you can run memory faster than this without any issues (1600MHz is the most popular type of memory to use).

As I'm not an overclocker, would I be able to put in 1600mhz sticks in the Z68& they will run at 1600mhz stock speed? Or would they only run at 1333mhz & therefore would I have to overclock in order to achieve the 1600mhz??

I am going for the 2600k cpu so I can take advantage of the HD3000 onboard graphics (as opposed to HD2000 with the 2600), would this still be an option on the Z68? Sorry I'm a newby!!

 

[cmndr_andi]

As I'm not an overclocker, would I be able to put in 1600mhz sticks in the Z68& they will run at 1600mhz stock speed? Or would they only run at 1333mhz & therefore would I have to overclock in order to achieve the 1600mhz??

By default they will only run at 1333MHz (since that is as high as Intel rates the memory controller on the CPU). You need to go into the BIOS and enter the correct memory frequency (1600MHz) and ensure the memory timings are as specified. This isn't technically CPU overclocking as the CPU will remain at standard 3.4GHz speed (plus turbo), however you will be overclocking the memory controller (which is on the CPU) - however for two sticks at 1600MHz this honestly isn't an issue.

It may also be worth investing a memory kit which allows you to load a memory profile from within the BIOS to set the memory speed, voltage and timings for you. This is called "XMP" and this kit supports it. You will still need to go into the BIOS, but the task is much simpler - find the XMP option and enable the profile (instead of changing the frequency and timings yourself).

If you really don't want any of this hassle then you could just buy the kingston 1600MHz kit and leave it to run at default 1333MHz speed (it is currently cheaper than buying 1333MHz RAM).

I am going for the 2600k cpu so I can take advantage of the HD3000 onboard graphics (as opposed to HD2000 with the 2600), would this still be an option on the Z68? Sorry I'm a newby!!

Yes, the Z68 works very similarly to the H67 in terms of the onboard graphics - so the HD 3000 on the 2600K CPU will be able to be accessed at utilised to the full.

 

[Nightglow]

Really? I'm going to be using an i5 and I use a lot of Photoshop CS5 Extended, I've got 8GB in my cart should I upgrade it?

I use W7 64 bit, by having a lot of memory, you can do nearly all the processing you perform on your large images, with the ram you have, instead of swapping out to the hard disk (scratch disk), so it's faster.

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/cs5/preferences/page-2.php

Have also thought about whether I could use a ssd for the CS5 scratch disk.

 

[TRACEY_BLAKE]

By default they will only run at 1333MHz (since that is as high as Intel rates the memory controller on the CPU). You need to go into the BIOS and enter the correct memory frequency (1600MHz) and ensure the memory timings are as specified. This isn't technically CPU overclocking as the CPU will remain at standard 3.4GHz speed (plus turbo), however you will be overclocking the memory controller (which is on the CPU) - however for two sticks at 1600MHz this honestly isn't an issue.

It may also be worth investing a memory kit which allows you to load a memory profile from within the BIOS to set the memory speed, voltage and timings for you. This is called "XMP" and this kit supports it. You will still need to go into the BIOS, but the task is much simpler - find the XMP option and enable the profile (instead of changing the frequency and timings yourself).




So are you saying if I get memory sticks that have XMP that the memory, once enabled, will automatically set itself to run at 1600mhz?? I know nothing at all about overclocking so I don't want to do it myself you see. If the stick doesn't automatically run itself at 1600mhz, I think I will just run at stock 1333mhz.

Is this the case on H67 mobo's aswell then? If I buy the XMP sticks it can run at 1600mhz instead of 1333mhz??

If I end up running the sticks at a stock 1333mhz & am not a gamer, nor do I overclock anything, then is there actually any advantages to buying a Z68 mobo as opposed to an H67 mobo?? Thanks again in advance

 

[cmndr_andi]

As I mentioned, even with sticks that have XMP you will still need to go into the bios to enable XMP (eXtreme Memory Profile). There is no way with current Intel hardware to buy some 1600MHz sticks and get them to run at 1600MHz out of the box.

The situation with H67 is exactly the same as Z68 - just make sure the particular H67 motherboard you are looking at supports XMP.

As for Z68 vs H67 - the Z68 has extra features over H67 apart from being able to overclock. Using "Lucid Virtu" you can use the Intel HD 3000 IGP for things like quick sync even if you install a discrete graphics card (with H67 the IGP is automatically turned off if you install a graphics card). Z68 also supports SSD caching - allowing you to run a small SSD alongside a HDD to greatly improve performance of the larger disk.

Personally I would go for something like this, it's Z68, a good price, a solid board and supports XMP. It also gives you the option to overclock in the future should you change your mind (it really is very simple and the performance gains are massive - 4.5GHz is pretty simple to achieve).

