Memory for my Asus Maximus Formula OR Upgrade?

[BoySCouT]

Hello Everyone,

It's been a while since I have posted. I have always found this a useful site to obtain information... thanks in advance!

Here's what I need help with... I currently have 4 GB of Corsair TWIN2X2048-8500C5 Kit DDR2-1066 XMS2-8500 Memory in my board. I have read that this board (X38) will support DDR3. If so I am wondering if I could upgrade the memory to DDR3, but not sure how much it will hold (8GB)? Not sure it's worth the investment either. Which put me to thinking... is it time to upgrade? This all started after I received COD: Ghost for Christmas.

I am running an Intel Q6600 overclocked to 3.4 GHz (using a Tuniq Tower 120 to air cool), 4 GB RAM, ATI 6950 in CrossFire, 500 GB Seagate HD, Corsair TX850 PSU, Windows 7 Ultimate, and Antec P180 case. Unit is over 6 years old and has served me well. (Did I just answer my own question?)

I have also been researching new components for the last 2 weeks (had to re-educate myself on the newest hardware). Thinking about doing this...

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell 3.5GHz LGA 1150

MB: ASUS MAXIMUS VI HERO LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

CPU Cooling: CORSAIR Hydro Series H80i High Performance Water/Liquid CPU Cooler

Memory: (This is tough for me... recommendations?)
G.SKILL Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C7D-16GTX $170 7-8-8-24

CORSAIR Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 Desktop Memory Model CMY16GX3M2A1866C9R (Red) $199 9-10-9-27

CORSAIR Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMY16GX3M2A1600C9R Red) 9-9-9-24 $179

CORSAIR Dominator Platinum 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMD16GX3M2A1600C9 $240 9-9-9-24

SSD (for OS): SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD256BW 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
OR
Corsair Force Series GS CSSD-F240GBGS-BK 2.5" 240GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

SATA Hard Drive (for data): Western Digital WD Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

PSU: Can I continue to use my Corsair TX850?

GPU: Planning on using the 6950 CrossFire

I'd be interested in your thoughts, suggestions and recommendations. Thank you.

 

[Optix]

Alright, I love these threads! Let's get started!

CPU - a total winner, nobody will dispute that.
Motherboard - you could probably save yourself some $ and put it elsewhere if you needed, unless you absolutely have to have a "gamer" branded board. The MAXIMUS series is an overpriced, but solid group of boards.
Cooling - I love my Corsair all-in-one liquid coolers, and have spent some time with the H80i. It's awesome.
Memory - $240 is a ton of money to drop on some sticks (C9, 1600mhz is not worth that price tag), so I'd say go with any of the top three listed, even though I don't care for the look of the heatspreaders on the G.Skill.
SSD - I don't have any experience with Samsung drives, but Corsair is solid as always. 240GB+ is a lot of room for your OS, so I'm assuming that you're like me and will install select games on it.
PSU - The TX850 has more than enough juice to run your system.
GPU - 6850 in Crossfire will chew up any game out there, so no worries there either.

Good looking build over all, and if you pull the trigger on it, the difference will be like night and day. You'll love it!

***EDIT: You can save some extra cash on your memory as well. I jumped on Newegg.com and had a look at some 16GB kits with the same frequency, times and lifetime warranty for $135.

 

[BoySCouT]

Thanks for the info Optix. You've given me some things to think about. What is a good size for the SSD if I plan on only having the OS on it, with out overkill? I agree with you on the memory. I like Corsair, but it is pricey. Do you remember what brand the $135 is?

 

[Rob Williams]

Apologies for the slow response here BoySCouT, I've been out of tune with the forums lately :S

I'd recommend getting a 120GB SSD if you're not planning to install games on it. After Windows 7 / 8 is installed, that'll take about 30 GB. Another number of GBs will be taken up due to hibernation, which I recommend disabling unless you actually use it. You could also move your page file to another drive if you have ample amounts of room. You don't really want to max out your SSD just for the sake of it. I generally only have half my SSD full (I only keep my MMOs installed on it games-wise).

For RAM, always go with whatever offers the best blend of speed and timings and of course price. For DDR3-1600, CAS 8 is the max I ever take, although it's hard to resist the higher latencies when the RAM costs so much less. Almost makes me want to do an article comparing 1600 kits @ 8 - 11 CAS latencies...

I have no idea what kit Optix was referring to unfortunately.

 

[Optix]

I believe the $135 kit was by Crucial, which had Micron chips. Back when I first started getting into overclocking, Crucial Ballistix where all the rage because the chips that were used were such high quality and allowed for (at the time) out of this world frequencies.

As for a solid state drive, I'm running a 120GB drive right now for my OS and select games. I'm sitting with about 28GB of free space with all of my usual applications including Adobe Photoshop CC, Borderlands 1 and 2, Battlefield Bad Company 2, and Starbound installed, as well as a certain beta that I'm not supposed to mention. I also had the Elder Scrolls beta installed up until last week, which left me at about 6GB free.

I'm a relatively light gamer compared to some though, so your needs might be different.

Rob is right on the money though. 120GB drives seem to be the sweet spot in the SSD market. Pair that up with a 2TB drive for general storage, and/or games where uber fast load times aren't required, and you'll be all set.

 

[BoySCouT]

I think I'm going to go with the 256 GB Samsung 840 Pro and I already ordered a WD Black 1 TB drive for storage.

 

[Optix]

Atta boy! The difference will be like night and day.

I'd never be able to go back to a mechanical drive for my OS given the number of times I reboot.

Waiting for the HTPC to boot up is like a special kind of torture for me, but hopefully I can fix that soon.