Need help with buying memory for P7P55D-E LX

[Uncle George]

Hi,

I've got i5 +P7P55D-E LX and wanted to buy some RAM for it, however I can't find my motherboard on G.Skill's website.

Here is what I would like.. please advise a model to suit..

1. 1600MHz or faster
2. 2 x 4GB with the possibility to upgrade to 4 x 4GB in the future, or
3. 4 x 2GB

Thank you,

[Uncle George]

Forgot to mention it's i5 760.

On the motherboard manual, it did mention I can run 2000MHz Ram in x2 or in x4 configuration.

[Tradesman]

Think I'd suggest the 2x4GB F3-12800CL7D-8GBRH, these are designed w/ the P55 chipset in mind and at CL7 should overclock well with adjustments to the base timings, can be seen here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231401

[Uncle George]

Thank you for the quick response and thank you for you suggestion. At least now I have a start.

As I understand it, G.SKILL F3-12800CL7D-8GBRH has the following spec.

Speed: DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Cas Latency: 7
Timing: 7-8-7-24

So you mean delay timing to something like 8 or 9 and increase clock speed?

---------------------------------------------------
Could I also trouble you to explain - if possible - how would the following be different other than the timing.. and making it not suitable for P7P55D-E LX?

G.Skill Trident F3-12800CL8D-4GBTD (2x2GB) DDR3
G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3
G.Skill Ripjaws XL F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL (2x4GB) DDR3

---------------------------------------------------
Could I trouble you to suggest a 4 x 2GB configuration then?

---------------------------------------------------
Did more reading just then. It's interesting that I might to be able to achieve 200MHz and full 4 x RAM load at the same time.

In your option Tradesman, what's more important for me if I main use my computer for Graphics (Photoshop + Lightroom) and game rarely.

Sorry for so many questions.. I'm naturally curious...

[LeetMiniWheat]

in my experience, it's much harder to run 4 sticks of RAM at high speeds (like 2000MHz). the i5 and i7's memory controllers are stressed much harder with 4 sticks. keep in mind they are only rated by intel to run max of 1333MHz so anything above is overclocking. 1600MHz is usually easy, but above that can take some work. (i.e. increasing VTT voltages and such) so while you can hope for the best, you may not be able to achieve it while maintaining stability and proper operation.

and It would be best to get RAM certified to run on your particular chipset (in this case, P55) but that's not to say other RAM wouldn't work. some will, some won't. but you'll get the best results with RAM designed for your chipset.

[Tradesman]

The others would work also, differences being:

F3-12800CL8D-4GBTD - 2x2, need two sets for 8 GB, chance of the sets not playing well together and stuck w/ max of 8GB if you ever want more at least two to be sold or kept as spares

F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL - Good choice, higher CL at 8 opposed to 7 so a bit less performance and less likelihood oc OCing well

XL F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL - another good choice, but even higher CL at 9, so again a bit of a performance hit vs the CL7 choice and even the CL8 above.

Like my original suggestion, both the last two here are 2x4 so you still have two slots open for further expansion if need be and photos, video, CAD is where DRAM really comes in handy for large data sets, gaming requires memory but not as much as other things such as mentioned above

[Uncle George]

謝謝你的回覆. 我好像開始開竅了.

所以如果我買兩組的話 有可能沒辦法達到最高的效益對吧.

[Tradesman]

Your welcome....Is that Mandarin?

[Uncle George]

Oh. sorry.. for some reason I thought you read Chinese Mandarin =) LOL.

[Tradesman]

No problem, some of the GSkill folks do, I'm sure. I just help out, in part to keep up with this wonderful world of computers, I build quite a few and do tons of upgrades/repairs but almost impossible to keep up w/ everything

[robp]

I recently upgraded to this same motherboard (Asus P7P55D-E LX), with an i7-870 CPU.

Previously, I was using an Intel BOXDH55HC with an i3-530 CPU. I've been upgrading one component at a time: First I bought the Asus motherboard, then the i7, and have kept the same RAM (F3-10600CL8D-4GBHK, 4 sticks for 8GB). When I switched motherboards, everything was fine. Since I've switched to the i7, I've been getting BSOD with a "memory management" error.