 

[Nightglow]

+1: Great board for the price..

Give us a budget for your board.

 

[TRACEY_BLAKE]

The situation with H67 is exactly the same as Z68 - just make sure the particular H67 motherboard you are looking at supports XMP.

As for Z68 vs H67 - the Z68 has extra features over H67 apart from being able to overclock. Using "Lucid Virtu" you can use the Intel HD 3000 IGP for things like quick sync even if you install a discrete graphics card (with H67 the IGP is automatically turned off if you install a graphics card). Z68 also supports SSD caching - allowing you to run a small SSD alongside a HDD to greatly improve performance of the larger disk.

1.My budget for a mobo is a max.of £130. I need to have SPDIF, DVI, HDMI, eSata, Firewire, onboard graphics & good audio. I have found a perfect spec H67 mobo in the Asus P8H67 M-Evo, so can anyone recommend an identical spec Z68 mobo please??

2. How can I tell by the mobo details whether or not it supports XMP? I've been looking at some Z68 boards ie the Asus P8Z68-V but I can't see if it supports XMP or not?? (Not sure if I will OC the RAM yet but might be nice to have the option-never done it before!).Also, it appears when reading the spec of this mobo that the 1600mhz ram is achievable without overclocking??

3. I've been told that for digital audio mixing & recording & video/photo editing that I will not need a dedicated graphics card. I'm not a gamer so therefore if I have no graphics card, will the "Lucid Virtu" be any benefit to me?? If so, please explain (sorry I'm newby).

4. Could someone explain please the reasoning behind an SSD with an HDD as I've no knowledge of SSD's. What is mean't by a scratch disk? (Sorry for ignorance!). I'm just trying to weigh up whether it is worth me spending an extra £30/£40 on a Z68 mobo rather than an H67? If the 'Lucid Virtu' is going to be of no benefit for what I will be doing & if running an SSD with HDD is of no benefit either than I can't justify spending the extra money...please explain/advise thanks.

 

[cmndr_andi]

1.My budget for a mobo is a max.of £130. I need to have SPDIF, DVI, HDMI, eSata, Firewire, onboard graphics & good audio. I have found a perfect spec H67 mobo in the Asus P8H67 M-Evo, so can anyone recommend an identical spec Z68 mobo please??

For identical spec (including firewire) this board fits the bill, but it's isn't cheap (£130). This board also supports XMP and 1600MHz RAM modules (as I mentioned before you will need to go into the BIOS to enable this).

One of the benefits that you may want to consider is that this board has a feature called "OC Genie" where with the press of one button on the board it automatically overclocks the CPU for you. It supposedly works very well and yields you a bunch of extra performance - and considering your CPU-heavy usage it should come in handy.

As for sound - these boards all tend to use the same hardware (Realtek ALC 892). If you are doing audio editing then it may be worth investing in a discrete sound card like this to pair up with your cans. Here is a review.

2. How can I tell by the mobo details whether or not it supports XMP? I've been looking at some Z68 boards ie the Asus P8Z68-V but I can't see if it supports XMP or not?? (Not sure if I will OC the RAM yet but might be nice to have the option-never done it before!).Also, it appears when reading the spec of this mobo that the 1600mhz ram is achievable without overclocking??

Looking at the spec of that motherboard - it does support XMP. However, it only seems to support memory speeds of 1066MHz or 1333MHz (and not 1600MHz). Perhaps with this board you can't overclock the memory controller on the CPU and run 1600MHZ modules.

3. I've been told that for digital audio mixing & recording & video/photo editing that I will not need a dedicated graphics card. I'm not a gamer so therefore if I have no graphics card, will the "Lucid Virtu" be any benefit to me?? If so, please explain (sorry I'm newby).

For digital audio work I believe you are quite correct, but for video editing graphics cards are increasingly being used to accelerate performance - especially Nvidia graphics cards (which support CUDA). If you do go down this road then you probably don't want to choose between sacrificing Quick Sync permanently and gaining CUDA (which you would have to do if you went for a H67 board and installed a graphics card). However, if you go for a Z68 board with Lucid Virtu then you can keep both if you install a graphics card (since this does a software work-around to keep the HD3000 active when a graphics card is installed - so you can still use quick sync).

4. Could someone explain please the reasoning behind an SSD with an HDD as I've no knowledge of SSD's. What is mean't by a scratch disk? (Sorry for ignorance!). I'm just trying to weigh up whether it is worth me spending an extra £30/£40 on a Z68 mobo rather than an H67? If the 'Lucid Virtu' is going to be of no benefit for what I will be doing & if running an SSD with HDD is of no benefit either than I can't justify spending the extra money...please explain/advise thanks.

