4x2 or 2x4 for GA-890FXA-UD5 Phenom II x6

[steve53]

I'm planning a new build for a friend and am trying to determine which is the better way to go for memory.
Mother board is Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5
Processor is AMD Phenom II X6 1090T

I'm looking at either 2x4 F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL or 4x2 F3-12800CL9Q-8GBRL or just 2x2 F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL and add more later if needed.

Will the 2x4 8 gig. set be easier on the memory controller that a 4x2 set?
Also would I see better performance at 1600 9-9-9-24 or 1333 and tighten up the timings?

Should I be looking at different memory altogether?

Main use for this machine will be photo-video work and rendering with Blender, running Linux only.

Thanks much
Steve

[GSKILL TECH]

...photo-video work and rendering with Blender...

So you will want 4GB modules for sure. 2x4 is the way to go because you may need 16GB in the future. If you overclock the CPU a little, it can fully utilize the DDR3-1600 bandwidth. Otherwise if you keep it stock, DDR3-1333 8-8-8-24 may be just as good. Use a simple memory benchmark test to determine which is better for your system.

This is the base latency kit CL9, so it is average. We have many new low latency kits in 8GB form that you may be interested for more performance.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2%20x%204GB%29

The CL7 kits would be a significant gain over CL9, but notice the pricing difference... so it just depends whether you need or want to pay for that extra performance.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[steve53]

Thank you so much, that's what I needed to know!
And thanks for the suggestions on the cas 7 kits, I'll look at those too.

[steve53]

Well, I'm finally getting around to finishing this build. I did get the F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL kit and am going to rum it at 1333, 8-8-8-24. Should I keep the command rate at 2t or drop it to 1t? Also, what should trfc be set to?

Thanks,
Steve

[Tradesman]

TRy CR at 2 first, can try 1 later....tRFC prob the closest to 110 available, if unstable take it to about 160