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Hardware The Best Memory for Sandy Bridge

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by arcticstoat, 11 Jan 2011.

  1. arcticstoat

    arcticstoat Minimodder

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  2. wyx087

    wyx087 Homeworld 3 is happening!!

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    1600MHz CL9 is recommended again (previous was Lynnfield). this seems to be the real sweet spot for DDR3.

    £100 for 2x4GB 1600MHz CL9 is the best buy at the moment for all Sandy bridge builders. :)
     
  3. xaser04

    xaser04 Ba Ba Ba BANANA!

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    When you consider memory prices and the relevant performance (where I doubt in the real world you would see any meaningful difference between 1600Mhz and 2133Mhz memory beyond absolute numbers in a benchmark) it is clear to see that you are better off spend your money on more memory rather than "faster" memory.

    I am still in two minds though whether 4GB is enough for my new SB build or whether I should stump up to 8GB.
     
  4. Boscoe

    Boscoe Electronics extraordinaire.

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    I haven't looked at getting a new build for ages but now only just realised how much memory prices has now come down.
     
  5. Floyd

    Floyd Wire Twister

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    Nice to know I can use the DDR3 from my current 775 rig :)
    4 gigs of DDR3 1600Mhz ram! Gskill black Pi's
     
  6. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    What voltage though, Floyd?
     
  7. leexgx

    leexgx CPC hang out zone (i Fix pcs i do )

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    I would get 8gb unless you all ready had 2gb ddr3 dimms before

    but that's me as I have seen upto 4gb of RAM use on my system from time to time on my i7 920 3x2gb

    nice review thought 1600 RAM seems best fit.
     
  8. Hakuren

    Hakuren What's a Dremel?

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    Unless you running plenty of stuff in the memory (background jobs) 4GB is plenty in today home-gaming-PC. And with 8GB you should abandon pagefile altogether.
     
  9. Xir

    Xir Modder

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    I must have missed this.

    SandyBridge needs 1,15V memory?

    All I see in store is "Normal" memory @ 1,9V
    And "Low Voltage" modules @ 1,55-1,75V
     
  10. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    I run out of 4GB regularly tbh. Throw in a dozen photos into Photoshop when MSN and Firefox are running and that's it, all gone. With just Firefox, a few widgets and MSN open I've 'only' got 2.3GB free.

    Xir - memory brands are trying to make out they are "low voltage" when "normal" voltage of DDR3 is 1.5-1.65V

    Memory brands categorize their voltage levels often as follows:

    Low voltage - 1.65V
    Very low voltage - 1.5V
    Ultra low voltage - 1.25-1.35V

    No memory modules these days should be listed over 1.65V - all ICs are sold at 1.5V or below if they are 3xnm class. The reference to "normal" DDR3 voltage stems back to its introduction 4 years ago, when it was hitting 1.8-2.0V but it's completely redundant factor now.

    SB CPUs need sub 1.65V, just like Lynnfield and Nehalem so any memory since then will work, although BIOS' of today are being optimised for memory IC that's just recently launched, as they are expecting the two to sell together.
     
  11. Xir

    Xir Modder

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    For instance:
    1,65V 8GB-Kit Corsair DDR3 PC1600 CL9 Dominator ~130€
    1,5V 8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz CL9 ~105€
    1,5V 8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz CL8 ~135€

    Ah I get it...the difference between the CPU voltage @1,15 and the Memory Voltage shouldn't be larger than 0,5V, which makes 1,65V the limit.
    riiiight.
     
    Last edited: 11 Jan 2011
  12. wyx087

    wyx087 Homeworld 3 is happening!!

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    i won't be so sure with that.

    i have ran out of memory on my 8GB system, when trying to transcode videos while play MW2, with a VMware of my project in the background. so page file is still needed.

    8GB should be standard memory ammount for Sandy bridge. i think Intel should have restricted so that anything less than 8GB memory in its DIMM slots, and it won't boot. that's a sure way to move this forward. i've had 8GB since 2007, waiting for everyone else to catch up.
     
  13. cdb

    cdb No comment

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    Have you stopped using folding@home in your reviews? I would have been interested to see what difference the memory made (if any) to a bigadv for example. (and how well it did with sandy bridge)
     
  14. xaser04

    xaser04 Ba Ba Ba BANANA!

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    And how representative is your usage profile in general? I would imagine that for alot of people 4GB is still more than enough.
     
  15. wyx087

    wyx087 Homeworld 3 is happening!!

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    im talking about his assumption with page file. it'll always be needed.
     
  16. rickysio

    rickysio N900 | HJE900

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    For a certain subset of people.
     
  17. roadie

    roadie What's a Dremel?

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    Thanks for writing this article guys. It confirmed my suspicions that £40 for 4Gb of 1600Mhz CAS9 RAM is all you need!
     
  18. bman212121

    bman212121 What's a Dremel?

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    Just signed up to say what an excellent article. I really love the layout that is really easy to read and understand. You covered everything I would have wanted to know about using memory with Sandy Bridge. Thank you for providing everyone with more knowledge. :)
     
  19. Ljs

    Ljs Modder

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    Great article, clears things up nicely...

    One question though - what RAM is that in the pics with the black PCB?
     
  20. Ross1

    Ross1 What's a Dremel?

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    indeed. Your money is far better spent on a faster CPU or GPU than it is on faster/more ram.
     
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