An SSD with a HDD is "SSD Caching" or "Intel RST" - it uses the SSD as the cache for a larger (and slower) HDD, effectively preloading the important/most used files so you get a nice performance benefit over a regular HDD while not having to worry about the small storage capacity of using a SSD as a primary drive. Here is a review which further explains how it works and how well it performs.

A scratch disk is when photoshop uses a part of the hard disk as the memory if you run out - this can slow things down since HDDs are much slower than RAM. An SSD as a scatch disk would be a bit better - but it is still much slower than RAM and it is possible that the large number of writes would degrade the SSD performance. Ideally, just get lots of RAM if you are working on very large images - 16GB (4x4GB) is really cheap these days (£90) and would be worth getting it you think you will go over 8GB memory usage.

 

[TRACEY_BLAKE]

Thanks very much for all of your time & help with this, it's much appreciated as I'm a newby & slowly learning!!

For identical spec (including firewire) this board fits the bill, but it's isn't cheap (£130). This board also supports XMP and 1600MHz RAM modules (as I mentioned before you will need to go into the BIOS to enable this).

1. Thanks for the above link, just looked at the spec & it doesn't have eSata which I will need.

2. I can't see on the spec of the mobo where it says it supports XMP, where does it say this? Is XMP identified under "OC Genie 2"??

3. Can you tell me if the Asus P8Z68-V mobo is XMP compatible please? As this one does have eSata too. If it is XMP compatible, can you tell me how I identify this in the spec please??

For digital audio work I believe you are quite correct, but for video editing graphics cards are increasingly being used to accelerate performance - especially Nvidia graphics cards (which support CUDA). If you do go down this road then you probably don't want to choose between sacrificing Quick Sync permanently and gaining CUDA (which you would have to do if you went for a H67 board and installed a graphics card). However, if you go for a Z68 board with Lucid Virtu then you can keep both if you install a graphics card (since this does a software work-around to keep the HD3000 active when a graphics card is installed - so you can still use quick sync).

1. I was told that graphics cards don't have an affect on video editing, so can you explain what affect Nvidia CUDA has on video editing please?

2. If a graphics card does have a positive affect on video/photo editing then I like the idea of going for a Z68 mobo so that I have the choice of dedicated & quick sync!

An SSD with a HDD is "SSD Caching" or "Intel RST" - it uses the SSD as the cache for a larger (and slower) HDD, effectively preloading the important/most used files so you get a nice performance benefit over a regular HDD while not having to worry about the small storage capacity of using a SSD as a primary drive. Here is a review which further explains how it works and how well it performs.

A scratch disk is when photoshop uses a part of the hard disk as the memory if you run out - this can slow things down since HDDs are much slower than RAM. An SSD as a scatch disk would be a bit better - but it is still much slower than RAM and it is possible that the large number of writes would degrade the SSD performance. Ideally, just get lots of RAM if you are working on very large images - 16GB (4x4GB) is really cheap these days (£90) and would be worth getting it you think you will go over 8GB memory usage.

1. I can't seem to work out what is the best set up HDD wise for my digital audio & video/Photo editing! My head hurts!! Thanks for the link on SSD Caching, I think at the moment though (mainly cos of budget) that I will stick to using internal/external HDD's only. This leads me to my question: I don't know anything about RAID so at first I won't be using RAID (however in the future I may do, therefore I know for this I need the same GB for each HDD), with this in mind, am I best to use 2 internal HDD's (1 HDD as a back up) to start with or am I best to use 1 internal HDD & 1 external HDD for backup?? Please could you explain in lammens, thanks.

Thanks again for your help! Sorry for all the newby questions!

 

[cmndr_andi]

1. Thanks for the above link, just looked at the spec & it doesn't have eSata which I will need.

Good point, but using something like this (connected to one of the intel pch controller sata ii ports) in my experience is a better option than using a motherboard dedicated esata port controlled by an add-on-chip

2. i can't see on the spec of the mobo where it says it supports xmp, where does it say this? is xmp identified under "oc genie 2"??

aye, it doesn't say xmp on the spec, but it does say it in the motherboard manual.

Yes, if you are using XMP then OCgenie 2 shouldn't change it. With snady bridge the memory and CPU frequencies are not linked. When overclocking the BLCK (FSB) is not changed, it is just the individual CPU and memory multipliers that are changed.

3. Can you tell me if the Asus P8Z68-V mobo is XMP compatible please? As this one does have eSata too. If it is XMP compatible, can you tell me how I identify this in the spec please??

According to the spec page it it. To find this info you need to go to the manufacturer for each board as OCUK can't list all the spec or every porduct entry would be an essay.

