Good RAM for Core i7 overclocking?

[Jephph]

Hey, I'm putting a new build together soon. I'm planning on getting the Gigabyte GA-Ex58-UD5 Mobo, and the Core i7 920. I am looking at the G.Skill 6GB Kit (3x2GB) DDR3 1333 with Cas Latency of 9. Will that be sufficient to overclock the 920 to around 3.2 GHz? Or should I get better RAM?

 

[Denithor]

Perfect.

 

[Shmee]

How important is speedy ram in i7 overclocking? I will be getting an i7 920, probably take it to 4 Ghz or higher if I can on the same motherboard, and have considered http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820227365
will this be suffiecient for a high OC, (will be using a TRUE with a high airflow schythe fan) or do I even need that much speed? Would be nice to save some money on ram if I dont need the fastest stuff.

 

[Jephph]

So I did some reading, and basically, RAM speed doesn't matter a whole lot does it, since there is no FSB and the memory can be set independently of the CPU?

 

[Sentry2]

I would just get the GSKILL you mentioned. Same stuff I'm running and it easily hits ~ 1600 @ 9-8-8-21 1T 1.65v while staying pretty cool. It won't go much higher than 1600MHz regardless of the timings and voltage but it's still a good deal(well for DDR3). I've seen a couple of reports saying they were able to run 8-8-8-19 @ 1600MHz @ 1.65v. Might be true on certain motherboards.

Timings don't make much of a difference for gaming though nor does the speed.

You will have loads of bandwidth in Tri-channel even @ 1333MHz 9-9-9-24.

Good choice.

 

[aigomorla]

all you really need is 1600mhz ram.

Unless you have insane cooling on your cpu and your gonna go higher then 225 Bclk.

 

[Denithor]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
all you really need is 1600mhz ram.

Unless you have insane cooling on your cpu and your gonna go higher then 225 Bclk.

You don't even need that, DDR3-1333 is enough to take you to 222 bclk if you use the 6x memory multiplier (often called DDR3-800 in the BIOS settings). That will yield 222x6 = 1332mhz. Since all you will likely need for 4GHz is 200 blck your memory will actually run at DDR3-1200 speed with the 6x multiplier. And as Sentry2 said, memory speed & timings have very little impact on i7 system performance, in any real-world apps.

 

[Shmee]

sounds cool. I may just get this http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820609361
should be plenty then, and at a good price. should be plenty for the < 4.5 GHz I would be getting at max with a TRUE(improved fan).