Windows 7 - Hmmm, what RAM speed should I go for?

What's up?!

I've been debating on getting a RAM upgrade from 4 gig DDR3 to 8 gigs, especially since DDR3 RAM is currently still fairly low price-wise. The RAM I have now is rated for 1600MHz, and after many weeks of maxing out a system overclock, I still haven't gotten the RAM to operate at 1600MHz. Maybe I'm missing something with it, but whatever.

The RAM I'm looking at is an OCZ kit of 8 gigs rated for 1600MHz, but knowing that I haven't been able to get to that speed, is it worth it to go for that or a kit that is rated at 1333MHz? I know that common overclocking knowledge dictates that RAM should be rated for around 1600 for stable overclocking, but can I get the 1333MHz kit and overclock it to where the system is stable or stick with the 1600 kit?

Thanks!

Many AMD CPUs have issues going above 1333. Even more so if all 4 DIMMS are full.


I think the higher speeds help in Overclocking the older Intels more than AMD.

But, I havent messed with or OVerclocked a AMD system in a while, so things may have changed slightly.


But, if youve found the limits of the system and the RAM is doing fine at or below its rated speed, moving to faster RAM will not help you at all. Youll still have the same limits.
Filling all the DIMM slots may actually hurt more than helps as well.

I'd get something like Kingston's HyperX 8GB kit, rated at 1600MHz. This assumes that your chipset and motherboard supports this speed.

Wishmaster that "problem" is by design, the memory controller is designed to only work with 1333 MHz,

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING AMD AM3 CPU's and RAM SPEEDS

Good info. Thanks.

Hmm, wow, that is fairly interesting. Thanks for that.

As it is, the general advice I was given was, "buy one speed above where your normally going to be". In reality, it's all about the timings, try to get one with as low of timings as possible.

I looked for some kits yesterday and it seems that advice is actually pretty good. The lowest I found was 7-7-7-21.

Lowest timings at the lowest voltage = best overclocking potential.

My RAM is rated 8-8-8-24, I currently have it at 7-7-6-19 (I could probably go lower if I started messing with the voltage more)

Why not use that money on a faster processor?