Spec me some RAM.

InKursion · 31 Oct 2011 at 15:17

Hi guys,

I'm looking to upgrade from my dual-channel 4Gb DDR3 to an 8Gb DDR3 kit, because my BF3 loading times are shocking and I understand this is a cheaper (if not quite as effective) solution than buying a SSD hard-drive to load from. At the moment I have 4Gb with a DRAM freq of 720Mhz and an NB freq of around 2.3Ghz (whatever that means). It is plugged into a gigabyte p55-usb3 mobo w/ an intel i5 (clocked normally to around 3.6Ghz) and an AMD 6870. The RAM market seems to have exploded since I was last shopping around, so I'm completely confused by all the choice in 8Gb kits of all speeds and prices. I'm looking for something that will actually perform, and my budget is around £75. The main need though, of course, is that it will run stable on my system!

Ta

.

Surveyor · 31 Oct 2011 at 15:37

I couldn't say if 8GB will help or not but either of these will be fine:

Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit £42.98 This Week Only

Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit £43.99 This Week Only

InKursion · 31 Oct 2011 at 15:46

Thanks, and thanks for the quick response, too!

I've just opened up my case and the RAM inside is Corsair 1600Mhz. Would it be better for performance to add another 2x2Gb dual-channel kit in the other remaining slots, or to take out the current 4Gb and replace it with a 2x4Gb? I realise that if I purchase another 2x2Gb kit it will have to be the exact same RAM (just this will be cheaper).

edit: This is the exact RAM I am using currently:

http://www.google.co.uk/products/ca...a=X&ei=t8OuTrqYMYT28QOAtoy_Cw&ved=0CBwQ8wIwAA

I notice it is PC3-12800. Could I make the upgrade to PC3-14400+? Or would that make my system unstable? And, again, what are the performance increases like in comparison to adding another identical dual-channel kit? As you can tell RAM is an arcane magic to me. For what it's worth I cannot overclock my i5 safely to anything over 3.6Ghz, as my custom heatsink is a POS and no matter how many times I reseat it it just doesn't perform very well. Perhaps it is not worth getting the highest frequency RAM if my CPU must be kept at a safe speed?

SouthEastBlue · 31 Oct 2011 at 16:01

Using all the ram slots can mess with overclock stability, so it would always be preferable to have 2 x 4GB sticks rather than 4 x 2GB sticks. Just helps avoid any potential problems, not to say it would definitely cause them.

InKursion · 31 Oct 2011 at 16:03

That's good to know, cheers.

Surveyor · 31 Oct 2011 at 16:08

Do you need any further advice or are you just going to get a 2x4GB kit now?

InKursion · 31 Oct 2011 at 16:09

I'll get a 2x4Gb kit for sure... but what of the speed? Is it worth getting the top-frequency 1800Mhz stuff if my processor set-up can't pass the 4Ghz mark? On all my overclock tools my memory speed decreases quite dramatically as my CPU core speed does... currently around 1400Mhz, when it is 1600Mhz RAM.

Surveyor · 31 Oct 2011 at 16:27

At the moment I take it your processor is at 3.6GHz with a RAM speed of 720MHz (1440MHz effective).

The RAM speed will increase in speed in proportion to the processor speed if you overclock further.

If your processor overclocked to 4GHz (+11.1%) then the RAM would run at 1600MHz (+11.1%) which is the rated speed for the RAM I linked above.

Unless you have hopes of overclocking beyond 4GHz then there's nothing really to be gained by getting RAM faster than 1600MHz.

InKursion · 31 Oct 2011 at 16:48

Great, thanks, that's all I needed to know. I have a very temperamental i5 chip that just doesn't overclock very well, no matter how many times and in how many varying ways I fit the heatsink. Anything over 3.6Ghz tops the 76 degrees safety-limit on load!