how do I know what memory speed I need?

[wolfestone]

It's been several years since I've built a PC, and I'm looking at upgrading to an i5 system.

The CPU I've picked out is the i5 2500K (3.3ghz, unlocked). I'm looking at either an ASUS or intel board, and as I understand it I need DDR3 memory. What has got me totally confused though is what speed memory I need.

The intel board says it supports 1066/1333 and the ASUS says 2200(OC)/1233(OC)/1866(OC)/1600(OC) in addition to the other two. The specs on the CPU say 1066/1333.

I'm also not sure how the CAS latency factors into this. Some of the faster speeds appear to have higher latency.

If anyone could clue me in and give me a simple explanation of what all this means, I'd really appreciate it. I am interested in overclocking the CPU a bit, but nothing too crazy.

 

[dma0991]

Most P67 boards I see will support any RAM that you slot into it. The one stated on the Asus website merely gives you a list of supported RAMs and the list is quite good in contrast to a H67 board that supports till DDR3-1333 only.

Since you have the money to get a Core i5 2500K and plan to overclock it, spend a little bit more money on a good board like the Asus. TL;DR the Asus board will accept any DDR3 RAM that you slot into it.

 

[wolfestone]

Thanks very much. So if I'm understanding this correctly, the memory clock/bus on a modern system runs on it's own frequency and can be overclocked separately from the CPU?

If I went for the ASUS board and 2x4gb sticks of cas9 DDR3 1600, does that sound like a good plan?

 

[dma0991]

Yes that is correct but depending on the settings it will scale according to the speed of the CPU but at its own clock speed. 4GBx2 is a good amount of RAM, good luck.:thumbsup:

 

[wolfestone]

Perfect, thanks again for the help.