upgrading to I7, quick memory question

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I am thinking of getting an I7 system but have a question on the memory. I am not planning on overclocking my CPU but want to know what the best memory to get is.

If I buy 1600mhz memory, does the motherboard have a separate memory controller so I can run @ 1600mhz without messing with the CPU speeds? or will I have to buy the standard 1333mhz memory.

Thx.
 
I bought that stuff the other day, and I've clocked my i7 to 3.8ghz for starters - apparently the bandwidth on the memory is so ample anyway you don't need mega fast stuff :)
 
Quick question regarding i7 setups (not getting one, just curious) - there was a lot of talk a while back on various sites and from some motherboard manufacturers about memory voltages. More specifically, they were claiming that the CPU's core voltage and memory voltage settings were linked in some way, so if you used RAM that required high volts you risked damaging your processor as a result. Is that still really the case? Just curious that's all.
 
Baically yes - and I'm going to be honest.....it makes my blood boil!!
I made the move to DDR3 quite some time ago, I own an X38 based system and I run DDR3 on this.
However as this is the "old style" DDR3 and requires voltages around the 1.9 - 2.0v it is officially incompatible with i7 based systems.

Intel state that running memory over the 1.5 - 1.6v that is supported by the i7 platform can result in perminant damage to your CPU.
So if you have older DDR3 modules you will want to run them at a lower voltage and thus speed will decrease.

I'm currently in the process of building an i7 based system and for safety I've had to replace the RAM as well.
 
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