Associate
- Joined
- 7 Sep 2010
- Posts
- 531
I currently have 8gb (2x4gb) 1600C9 Vengeance 1.5v (Blue, but AFAIK the colour makes no difference) and 2 free DIMM slots. I'm looking to upgrade to 16gb as it is seriously cheap - I know this is overkill for a Z68/2500K system mainly used for gaming, but I intend to use it for VMware and RAMdisk later. But I have a few options/questions :
1) Should I get another 2x4gb kit to give 4x4gb, or get 2x8gb?
I can use the old 2x4gb in another machine, so it wouldn't be wasted. 8gb sticks are significantly more expensive (and generally C10), but I've read that populating all four slots can 'stress' the IMC. This seems naff, surely the memory controller supplied should be able to handle the 4 slots supplied
Or does it just mean that overclocking potential is reduced? [Mobo is a Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H, so not a great overclocker to start with, and only 7-phase VRMs 
]
2) Will using both DDR channels reduce memory performance?
I won't be overclocking the memory (probably), just sticking to XMP/1600C9. I'd rather avoid 8gb sticks due to price/worse timings.
3) Should I consider ultra-low voltage (1.35v) RAM?
I can only find this as 2x4gb kits (Arctic White), but it's not much more than 1.5v low-profile (Black/Blue). I would need LP kits to fit under heatsink (212+ push/pull). I guess you can't mix 1.35v/1.5v so I'd need 2 kits (4x4gb), but this would still be much cheaper than 2x8gb.
But what are the benefits of ULV? Does it run that much cooler/lower power? (Is RAM temperature/power consumption significant anyway??) Or is it just better for overclocking (which I probably won't bother with)?
I can't see RAM getting much cheaper (famous last words), so I'd like to upgrade soon.
Ideally I'd like to get to 4x4gb (as this would be cheapest), but I've heard of a few people having problems using all 4 DIMM slots - is this typical? Or only an issue if overclocking?? Or not a problem at all if using good RAM???
1) Should I get another 2x4gb kit to give 4x4gb, or get 2x8gb?
I can use the old 2x4gb in another machine, so it wouldn't be wasted. 8gb sticks are significantly more expensive (and generally C10), but I've read that populating all four slots can 'stress' the IMC. This seems naff, surely the memory controller supplied should be able to handle the 4 slots supplied
Or does it just mean that overclocking potential is reduced? [Mobo is a Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H, so not a great overclocker to start with, and only 7-phase VRMs ]2) Will using both DDR channels reduce memory performance?
I won't be overclocking the memory (probably), just sticking to XMP/1600C9. I'd rather avoid 8gb sticks due to price/worse timings.
3) Should I consider ultra-low voltage (1.35v) RAM?
I can only find this as 2x4gb kits (Arctic White), but it's not much more than 1.5v low-profile (Black/Blue). I would need LP kits to fit under heatsink (212+ push/pull). I guess you can't mix 1.35v/1.5v so I'd need 2 kits (4x4gb), but this would still be much cheaper than 2x8gb.
But what are the benefits of ULV? Does it run that much cooler/lower power? (Is RAM temperature/power consumption significant anyway??) Or is it just better for overclocking (which I probably won't bother with)?
I can't see RAM getting much cheaper (famous last words), so I'd like to upgrade soon.
Ideally I'd like to get to 4x4gb (as this would be cheapest), but I've heard of a few people having problems using all 4 DIMM slots - is this typical? Or only an issue if overclocking?? Or not a problem at all if using good RAM???