As I mentioned above, a native eSATA port on the motherboard isn't a big deal - you would be better off going for the MSI board with the excellent auto-overclocking feature and high quality components and just use that £5 esata bracket.

1. I was told that graphics cards don't have an affect on video editing, so can you explain what affect Nvidia CUDA has on video editing please?

It depends on what software you are using, but most video editing software do use Graphics card (GPU) acceleration these days. In fact, on the Adobe Premiere Pro C5.5 website it lists the

Supported NVIDIA graphics cards for GPU acceleration

2. If a graphics card does have a positive affect on video/photo editing then I like the idea of going for a Z68 mobo so that I have the choice of dedicated & quick sync!

Exactly.

1. I can't seem to work out what is the best set up HDD wise for my digital audio & video/Photo editing! My head hurts!! Thanks for the link on SSD Caching, I think at the moment though (mainly cos of budget) that I will stick to using internal/external HDD's only. This leads me to my question: I don't know anything about RAID so at first I won't be using RAID (however in the future I may do, therefore I know for this I need the same GB for each HDD), with this in mind, am I best to use 2 internal HDD's (1 HDD as a back up) to start with or am I best to use 1 internal HDD & 1 external HDD for backup?? Please could you explain in lammens, thanks.

Thanks again for your help! Sorry for all the newby questions!

Ideally, you want a decent sized SSD as your primary disk (since they are so immensely fast and responsive), but if you are on a low budget that probably isn't possible. Failing that I would suggest running a RAID1 setup with a pair of fast 1TB drives like the Samsung F3. With RAID 1 the drives are mirrored - so if one drive fails then none of the data is lost, however this is not a backup since if something happens that kills both drives (eg a power cut, the PSU dying, sinkhole eats PC etc.) then you still lose all your data . Remember - for RAID to work you need two hard drives of identical model.

Then having an external HDD as a backup would be a good plan.

 

[TRACEY_BLAKE]

Good point, but using something like this (connected to one of the intel pch controller sata ii ports) in my experience is a better option than using a motherboard dedicated esata port controlled by an add-on-chip.

1. thanks for the above link, that's certainly solved my problem of having to find a mobo with esata, i'll buy myself one of these. out of interest, how is it better when connected to an intel pch controller sata ii rather than to a dedicated esata port controlled by an add-on-chip?

aye, it doesn't say xmp on the spec, but it does say it in the motherboard manual.

Yes, if you are using XMP then OCgenie 2 shouldn't change it. With snady bridge the memory and CPU frequencies are not linked. When overclocking the BLCK (FSB) is not changed, it is just the individual CPU and memory multipliers that are changed.

1. I'll make sure from now on I check the manufacturers website for the full spec of the mobo,thanks.

2. How safe is the "OC Genie 2" on the MSI mobo, will it OC your CPU to a safe & stable level or is there still a chance with this feature that the CPU could become damaged?

3. You have said that the BLCK (FSB) is not changed by the OC Genie, but what part of the CPU is changed along with the memory (sorry for newby questions!)?

As I mentioned above, a native eSATA port on the motherboard isn't a big deal - you would be better off going for the MSI board with the excellent auto-overclocking feature and high quality components and just use that £5 esata bracket.

1. Does the Asus P8Z68-V mobo have an auto-overclocking feature?

2. Does the Asus mobo have high quality components?

It depends on what software you are using, but most video editing software do use Graphics card (GPU) acceleration these days. In fact, on the Adobe Premiere Pro C5.5 website it lists the

1. Can you explain why video editing software needs GPU acceleration nowadays please? (i know nothing about GPU's). Just want to understand why I need a GPU for video editing? I should mention that the video editing I will be doing is nothing professional. only hobby. I don't know which video/photo editing software I will use yet, will need to shop around. As for digital audio editing & recording software, I will be using the new "Sonar X1 Producer".

Ideally, you want a decent sized SSD as your primary disk (since they are so immensely fast and responsive), but if you are on a low budget that probably isn't possible. Failing that I would suggest running a RAID1 setup with a pair of fast 1TB drives like the Samsung F3. With RAID 1 the drives are mirrored - so if one drive fails then none of the data is lost, however this is not a backup since if something happens that kills both drives (eg a power cut, the PSU dying, sinkhole eats PC etc.) then you still lose all your data . Remember - for RAID to work you need two hard drives of identical model.

Then having an external HDD as a backup would be a good plan.

1. It may take some time before I will run in RAID so am I best to just have 2 x internal HDD's (both same models & GB for when I run in RAID) & 1 x external HDD for now as a back up. If so, would you suggest that i only use one of the internal HDD's just for the OS & program files & the other internal HDD for storing all of my audio & video files? Is this the best way? Maybe later down the line I will invest in an SSD.