PCFormat Forum Archive

ive just got a couple of q's about ram that ive been trying to figure out but all this research is making my head hurt so was wondering if anyone with some knowledge on the subject can help
1. corsair vengeance vs dominator wich is the better option and why
2. ram frequency: can the ram frequency be higher/lower than mobo frequency and will it have side effects
3.ram channels- is it right if i say the best way to get 16gb dual channel is 2x8gb (focus ram on only 2 slots) or 4x4gb(spread out among all 4 slots) what im getting at is it better to have only 2 slots ocupied in dual channel, 3 in tripple and 4 in quad if this gibberish makes sense to anyone please help

or am i just being an idiot and am just confusing myself

will i am wrote:corsair vengeance vs dominator wich is the better option and why

Looking at pure specs, Dominators are better
Vengeance is better value if you aren't going to OC your RAM

will i am wrote:can the ram frequency be higher/lower than mobo frequency and will it have side effects

wat.
If your board supports 800/1066/1333/1600 you should only be using that frequency of RAM.
If you plugged 1800's or 2133's in they MIGHT work at a lower frequency, but why would you even consider this?
Most mobo's give you some OC options with your ram, so you can change the frequency to whatever you can stably run.

will i am wrote: is it better to have only 2 slots ocupied in dual channel, 3 in tripple and 4 in quad

Yes.

thanx jam helps alot starting to feel like a kid on xmas eve pc is finally coming together slowly but in no rush waiting for ivy bridge

From what I have seen in the desktop environment Ivy Bridge isn't going to be that much faster then the socket 2011 Sandy's
They will annihilate everything else tho.

The notebook market that is going to see a huge benefit, that's for sure.

I'm also waiting for Ivy's release - if it brings the cost of 32nm chips down by a decent amount (say 20%) I'll still go with the old tech for my build

Ivy isn't faster but the power consumption is lower and believe heat to.

It's faster.
The 22nm architecture is not only smaller and more efficient, but they are using a new tri-gate system that boosts the performance even more...

High performance Sandy's with a lot of of cache can still keep up, but your mid-tiers and lower lose big time.

my head hurts

New tech faster.

Beer good. Buffy like beer.

would g skill give me a better price to performance ratio to corsiar

Ram doesn't give nearly as big performance gains as CPU, SSD or GPU, except if you have too little. If you have two systems, one with impressive heat sinks and running at 1800mhz and the other with naked RAM running at 1333mhz, you will only gain a few frames in games and not so you would even notice in normal gaming. Most RAM comes with lifetime warranties, so no worries about durability either, unless you choose to OC. Cheap naked RAM running at a given frequency is just as fast as expensive RAM running at the same.

So basically, for me anyway, the huge expense of getting expensive OC RAM vs cheap RAM is not worth the money. My suggestion is to buy 1600mhz RAM that you like the look of and will match the look of your mobo and such, irrespective of price, as you probably won't even know the difference between that and expensive OC RAM.

3 Things to take into account when looking at ram.

1 - Amount of ram. 2GB is the absolute bare minimum amount you should get these days. While Windows 7 can run on 1GB of ram you need 2GB for your office and other normal tasks to perform well. 4GB minimum if your looking at gaming on Windows 7. And finally 8GB of ram if you want to disable your page file and run every app from only your memory, giving you the best possible play experience.

2 - Ram speed. DDR3 comes in many flavours but 1333mhz is the standard that your ram will auto set to once installed. Getting 1600mhz ram and setting it to 1600mhz will decrease load times for many apps. Sadly no frame rate increase in games. Same with 1866mhz ram but now we move to the 3rd important part.

3 - Ram latency. Not sure what this is exactly. Something to do with cpu cycles to ram cycles. The lower the better. Infact a 9CL ram chip at 1600mhz is better than a 11CL ram chip at 1866mhz. This also factors in at how fast tasks gets done on your pc.

There isnt that much reason to go beyond 1600mhz as pricing start catching up.

its so anoying until ivy is out i can only guestimate what to go with the rest of the rig

trust me i know this is going to sound stupid but will ram marked tripple channel work on a dual channel mobo or do i have to buy dual ram for dual mobo or doesnt it really matter as long as i use 2 for dual 3 for trip and so on and ram compatable with mobo

As long as all your sticks are identical you can run them in dual or tri, assuming your mobo supports it. You don't have to buy kits, so long as you buy identical sticks.

ok cool thanx saw a ram kit 2x4gb but the note said trip channel just messed with my head a bit