Intel Core i7 - Choosing the Best Memory Kit

[Unregistered]

Hello,

finally got it up and running. I had a dozen problems like a DOA graphics card, my UD5 not detecting correct bios settings and a broken CPU fan. Also my 920 is C0. And to top it all off I only got to order one Kingston kit as stock was down to the last one. But after ripping out half my hair building this system I am glad that I was spared the "will 12GB run at 1600Mhz" question ...
So for now it's just 6GB @ 1600Mhz 8-8-8-20 but it's running great. Maybe during next semester will I add one more kit, if I need it that is!

Thanks again for all your help Rob and Kougar!

Best regards,
Unregistered

 

[Rob Williams]

finally got it up and running. I had a dozen problems like a DOA graphics card, my UD5 not detecting correct bios settings and a broken CPU fan. Also my 920 is C0. And to top it all off I only got to order one Kingston kit as stock was down to the last one. But after ripping out half my hair building this system I am glad that I was spared the "will 12GB run at 1600Mhz" question

Ugh! I know that feeling... I have so many issues like that around here Glad you got the machine up and running though! I have a feeling you'll find 6GB to be more than sufficient. If not, I'd be quite surprised.

 

[Unregistered]

I think it would be interesting to do these same memory tests using finite element programs. A couple that come to mind are Star-CCM+ and Fluent, both of which are targeted toward fluid flow analysis. The meshing processes and the simulation itself are heavily memory intensive.

 

[Rob Williams]

I agree it might be interesting to look at those, but applications like those are far beyond the scope of our website. It might be interesting for interest's sake, but it wouldn't be relevant to our audience. I'm also willing to bet that it would take a while to even understand how to use such applications, much less benchmark them.

 

[Kougar]

I think it would be interesting to do these same memory tests using finite element programs. A couple that come to mind are Star-CCM+ and Fluent, both of which are targeted toward fluid flow analysis. The meshing processes and the simulation itself are heavily memory intensive.

I tend to agree, unless the CPU processing is extremely light (And from what I know of fluid dynamic simulations, protein simulations, etc) it just isn't. The CPU is still the processing bottleneck, and beyond a certain point faster memory isn't going to help appreciably as much as a faster processor would. I'm running 3.6 to 5GB sized protein simulations for Folding@home right now, and while tightening the memory or raising the bandwidth saves a few seconds it doesn't have as big an impact as you might think (or I would wish ).

 

[crowTrobot]

Wow this article is exactly what I need. I am building a new X58 system and the only part I need to buy is RAM and CPU Heatsink (but that can wait, I can use the stock one for now). Thanks!