Overclocked i5 6500 with 3000MHz RAM build

[Ryan0r]

Hello all.

Upgrade time.

Although the overclocked 8Pack 6400 bundle looks tasty (was very close to ordering), the following article on Eurogamer got me thinking.

EG article and in particular, this video.

Richard argues that overclocking the 6500 and pairing it with 3000MHz-rated memory on a z170 board will happily hit 4.5GHz, and with the addition of the faster RAM, the real-world gaming performance is brilliant for the money (seeing around 20% gains in some cases).

OcUK's overclocked bundles use 2400MHz RAM. The above makes the case that 3000MHz sticks make a huge difference.


Do we reckon it's worth shelling out extra for the parts below (faster RAM, double the amount of RAM, faster CPU), if these performance gains are to be had? For £400 this looks like a pretty future-proof and capable upgrade.


Thoughts very welcome.


6500 and 3000MHz RAM:

• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C15 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B30= £99.95
• 1 x Intel Core i5-6500 3.20GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail= £179.99
• 1 x Asus Z170-E Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £113.99

Total: £404.43
(includes shipping: £10.50)
​

versus​

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6400 8Pack bundle:

• 1 x 8Pack Approved - Intel Core i5 6400 @ 4.4GHz Overclocked Quad Core Gaming Bundle = £340.96
  • Memory:Kingston Fury Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR4 PC4-21300C15 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (HX426C15FBK2/8)
  • CPU Cooler:Alpenföhn Brocken 2 CPU Cooler

Total: £340.96
(includes shipping: £0.00)
​

 

[stulid]

The OcUK bundle is 2666Mhz RAM (unless you just typed 2400Mhz by mistake), speed makes little difference but I will agree that with pricing on 3000Mhz being so low, why the hell not get the faster ram.

 

[Ryan0r]

That bundle is yep, other OC'd bundles appear to use 2400MHz.

What do you mean by 'speed makes little difference'? RAM speeds?

The testing in this video is very interesting. (stock and slower RAM vs OC'd and fast RAM)

 

[stulid]

RAM speed makes little overall difference, but at the prices of the 3000Mhz kits you may as well get it.

Looking at that video the 2666 vs 3000 isnt huge on GTAV but better on Wither 3, then back to a small gain on assassin creed.

There are other sites that have tested skylake ram speed such as - http://www.legitreviews.com/ddr4-me...nding-the-best-ddr4-memory-kit-speed_170340/5

 

[Ryan0r]

Thanks for the link. Did some further reading to find more recent tests, very interesting. I wonder, come DirectX 12, if applications and games will make better use of the increased memory speeds...

It certainly seems to be the case that the bigger on-processor caches we have now mitigates the need for fast memory speeds, so maybe overkill for now. But, as you say, the price difference is pretty minimal so why not.

 

[Ryan0r]

Can I have some recommendations for a graphics card to go with this please? Monitor is 1080p, unlikely to go over that any time soon. And I'm jumping ship to nVIDIA.

970 4GB? Would a 960 be pointless? It's a £100 difference. Is 4GB wasted at 1080p or will I still see benefits on new games with lots of high res textures?

 

[P4Clock]

on the games mentioned i would think you want GTX970 or R9 390

 

[Ryan0r]

The games stulid mentioned were relating to the benchmark videos. I'm aiming at decent performance for The Division though (the recommended specs of which are pretty terrifying) and a fair amount of longevity, unless it's sensible to get something reasonably capable now (sub-£150) and upgrade later when games demand more horsepower and RAM...

 

[stulid]

For £150ish you have a the R9 380 which is a capable card for 1080P.

 

[Nate75]

If it's of any use fyi I bought the bundle mentioned above with 16GB

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/8pac...locked-quad-core-gaming-bundle-bu-050-as.html

HW Monitor tells me its sat at 3505MHz when I open up 100 Firefox tabs!

 

[Nate75]

Actually I'm not sure if my post was entirely helpful as CPU-Z shows the RAM running at 1304MHz which you double so it must run at ~2600MHz?

How confusing lol!

 

[8 Pack]

This is 2608mhz RAM speed.