[WillMartin]

Hi all! Sorry for such a piddly topic, but with $200 on the line just for the RAM for my new rendering machine I need an answer I'm satisfied with, and I'm just not finding it out the net or even from emailing companies directly.

Specs for the new X79 Intel chipset (and the mobo I am eyeing) state a RAM voltage of 1.5v. I wish to overclock a good but not horrendous amount, and I wish to do this as comfortably and safely as possible since I am new to OC'ing and I don't want to thrash my new, expensive build, nor spend hours and days tweaking to get the needed stability. Having the proper RAM is an important part of a smooth OC I know. Many people and even companies are saying/hinting that 1.65v RAM is fine for X79 machines, but I have it in my head that I really should get 1.5v RAM if I'm buying it (new) for an X79 build where the stated specification for RAM is 1.5. I have been debating between these two sets of RAM from this one company. One set is
16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 2133MHz 10-11-10-28 1.5v
and the other
16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 2133MHz 9-11-10-28 1.65v

For a new Core i7 Sandy Bridge-E machine where I intend to overclock, the former of those two sets despite is the better despite the slightly lower timing, right? (Note: They don't have 9-11-10-28 1.5v in case you're wondering.) And, to help make things clearer with a theoretical question, if I were going to go off-spec with RAM voltage for overclocking then 1.35v would be better than 1.65v as 1.35v would give me more headroom for tweaking the overclock, right?

Sorry if this is ultimately a too-simple build post, but I want to nail my expensive RAM purchase for this machine and figured one or more of you knowledgeable M~R'ers could provide some answers that have eluded me. Thanks for listening.

-Will

[numerobis]

I think the 2133MHz will give you nearly nothing for Maxwell (and shorter timings are also not necessary). Maybe someone could test this for Maxwell, but if i take the cinebench scores for Sandy Bridge (s1155) as reference you should better save your money or buy 32GB... (but overclocking could be harder, if all ram sockets are filled, so maybe then 4x8GB - but they are still very expensive)
I don't know if the x79 quad channel controller makes a big difference, but i don't think so.
You don't need faster RAM for overclocking, the settings are adjustable separately.



http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/memory ... y-bridge/8


Here are the offical s2011 voltages from intel.com



max VCCD should be 1,85v

http://www.intel.com/content/dam/doc/da ... -vol-1.pdf (page 60)

I would take a 1600MHz kit with 1,5v...

[dmeyer]

I just got http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820233235 for an x79 machine.

$95 for good timings at 1600mhz. The difference in maxwell performance with higher speeds is negligible.

[WillMartin]

Thanks for the replies and the info!

...or buy 32GB

My other two machines in my tiny "render farm" have only 8GB right now, so going to 16GB (4x4GB) is adequate for my league right now I think.

You don't need faster RAM for overclocking, the settings are adjustable separately.
...
I think the 2133MHz will give you nearly nothing for Maxwell (and shorter timings are also not necessary).
...
The difference in maxwell performance with higher speeds is negligible.

I actually wasn't expecting to hear this. I thought that for OC'ing, having RAM that has plenty of room to be pushed was of importance? The process in very simplistic terms as I understand it is: Up the CPU settings, then when things get unstable you up the ram settings to perhaps smooth things out again, and repeat and repeat until you can't achieve stability anymore, then you dial everything to the last point you were stable and you're more-or-less done (after hours or days of tweaking and tweaking!). And if you want your OC to have a better chance of being stable at a higher point you should start with hardware that has lots of room to be pushed: high-spec mobo, RAM, CPU cooling, PSU. In the threads on the net I see where people are overclocking the X79 boards they are usually using 2133MHz speed RAM, some higher even, since 1600MHz is practically just plain vanilla for X79. I mean, isn't there a reason for the ram to be faster (for OC'ing)? Or is it mostly just useless to anyone who isn't trying to OC to 5.5 or 6GHz? Personally, I am aiming to get this new machine up to at least a stable 4.6GHz for my rendering (animations).

[numerobis]

You can set the RAM speed with a separate multiplier, you don't need to overclock the RAM when you want to overclock the CPU.
There may be other tasks that will profit a bit from a faster RAM speed (benchmarking ), but the difference is so small, it's not worth the extra cost - and for rendering it's almost nothing.
What you need is a very good cooling (for 4,6GHz), a good mainboard and a good PSU... and a good CPU

[dmeyer]

Thanks for the replies and the info!

...or buy 32GB

My other two machines in my tiny "render farm" have only 8GB right now, so going to 16GB (4x4GB) is adequate for my league right now I think.

You don't need faster RAM for overclocking, the settings are adjustable separately.
...
I think the 2133MHz will give you nearly nothing for Maxwell (and shorter timings are also not necessary).
...
The difference in maxwell performance with higher speeds is negligible.

