Building a new system, stuck on RAM choice. Please help!

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tareks

Junior Member
Mar 5, 2007
12
0
0
Hi and thanks for reading this!

I'm going to be building a new system asap and I'm really stuck on what kind of RAM to purchase for it. Here are the specs of what I'm looking to get:

Core 2 Duo E6600
DFI Infinity P965-S (please come in stock soon!)
2 gigs of ram of some kind (but what?)
Antec P182 case
Thermalright HR-05 to cool the NB
*maybe* Evercool VC-RE for the southbridge
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme or the IFX-14 (depending on what?s on stock)
OCZ 600W PSU (already have this)
Seagate 320gig 7200.10 (already have this)
WD Raptor 74gb or 150gb
EVGA Geforce 8800 GTS 640MB (got a 24? monitor, so I need the extra ram)

My goals with this sytem is to overclock it to at least 3.5ghz. The more the better, obviously, but 3.5 is what I'm shooting for. I think all in all I've got a pretty good setup going here, my only roadblock is what kind of RAM to get. I hear D9 is the best for OC'ing, but I'm not sure what has D9 and is reasonably priced. I don't really want to spend much over $250CAD or so for RAM, but I'd spend a bit more if it's really quality.

I really appreciate any feedback on this. Also, if someone could quickly tell me the difference between the Thermalright HR-05 and the SLI version I'd appreciate it. If anyone has any other suggestions for me as well, that'd be great.

Thanks.

-Tarek
 
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ribbon13

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2005
9,343
0
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No, it has a higher latency than what I posted.

Funny though, it was ZipZoomFly where I got my ram... the best, nothing like CAS3 DDR2-800
 
yh125d

yh125d

Diamond Member
Dec 23, 2006
6,907
0
76
whatever you get, get ddr2-800. cas 3 or 4 if its not too expensive. other than that, you shouldn't need D9's, because the ram would only be running at 777. If you want to run a mem multiplier though, you could overclock the ram a bit, but intel's don't see much of a performance boost at faster mem speeds
 
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tareks

Junior Member
Mar 5, 2007
12
0
0
Thanks everyone for all your answers/suggestions. I really appreciate it!

You guys from the US are lucky as things always seem to be so much cheaper there than here. Like the G.skill RAM which Phantomaniac recommended are only 160 at newegg, but in Canada at ncix.com (where things are usuall cheaper) it's over $300! It's ridiculously overpriced. If only newegg shipped to Canada...:)

I was looking at the Patriot eXtreme Performance 2GB which ribbon13 recommended, and they seem to be a pretty good deal. They're $190 CAD here after the rebate, which is fairly decent. Are they a good RAM which will do over 400mhz if I'm OC'ing higher? Would there be any compatability or voltage problems with my setup as listed above? Are they D9s, as they seem to be the best for OC'ing right?

Also, yh125d, thanks for your suggestions. I was definitely looking at getting DDR2-800 as it seems to be a good price point, probably CAS4 as I can't find any CAS3 at a 'reasonable' price. Does anyone else have any other RAM suggestions, which are hopefully priced reasonably at ncix.com? :)

There's so much different RAM chips out there I feel like I'm swimming in a sea of RAM when trying to pick one! lol. I appreciate the help, and if anyone else has any comments or suggestions on RAM or my setup as a whole I'd welcome them all!

Thanks,

-Tareks
 
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jondl

Senior member
Aug 16, 2005
561
0
0
Try getting some Buffalo Firestix which are guaranteed D9GMH which will hit 1000mhz. btw i know a certain someone who's selling some of that EXACT ram here on anandtech! :)
 
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tareks

Junior Member
Mar 5, 2007
12
0
0
Only problem with those is that they are CAS5 I believe. Isn't CAS4 supposed to be much better timings?
 
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jondl

Senior member
Aug 16, 2005
561
0
0
Stock CAS readings does not mean that the memory will be worse. What really matters are the ICs on them. D9GMH are widely known to be highly overclockable with the right voltage and timing. I have some Crucial 10th Anniversary D9GMH sticks and i'm sure they overclock the same as any other decent D9GMH sticks. Basically, MICRON makes every single one of these D9 memories and companies like corsair, ocz, buffalo, etc just rebadge them to sell as their own.

//the question you have to ask yourself is are you getting D9GMH ICs or are you getting promos or micron D9 :)
 
manimal

manimal

Lifer
Mar 30, 2007
13,560
8
0
I went with OCZ 8500 1066. I run them super tight at 800 for now till I test what will be the best voltage for me, Now at 2.1 at 4 4 4 12 1T ocd at 3.2 till AS5 cures. I may go down to 3 something see if it works.
 
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Roguestar

Diamond Member
Aug 29, 2006
6,046
0
0
Originally posted by: jondl
Stock CAS readings does not mean that the memory will be worse. What really matters are the ICs on them. D9GMH are widely known to be highly overclockable with the right voltage and timing. I have some Crucial 10th Anniversary D9GMH sticks and i'm sure they overclock the same as any other decent D9GMH sticks. Basically, MICRON makes every single one of these D9 memories and companies like corsair, ocz, buffalo, etc just rebadge them to sell as their own.

//the question you have to ask yourself is are you getting D9GMH ICs or are you getting promos or micron D9 :)
Click to expand...
And memory timings don't make as much a difference on Core 2 Duo as they do on AM2.
Crucial memory is a good way to get D9; if you buy any of their Ballistix stuff you're practically guaranteed to get D9 as Crucial is Micron's own retail wing.
 
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