Which RAM for i5 build?

Monkey Puzzle

Monkey Puzzle

Monkey Puzzle

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Hello all, please can you give me some advice about what RAM to get to go with overclocking an EVGA classified and i5 750: I was thinking of either

Patrtiot G Series Sector 5 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C9 2000MHz Dual Channel (PGV34G2000ELK) [PGV34G2000ELK] £115.98

or

Patriot Sector 5 Viper II 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-16000 2000MHz Dual Channel + 3D Mark Vantage (PVV34G2000LLKB) [PVV34G2000LLKB] £121.99

or

Patriot Sector 5 Viper II 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-12800 1600MHz Dual Channel + 3D Mark Vantage (PVV34G1600LLKB) [PVV34G1600LLKB] - 7-7-7-20 @1600mhz £82.76

or

Corsair Dominator 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMD4GX3M2A1600C8) [CMD4GX3M2A1600C8] 8-8-8-24 @1600mhz £132.99


Am I missing something - seems like the Patriot sector 5 1600mhz 7-7-7--20 stuff is the best value and ample for overclocking headroom - am I likely to be limited by any of these kits overclocking-wise? I was under the impression that 1600mhz memory is more than enough headroom for overclocking. They'll be passively cooled in a zero-fan, open-sided case (see my sig) - anyone think there'll be heat issues?

Is it worth going for some of the more expensive kits - am I likely to see much difference, or are they just for people with money to burn?
 
Youve caught my eye with that 7-7-7-20 patriot at £82, I was about to order the XMS3 on this week only at 85 but the better timings for slightly less money is pretty tempting. I would be interested in any experiences anyone has too.
 
Went for the Patriot 2000mhz 8-8-8-24 for £123 in the end. Seem to get to around 2130mhz ish at stock volts and 8-8-8-24 from the reviews I was reading. Hope the heatspreaders work okay - not going to have any fans on them, or in the case for that matter...
 
Do they seem ok quality wise? I think i might go for the 7-7-7-20s above as I'm not going to want to push it past 1600MHz
 
I'm also deciding what ram to go for with i5 at the moment. I was definitely going to get this (when it comes in stock..)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-037-GS

But the i5 only supports up to 1333mhz? This ram does 2000 at 1.65 volts, which is fine for intel's spec, but would I have to do some serious ram overclocking to get to 2000mhz? Is it even possible?

If not, the patriot sector 5 looks great. Am I right in thinking the Viper II is better than the G series, as the latency is 7-7-7-20 rather than 9-9-9-24?
 
Personally id go for this stuff G.Skill DDR3 PC3-12800 ECO Series if your motherboard is on G.Skills aproved list, runs cooler then most memory, and also overclocks extremly well too
 
I ended up going for this :)

Patriot Sector 5 Viper II 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-12800 1600MHz Dual Channel + 3D Mark Vantage (PVV34G1600LLKB) [PVV34G1600LLKB] - 7-7-7-20 @1600mhz £82.76

Hopefully it'll be allright. I'm most worried about the elevated Ramsinks getting in the way of my cooler :p

EDIT: Apparently my order hasn't been shipped because the ram is out of stock, despite it stil saying there's 10+... Going to change it to the Corsair, unless there's something better for the price. The Corsair will be fine with i5 right?
 
Last edited:
ghop said:
But the i5 only supports up to 1333mhz? This ram does 2000 at 1.65 volts, which is fine for intel's spec, but would I have to do some serious ram overclocking to get to 2000mhz? Is it even possible?
Click to expand...

Memory controller runs at the CPU base clock (= FSB) frequency.

i5 runs at 133MHz (x20 CPU multiplier = 2.66GHz), and has memory multipliers x6, x8, x10. Therefore max memory speed is 133 x 10 = 1333MHz. Core i7 has additional x12 memory multiplier so supports 1600MHz.

However, CPU base clock can be increased: if you get an i5 up to 200MHz, memory will run at maximum 200 x 10 = 2000MHz.

Quite a few people seem to run the Core i5 at 160 x 16 (= 2.56GHz) to run memory at 1600MHz. Although the CPU isn't 'overclocked' as such, the base clock frequency obviously is.
 
ghop said:
Thanks. If my i5 is overclocked to 4ghz, what is the lowest speed the RAM can possibly be?
Click to expand...

Whatever your base clock is, x6. At 200Mhz x 20 (= 4GHz) for instance, slowest memory would be 200 x 6 = 1200 MHz. I would imagine you'll hit the CPU limit before getting too fast for the memory.

I can't really say as I've never tried overclocking my computer, or have any need for it as everything runs just fine for me.
 
Thanks :) Yeah, I just wanted to check that it didn't go above 1600 as I'm never too keen on overclocking the ram for a few reasons.
 
Having looked into it further it appears the Patriot ram isn't really 7-7-7-20 , those specs are its secondary XMP profile which requires 1.9v. At the normal 1.65v its 8-8-8-24 which is a little less impressive.
 
WILD9 said:
Having looked into it further it appears the Patriot ram isn't really 7-7-7-20 , those specs are its secondary XMP profile which requires 1.9v. At the normal 1.65v its 8-8-8-24 which is a little less impressive.
Click to expand...

That's actually a bit of a relief! The Corsair I changed to was a few quid more expensive and I was thinking that I paid more for less, but tbh, I'd much rather have Corsair with a normal sized ramsink which is 9-9-9-24 than patriot with the stupid elevated one at 8-8-8-24.
 
ghop said:
That's actually a bit of a relief! The Corsair I changed to was a few quid more expensive and I was thinking that I paid more for less, but tbh, I'd much rather have Corsair with a normal sized ramsink which is 9-9-9-24 than patriot with the stupid elevated one at 8-8-8-24.
Click to expand...

I got the Corsair on 'This Week Specials' for a new i5 build which I have just finished. All running at stock, not bothering even trying to overclock, running sweet and cool with stock cooler on i5 750 :D
 
Pretty shameful to advertise the Patriot Ram at 1600MHz 7-7-7-20 when you can't acheive this without over-volting the P55/core system. They should advertise the 8-8-8-24 @1.65V, and 7-7-7-20 @1.9V as seperate XMP profiles :(
 
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