Intel Core i7 - Choosing the Best Memory Kit

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

You should check out our review on that motherboard... specifically the overclocking page:

http://techgage.com/article/asus_p6t...palm_edition/8

Hopefully that will help.

Hey,
thanks for your answer!
Do you think it's necessary to set any voltages higher,if i like the cpu to work@3,6ghz?Is it dangerous for CPU to clock so high?
I use Artic Silver 5 and the new noctua CPU cooler.
Which settings would you change?
Do you think i can try this configuration without death of CPU?:
BLCK:166
Memory Multiplier 8x
Voltages@ standard

Greets

sascha

[Rob Williams]

Well, as mentioned on that page I linked to, I didn't have to increase the voltages, except for the CPU, and even then, it's nowhere near a dangerous level. The only voltage I changed was the CPU, which I set to 1.2875v. Other than that, everything else was left to Auto.

Your CPU will be safe, but you might want to run a tool like CoreTemp to make sure that it doesn't overheat. It's hard to say what's a safe range for this chip, but if you have a decent CPU cooler, you're probably going to be fine.

For 3.6GHz though, you'll need a higher Base Clock. 166 would give you 3.32GHz... still nice.

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

Well, as mentioned on that page I linked to, I didn't have to increase the voltages, except for the CPU, and even then, it's nowhere near a dangerous level. The only voltage I changed was the CPU, which I set to 1.2875v. Other than that, everything else was left to Auto.

Your CPU will be safe, but you might want to run a tool like CoreTemp to make sure that it doesn't overheat. It's hard to say what's a safe range for this chip, but if you have a decent CPU cooler, you're probably going to be fine.

For 3.6GHz though, you'll need a higher Base Clock. 166 would give you 3.32GHz... still nice.

That means that it is quiet impossible for me to use the RAM with its full Bandwidth and clock the CPU@3,6Ghz?My RAM is 6GB-Triple-Kit Corsair TR3X6G1333C9 (1333).

[Rob Williams]

From what I recall, the minimum memory multiplier available on Core i7 is 8x, so that would require a memory overclock of DDR3-1440. If the memory can support an overclock like that, then it should work fine. If it doesn't, stock speed (DDR3-1333) will still give you a great CPU clock-speed of 3.32GHz.

Basically, you're going to be pushing your memory as high as it can go in order to achieve a higher CPU clock-speed, so you have nothing to worry about with regards to bandwidth.

Thank you Rob for your informative article. In light of what was mentioned though, I am deciding between a couple of things here. I'll most likely be overclocking my 920 to about 3.2-3.4ghz (I'm sure the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme cooler should suffice), but I'm having difficulty choosing the right RAM because I get thrown off by the latency and voltage. Which would you recommend for desktop applications/gaming etc?

Mushkin 3x2GB DDR3-1333 6-6-6-18 @ 1.65v
or
Corsair 3x2GB DDR3-1333 9-9-9-24 @ 1.5v

As I'm a beginner with all of this, I'm not sure whether upping the voltage with the Corsair kit in the P6T mobo to 1.65v would mean 6-6-6-18 latency as well? Surely Corsair should be able to defeat a company as inferior as Mushkin, no? Please give me your thoughts. Thank you.

[Rob Williams]

If price isn't a huge issue, then I'd get the Mushkin kit, without question. There's a rather significant difference between 6-6-6 and 9-9-9, although it might not be seen in all things. You would see the difference if you compared the same timings in certain kinds of multi-media applications, though. It'd be a little different if it was 7-7-7, but 9-9-9 is too loose for my liking.

"I'm not sure whether upping the voltage with the Corsair kit in the P6T mobo to 1.65v would mean 6-6-6-18 latency as well?"

Not at all... it's dependant on the memory chips. The best chips go into the kits with the tighter timings, so on that 9-9-9 kit, chances are it'd be difficult to hit even 8-8-8. Hope that helps.

Thank you very much. I'll be going with the Mushkin then.

Hey!
Here I'm again.
My new hardware is now installed it consists of:
i7 920
1TB Samsung SpinPoint
GTX 280
Corsair XMS3 6GB Kit DDR3 PC3-12800 (TR3X6G1600C9) 1600
Noctua NH-U12P SE 1366+ArticSilver 5
NzxT Hush
Asus P6T Deluxe

Do you think i can try to OC@3,8Ghz?This would be quite perfect RAM(8x190=1520) and very nice 3,8Ghz.
Do i have to increase the voltages to a dangerous level?
Which settings would you suggest according to my hardware?

Thank you!
Merry Christmas@all

hi,

trying to absorb all the info on i7 but not really a techie. so if i get just 3gb of ddr3 will that be fine enough to run photoshop and a low end studio recording program like sonar. well I know it will run, but well enough take advantage of i7 ability versus my old computer pentium 4. after reading the original article and looking at the tests it seems like 3gb was not really that much lower in performance except for the most extreme uses.

thanks.

Msongs aka unregistered

[Rob Williams]

Hi MSongs:

If money isn't a huge concern, I'd recommend going with the 6GB, simply because it offers a little more freedom than 3GB, even if you might not notice a difference in most scenarios. Vista as a whole takes up a fair amount of RAM, and so would Photoshop, so with that scenario, you aren't leaving much free. If you really want to save cash, go with 3GB, but if you don't mind splurging a little now to save later, it might be a good idea to get a ~$200 6GB kit now. If you go 3GB now, you might want 6GB down the road, so this way, you'd be covered.

Also note that Photoshop is RAM-heavy, especially if you have a lot of projects open. When I create graphs for our reviews, it hovers around 800MB, but it might not for you... so you might want to see what your typical RAM usage would be. In your case though, if you do heavy work in PS, I'd recommend getting more RAM for the sake of space, but also ram with the best available timings (DDR3-1333 7-7-7, or around there), as image manipulation applications can benefit from the tighter timings.

If this answer doesn't make any sense, let me know and we can work out a solution for you.

[saschikarl]

Hey,
now i like to go for 3,8Ghz

Do you think i can use tis configuration(first to see if it is stable)
QPI:1,35V
LLC=ON
DRAM Voltage:1,65V
CPU Voltage:1,35V
RAM@1333
BLCK:19x200

What would you try?

System:
Asus P6T Deluxe
Corsair XMS3 DIMM Kit 6GB PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24
I7 920
Samsung 1TB 32MB Cache
Noctua NH-U12P

Thank you!

Greets

[saschikarl]

@rob

help meeee

[Rob Williams]

You don't need to ask for allowance to test out new settings... half of the fun of overclocking is to just apply a setting and see what works. 3.8GHz might very-well work, but it'd be a tough one. Those settings you show there are fine... if it's stable at that, I sure wouldn't complain. Our chip wouldn't get that high, though.

[saschikarl]

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

You don't need to ask for allowance to test out new settings... half of the fun of overclocking is to just apply a setting and see what works. 3.8GHz might very-well work, but it'd be a tough one. Those settings you show there are fine... if it's stable at that, I sure wouldn't complain. Our chip wouldn't get that high, though.

But I'm afraid of killing the cpu ;-)(with so high settings)

Anyway,I'll try it ,-)

[Rob Williams]

Haha. It will take a LOT to hurt your processor, especially if you keep to reasonable settings. I wouldn't recommend going over 1.40v on the CPU... just to be safe. The temps on i7 can get pretty ridiculous, and adding voltage is just going to make it worse.