I actually wasn't expecting to hear this. I thought that for OC'ing, having RAM that has plenty of room to be pushed was of importance? The process in very simplistic terms as I understand it is: Up the CPU settings, then when things get unstable you up the ram settings to perhaps smooth things out again, and repeat and repeat until you can't achieve stability anymore, then you dial everything to the last point you were stable and you're more-or-less done (after hours or days of tweaking and tweaking!). And if you want your OC to have a better chance of being stable at a higher point you should start with hardware that has lots of room to be pushed: high-spec mobo, RAM, CPU cooling, PSU. In the threads on the net I see where people are overclocking the X79 boards they are usually using 2133MHz speed RAM, some higher even, since 1600MHz is practically just plain vanilla for X79. I mean, isn't there a reason for the ram to be faster (for OC'ing)? Or is it mostly just useless to anyone who isn't trying to OC to 5.5 or 6GHz? Personally, I am aiming to get this new machine up to at least a stable 4.6GHz for my rendering (animations).

You're description of the process is more or less correct, but it's not quite that simple. There are many levers to pull when doing so, all of which vary by chipset and CPU generation. Generally the multiplier, bus speed, ram speed, voltage, etc, all these things play a part in stability.

So yes in general, 2133Mhz rated memory would on paper be better than 1600Mhz memory for OCing, but whether or not you'll need the extra headroom depends on how hard you're intending to push it, what specific example of CPU you purchase (different samples of the same model CPU have different behaviors in OC scenarios).

But for example, lets say you have your machine stable at 4Ghz. If we say the CPU speed is constant, upping your RAM speed from 1600 to 2100 would impact actual benchwell times very little. There'd be an improvement, but I'd guess less than 4%.

X79 is so new that people are still feeling out the platform from an OC standpoint. I've got a CPU, board, and RAM sitting here myself, waiting for the LGA2011 block adapters to come out so I can start beating on this CPU.

[WillMartin]

dmeyer, I know what you're saying. I have an i7 920 I equipped with a powerful CPU cooler and PSU that I actually never overclocked due to the number/complexity of factors I found myself facing when sitting down for the task. And I, too, am waiting for parts to come in for my new machine. Specifically, in case you're wondering, I'm getting the MSI X79A GD65 mobo and 3960X CPU and a very nice Thermalright cooler. RAM has been the only question due to the voltage worry I posted above. What you and numerobis presented raised some other questions of course, but if it's ultimately mostly a matter of saving $70 I think I'd rather just snag the 2133MHz over the 1600 to give myself that headroom in case I need it, perhaps get that 4% speed increase down the road. As you said, no one really knows for sure yet what the performances are, and since this is a splurge machine for me I'd rather spend the money I've already budgeted for that beefier ram than just save $70 and possibly hit a regret later. But if you guys think I'm really a fool for doing so, I'm open to listening to that.

dmeyer, it would be great of course if you could give your progress with OC'ing your X79 rig here. I'm sure others are eager to hear such things too as us CG rendering folk are probably some of the very few who are bothering to spend all this money on SB-E machines due to our actually being able to use what SB-E offers. (Gamers with great rigs built six months ago don't need to upgrade to SB-E from what I hear.)

[polynurb]

As you said, no one really knows for sure yet what the performances are, and since this is a splurge machine for me I'd rather spend the money I've already budgeted for that beefier ram than just save $70 and possibly hit a regret later. But if you guys think I'm really a fool for doing so, I'm open to listening to that.

you are certainly not a fool, if you want to get the best ram for your purpose.

i would advise you though to get ram from a mayor brand, and not from a "gamer brand".
reliability/availability and quality control are typically better.
also be sure to get ram which is on the compatibility-chart of the motherboard manufacturer especially if you want to pack all available ram slots.

for my own machines i have always bought kingston value-ram, ecc and non-ecc types,ddr,ddr2&3...
some modules are 10 years old by now (server) and i have not experienced any ram related issues. (knock,knock,knock)

[WillMartin]

Thanks for the input polynurb

i would advise you though to get ram from a mayor brand

I was likely going with Mushkin. Even though I can likely get some Kingston or G.Skill on better sale, Mushkin is a localish (US) company, they seem very accessible for problems and support (they answered my mere query email almost immediately) and they seem to be very well liked and respected even if they are a little more off the radar than the big three ram companies. They might not have the super fanciest heatsinks (on their Blackline), but I think they'd totally have my back if I ran into any problems.

[Half Life]

I've been using Mushkin RAM for almost 15 years and have always had stellar results.

I also use a Mushkin power supply and thumb drive because I trust the brand so much.

Best,
Jason.

[WillMartin]

I've been using Mushkin RAM for almost 15 years and have always had stellar results.

I also use a Mushkin power supply and thumb drive because I trust the brand so much.

Good to hear I'm on a good track with that. I'm pretty much sure now it will be Mushkin RAM for my new machine.