RAM recommendation for this Z97 board?

[Jim Bancroft]

I fell into an MSI Z97-G55 board recently and need to get some RAM for it. I know preferences vary but my needs are pretty mainstream; a little gaming, mostly productivity (Java development, Excel) work.

Any recommendations on 8-16 GB at a decent speed and price at Newegg?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I fell into an MSI Z97-G55 board recently and need to get some RAM for it. I know preferences vary but my needs are pretty mainstream; a little gaming, mostly productivity (Java development, Excel) work.

Any recommendations on 8-16 GB at a decent speed and price at Newegg?

For a Z97 board, I'd probably pick a kit like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-757-_-Product

or this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-755-_-Product

or a 2x4GB kit similar to these. Also, you might find DDR3-2400 modules -- G.SKILL makes them. And some kits of slower speeds like 1600 or 1866 might also work fine.

But the G.SKILL configurator for that motherboard is only showing DDR3-1866 Ripjaws X "GBZL," and kits of DDR3-2133 and 2400.

Someone else can point to Corsair, Crucial or other kits.

 

[Z15CAM]

In my opinion, the BEST DDR3 ever made was Samsung MV-3V4G3D-US_DDR3. The Green Stick.

I've been running 4 x's 4GB sticks (16GB's) of it at 1866Mhz 9-9-9-24-1T @ 1.34v for 2 years without a hiccup. My I7 2700K peeks at 4.8Ghz @ 1.34v - 24/7 - Great match ;o)

I know this Ram will do 2200Mhz's with looser timing @ below 1.55v (MB is an ASUS P8Z68ProV-Gen3). For Benching this i7 2700K SB will do 5.2 Ghz's comfortably @ 1.5 v; however, I've elected to run my rig at 1.34v under load and at approx .998v when idling. Temps are between 32C at idle and 67C, under load, for both the CPU and X-Fire 290X's.

The problem is finding it. I paid $96 for 16GB's of it delivered approx 2 years ago and that was in Canadian Currency - Hard to find and expensive now, even for used sticks.

It only comes in 4GB Sticks.

PS: I run the 2 x's 290X's in CF at 1180 x 1500Mhz's OC's at times - Water Cooled Box - But you don't have to use cooling on the Samsung MV-3V4G3D-US_DDR3 sticks as they're extreme low profile without heat sinks.

To date, I see no reason to upgrade my Z68 platform which very capable of running 4k gaming res.

Presently running a Korean Samsung IPS QNIX 2560 x 1440 Led screen at between 60 to 120 Hz - Dvi-D. Great Display for $300. You wanna play BF4 in Ultra Mode at over 100FPS off a Samsung 840 Pro SSD

 

[mistersprinkles]

PS: I run the 2 x's 290X's in CF at 1180 x 1500Mhz's OC's at times - Water Cooled Box - But you don't have to use cooling on the Samsung MV-3V4G3D-US_DDR3 sticks as they're extreme low profile without heat sinks.

To date, I see no reason to upgrade my Z68 platform which very capable of running 4k gaming res.

Presently running a Korean Samsung IPS QNIX 2560 x 1440 Led screen at between 60 to 120 Hz - Dvi-D. Great Display for $300. You wanna play BF4 in Ultra Mode at over 100FPS off a Samsung 840 Pro SSD

Did anybody ask you for this information? You have a nice computer. Yay. You're a great guy!

Back to the OP's question, 2X4GB or 2X8GB DDR3 2133 @ CAS 11 or so would be great, and isn't terribly expensive. Haswell scales well with faster RAM so it really does make a difference to go 2133 vs 1600. I'd get 2X8 2133 personally if I was you.

 

[john3850]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148663

Low Profile and low voltage.
They oc good running 11-11-11 @ 2000 with 1.4volts

 

[know of fence]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148663

Low Profile and low voltage.
They oc good running 11-11-11 @ 2000 with 1.4volts

I cannot agree with OC RAM for any purpose, but I do agree that that low voltage DDR3 is the closest thing we get to DDR4.

DDR3L 1.35V
DDR3U 1.25V

For my next low-est idle power build I have a mini ITX board paired with G.Skill ULV RAM planned.
F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR2

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I cannot agree with OC RAM for any purpose, but I do agree that that low voltage DDR3 is the closest thing we get to DDR4.

DDR3L 1.35V
DDR3U 1.25V

For my next low-est idle power build I have a mini ITX board paired with G.Skill ULV RAM planned.
F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR2

Before we had Nehalem or these "K" unlocked processors, RAM speed was often set in conjunction with CPU speed. Now it is best to either avoid OC'ing the RAM entirely, or to keep RAM and CPU tuning separate.

If you can buy RAM at the speed you want, there's no need to overclock it. But in the case of low-volted RAM, it wouldn't be difficult to consult the manufacturer's "catalog" of models, find those with the higher speed and note the speed, voltage and timings -- then use those settings to save some time in testing the lower-volted RAM of modest clock speed.

 

[john3850]

When the ram was still cheap I purchased two sets of gskill 10666 or ddr-1333 at $35 a pair on sale.
That ddr-1333 1.5 volt ram runs good at 1.25-1.30 volts which tells me much of ram out there is the low voltage ram thats set to 1.5v to help the higher frequencys it is sold at.

 

[Jim Bancroft]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Appreciate the discussion!