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RAM recommendations for 2 motherboards

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  • RAM recommendations for 2 motherboards

    I am wanting to build a Windows 7 Ultimate (64bit) system with either a Gigabyte GA-EX58A-UD5 or Asus P6X58D-E (Premium without second NIC) motherboard. I plan on using a Core i7-980X CPU, which is the new 6-core CPU.

    I am not really interested in overclocking right away. I am more interested in putting in good quality components that will have excellent stability. I have been told that the default memory speed for this CPU and motherboard combo is 1333. I have several questions.

    1. Is the 1333 speed correct for the CPU and motherboard combos I am considering?

    2. If I decided to go with 1600 speed memory and XMP settings on the motherboard, how much will that overclock the CPU? The stock speed on the Core i7-980X is 3.33GHz.

    3. If I go with 1600 speed memory and overclock the CPU, would STOCK cooling be able to keep the system cool, or would I need an aftermarket cooler?

    4. If I go with 1600 speed memory, can I "underclock" it to 1333 speeds? If so, how? If I did, would it be bad?

    5. If I go with 1333 speeds, is there a reason I should not select F3-10666CL7T-6GBPK?

    6. If I go with 1600 speeds, is there a reason I should not select F3-12800CL7T-6GBPI?

    7. If I do with 1600 speeds, should I use XMP, or should I manually configure everything? If manual, does anyone have the settings I would need for this CPU and those motherboards?

    8. If there a preference between the two motherboards? I am leaning towards the Gigabyte board, since I have had good experiences with them in the past.

    Thanks for all the help

  • #2
    1. Yes, but an overclocked CPU and high memory frequency could sure do wonders, so typically I would suggest a higher frequency in case you decide to take advantage in the future.

    2. You do not need to overclock the CPU at this memory frequency. You are simply adjusting settings.

    3. Stock cooler will have no problem with 3.8GHz, no problem for DDR3-1600.

    4. Yes, on AUTO settings, it will default to DDR3-1333 since this is the standard. It is not bad, just a different setting.

    5. No, it's just fine.

    6. No, it is our most popular triple channel performance DDR3-1600.

    7. XMP would be fine, but we can also supply manual settings. There is a lot of information on this forum about these motherboards.

    8. Both are good, both are easy to configure, both have lots of information on them.

    Thank you
    GSKILL TECH

    Comment


    • #3
      Given what you state above about being able to use faster memory without overclocking the CPU, would it be wise to consider even faster memory, like DDR-2000? For example, the following:

      F3-16000CL9T-6GBRH
      F3-16000CL9T-6GBTD
      F3-16000CL8T-6GBPS

      Or would I be better off just staying with F3-12800CL7T-6GBPI since I am not interested in overclocking (at least, not right away).

      Thanks!

      Comment


      • #4
        You can surely use DDR3-2000. Without CPU overclocking, maximum memory bandwidth will be limited, but that one day you decide to overclock the CPU, the memory bandwidth will jump with it.

        Price difference between the DDR3-1600 CL7 PI and DDR3-2000 CL9 Trident is only $20, so it is up to you whether you think you will need maximum performance.

        Overclocking is merely finding the precise settings to operate the hardware faster than rated, but since this combination is so popular, most of the research and testing has already been done. As a result, we could simply give you a set of settings that should overclock your system without a problem. In case your hesitation to overclock is extensive time tweaking...

        Thank you
        GSKILL TECH

        Comment

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