Height and speed of DDR3

[andyvr4]

Hi,

I'm looking at purchasing some DDR3 ripjaw series memory and had a couple of questions that I was wondering if you guys could clarify. The models that I'm looking at are F3-16000CL9D-4GBRH and F3-12800CL7D-4GBRH.

1.) How tall is this memory including the height of the heat spreader. The system that I'm building is very space limited and I want to make sure that it will clear the other components!

2.) Would you suggest getting the higher 2000mhz memory with the slower timing 9-9-9-27 timing or the slower 1600mhz memory with the faster 7-7-7-24 timing. I'm not sure which makes the biggest difference and it appears that price wise they're almost identical!

3.) Will there be any trouble running 4 2gb sims in a msi p55-gd80 motherboard. Will running all 4 of these modules in that close of proximity cause any cooling problems?

Thanks,
Andy

[GSKILL TECH]

1) The heatspreader is only 1/3" taller than standard memory on each corner. The "jaws" in the center are only 1/4", if that. So the overall size if definitely not taller than 1.5".

2) The 2000 is the way to go. It can downclock to the 1600 specs, and overclock 2000+, so if pricing is similar it is hands down the 2000.

3) Cooling will definitely not be an issue, as these run very cool especially with the low voltage. 4 sticks should have no issues on the GD80.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

[andyvr4]

Thanks a lot for the extremely quick response! I'll definitely get the 2000mhz ones then. Would you recommend running them at 1600 with the tighter specs are running them at the 2000mhz specs. I'm going to be using an i7 860 processor and I'm not sure if it can take advantage of the faster speed?

[GSKILL TECH]

1600 vs. 2000 is quite a difference. With the P55 platforms, you can't really make up for memory frequency with tighter timings. The higher frequency will be much faster, especially if you are running intensive programs you will be able to immediately notice a difference with the naked eye. The i7 860 would definitely take advantage. Also, make sure you have the latest BIOS.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

[andyvr4]

The more I've been looking I was wondering if I'll actually benefit any from running memory that's faster than 1333mhz. It looks like that's all that the i7 lynnfield processor will run unless they're overclocked and I have no intentions of running this processor overclocked.

I figure that the 1.5 volts that the ripjaws 1333mhz memory runs at probably means that they'll also run cooler and produce similar performance in a stock configurations.

Do you guys agree with this logic are am I missing out on something?

Thanks,
Andy

[G.SKILL]

if you don't want to overclock cpu, with i7 860, you could at most run at DDR3 1600
for the performance difference, it should be seen easily by some benchmark software
if you are interested in that, we could try to test some to show it
thanks


G.S

[andyvr4]

I'd definitely be interested in seeing some test, because from what I had researched I would figure that without the processor overclocked it wouldn't be able to make use of anything faster than 1333 based off intel specs.

Thanks

[GSKILL TECH]

It is simply a settings configuration. You can have the processor at stock frequency, but you'll need to increase the BCLK and reduce CPU multiplier so that it doesn't technically overclock your processor.

Stock BCLK - 133 Stock CPU Multiplier - 21X for 2800MHz Max Memory Multiplier - 12X (DDR3-1600)

Now if you were to simply adjust CPU multiplier accordingly, you could not overclock the CPU but simply change the settings around like so:

BCLK - 167 CPU Multiplier - 17X for 2839Mhz (39Mhz overclocked) Maximum Memory Multiplier - 12X (DDR3-2004)

It is simply a number game that you have to play with, but with the minimal overclock it will surely not damage the processor, increase needed voltage, increase CPU temperatures, or anything of that sort so it is essentially not overclocked.

As far as actual speed, with the near stock CPU frequency, DDR3-1333 and DDR3-2000 is a world apart as the difference in speed is massive.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

[andyvr4]

Isn't increasing the BCLK going to affect a few other things though as well? Doesn't the PCI-e frequency and QPI frequency get determined based off what the BCLK is set at?

[GSKILL TECH]

No, those are independent.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

[andyvr4]

Isn't the PCI-e frequency tied to the blck though. Everything read around the internet seems to say that.

Also, while I know the DDR3 2000 is going to be significantly faster in benchmarks is this difference going to really be noticeable in real world performance? I know a couple of sites that I've heard describe it as the difference between a ferrari and ford on normal streets there isn't going to be much difference in there performance because there are so many limitations preventing there true speed from showing through.

Thanks for taking the time to explain all this to me!
Andy

[G.SKILL]

the difference may be sensible, may be not
it depends on what software you used to run
but generally, you should feel the difference
thanks


G.S

[andyvr4]

So I finally made my decision and went with some of the g.skill eco 1600 with the 7-8-7 timing. I got one set of 4gb before they ran out, but I'm waiting on another set to come back in stock as I'd really like 8gb total.

Do you have any idea when newegg should be getting their next shipment?

[GSKILL TECH]

They usually receive stock within 24-72 hours, so just keep checking, they should come in very soon.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

[andyvr4]

I just checked and it's back in stock right now so I went ahead and order the second set!

Thanks!