After reading this thread, and some other web searches, I'm guessing the ram isn't compatible, or maybe it's from using 4 sticks? I've set the ram timings (8-8-8-21, left everything else at default). I'm not doing any overclocking.

Can someone give me some recommendations? In the meantime, I'm going to remove 2 sticks, but I'd like to keep 8GB.

This is the first system(s) I've built, so sorry if I'm not providing enough info.

[Tradesman]

Might try 8-8-8-22, CR at 2T, DRAM voltage at 1.55 to 1.57 and raise the MC voltage about +.04

[robp]

Thanks for the suggestions. Right now I'm running Memtest86 with all four sticks installed.

I ran it once, and within minutes it reported 1000's of errors. I decided to try the Asus MemOK button (probably should have used that to begin with?), and then I manually set the timings back to 8-8-8-21. Then, based on a reply by a G.Skill rep on Newegg's page, manually set the DRAM voltage to 1.50v and the frequency to DDR3-1333 (as mentioned before, I had only set the timings until now).

Memtest86 has now been running for about 1 hour (1 pass, 60% on second pass) with no errors so far - I'll report back tomorrow after letting it run for a few hours.

BTW: Eventually, I plan to use my old MB and CPU to build an HTPC (the i3 has the integrated graphics, and runs very cool, so it's a perfect match). When I do, I'll need more RAM. Considering my current RAM was flawless with that MB/CPU combo, buying the new RAM for my Asus MB/i7 CPU seems to make the most sense. Any suggestions for that? If I wanted to go with 16GB, then it seems I'm better off buying a set of 4x4GB, rather than buying 2x4GB with the intention of adding another 2x4GB set later - because there's less guarantee of 2 separate sets matching correctly? However, if I was content to stay with 8GB, then it seems I'm still better of with 2x4GB than 4x2GB? Does it really make a difference, performance-wise, and is trying to run 4 sticks with the i7 just asking for trouble?

Sorry for so many questions.

[Tradesman]

Yes, no, maybe, no, maybe, yes.....just kidding

If set on going 16Gb, best bet is to go w/ a 16GB set....or....but two sets of 2x4GB at the same time, preferably from a place like the Egg, that way you often will get sets from the same production batch (and quite often, even sequential sets)....biggest problem I've seen with using a couple different sets is when they aren't bought at the same time, which increases the odds of getting sticks from different productions runs where they might consist of PCBs, ICs, etc that are also from different production runs from their manufacturers. 2x4GB is less stress on the mobo, CPU, MC and PSU just by the fact that there's only two sticks to deal with, and with todays prices, going 4x2GB doesn't make a lot of sense, since you'd tie up all your slots, make upgrading much harder (would have to mix 2GB sticks w/ 4GB sticks or buy 3-4 new 4GB sticks) and less cost effective. And the i7 will run 4 sticks just fine. Hope this helps, if more clarificatation is needed get back to me.

[robp]

Thanks a lot, again.

I doubt I'll see much benefit from 16GB (the most intensive use of my PC is running Handbrake, which apparently doesn't use that much RAM), so 2x4GB is probably the way to go for me. I guess that any listed on G.Skill's site as being qualified for my motherboard should be ok?

Lastly, a few more questions and I'll stop bugging you :

After Memtest86+ reported 1000's of errors in minutes, and then no errors after a few hours, would I be making a good assumption that the changes in my Bios fixed my problem (I know you can't guarantee anything, just looking for an educated opinion)?

How likely, if at all, would it be that the MemOK button on my motherboard helped? Or, is it more likely that it was the additional changes I made to the Bios settings (assuming that my previous assumption is good )?

BTW: I just want to commend G.Skill for their excellent service. When I was building my PC, reading reviews on Newegg, I couldn't help but notice that there was a response to every negative review. That was my reason for going with G.Skill, and it's the reason I will continue to do so.