OK, so seriously, wtf is up with this stuff? i ask because i am looking at memory for my summer build (hopefully q6600, i680, dx10 based), and am seeing a lot of that stuff being bandied about, such as on EVGA's memory compatibility list for their i680 board. honestly, apart from the EPP chip, does it make any difference? i was considering buying 2 sets of this stuff to make 4gb overall. i will probably end up buying 2gb modules in the end because this is a few months away still and availablility will be higher. i honestly don't really plan on going SLi in the short term, but i will be looking to overclock a reasonable amount on air. words, pls?
Good question fod, i'm going with the ocz 8500 sli-ready stuff and would similarly like to know. I am not chosing it becayse its SLi though, just simple bang for buck
I've got the ocz-8500 stuff purely because of the price at £150 at the time it was a steal, but there is no difference tbh its just all marketing, and tested to run in a sli enviroment and cost a bit more to boot.
ok, cool. another question- on an i680 borad does RAM speed make as huge a difference in performance given i can decouple the two FSBs? i.e, can i get away with being a cheapass and getting 6400 ram rather than going all out and getting 8500? i really would rather spend the money on 4gb of 'good' stuff than 2gb of expensive stuff.
Unless you're after prodious overclocking results, no, it won't make that much difference. It'll make some difference, certainly, but not a great deal, and if you want 4GB, go for it.
interesting, thanks, that's what i thought. now to wait and see what happens come May (ideally the q6600 will have dropped to e6600 price by then!)
SLI memory is pointless. It's just an enhanced SPD (pretty much). You can achieve the same results in ~ 20 secs by setting timings manually in bios. Not worth the premium in price if there is one.
I have the Corsair Dominator 8500 and let me tell you playing Vanguard or Ghost recon set the timing to 800 (standard 6xxx) speed and you can see the hickups in the game. But turn on the SLI memory and with out ocing it its like smooth sailing. Your spending big bucks on a good system might as well spend the coin on the ram too. Ocing ram is not a great performance gain in the first place but if the 680i will set the speed to 1066 out the gate and the rams designed for it, then why take a chance of the ram failing due to ocing it?
AFAIK SLI memory gives you a free overclock. So the modules are just rated higher. I would think you would get more performance with more RAM than faster RAM.
or you could do both only reason SLI EPP is helpful is if you want to keep a system under warranty but still achieve the same benefits of a low/medium overclock.
if i thought it was actually worth spending £800 on memory i wouldn't be asking this question diminishing returns anybody?
If you have the skill to OC it yourself there is no real reason for the SLI memory. It was designed as a performance booster for those who didn't want to risk OCing the system themselves, so unless you're worried about voiding the warranty by OCing I'd go for the non-SLI
SLI Memory is more of a 'stamp of approval' or a 'seal of compatibility' than anything else. Basically, Nvidia tests the memory to its specifications and essentially guarantees a setting that it'll run at in any Nvidia SLI certified motherboard that supports EPP (nForce 590 SLI and newer). Graphics cards and even power supplies also go through this kind of stringent testing, as Nvidia is very keen to protect the relatively strong 'SLI' brand by ensuring users don't have masses of issues when they're setting up a new SLI system. Obviously, nothing is always problem free, but at least the company is taking steps in the right direction to ensure other components are stamped as compatible with its products.
SLI certification for memory just means that they definately work with SI mobos. Some memory, for several reeasons, just don't work, and can have stability issues, start up, shut down issues. Wierd, but true.
