Upgrading to Skylake.

[JustAComputer01]

I currently run a g3258 and I need a new CPU so I'm going to ditch my old components now that Skylake is just a couple weeks away.

Are any Z170 motherboards going to accept 240 pin DDR3 1.5 V?
Can I simply use XMP profiles or under-clocking/under-volting to make my RAM compatible?

I don't want to purchase new ram essentially.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Arachnotronic]

I currently run a g3258 and I need a new CPU so I'm going to ditch my old components now that Skylake is just a couple weeks away.

Are any Z170 motherboards going to accept 240 pin DDR3 1.5 V?
Can I simply use XMP profiles or under-clocking/under-volting to make my RAM compatible?

I don't want to purchase new ram essentially.

Thanks for any help.

You could just stick a faster Haswell in your system 🙂

 

[vailr]

Are any Z170 motherboards going to accept 240 pin DDR3 1.5 V?

Doesn't seem like a very good idea, even if it does somehow work. Either stay with a DDR3 & Haswell system, or else a full upgrade to DDR4 & Skylake motherboard/CPU system.

 

[Ketchup]

Most RAM has a lifetime warranty, so resale value is generally good. I wouldn't mess with a DDR3 board for Skylake, even if one becomes available.

 

[JustAComputer01]

Thanks for the answers.

Most RAM has a lifetime warranty, so resale value is generally good. I wouldn't mess with a DDR3 board for Skylake, even if one becomes available.

Why not, you think ddr4 is worth it?

 

[Ketchup]

Thanks for the answers.



Why not, you think ddr4 is worth it?

Considering that Skylake is designed around the bandwidth and speed available with DDR 4 (since the memory controller is in the CPU) my initial reaction would be yes.

But whatever you want to do. DDR 4 prices will go down due to demand, but if you are planning to upgrade right when it comes out, the RAM will probably still have a pretty high price tag.

 

[jaydee]

Considering that Skylake is designed around the bandwidth and speed available with DDR 4 (since the memory controller is in the CPU) my initial reaction would be yes.

But whatever you want to do. DDR 4 prices will go down due to demand, but if you are planning to upgrade right when it comes out, the RAM will probably still have a pretty high price tag.

Looking at HardOCP benchmarks, the higher bandwidth memory only benefits gaming.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/08/05/intel_skylake_core_i76700k_ipc_overclocking_review/5

 

[Ketchup]

Looking at HardOCP benchmarks, the higher bandwidth memory only benefits gaming.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/08/05/intel_skylake_core_i76700k_ipc_overclocking_review/5

Yeah, now that we are after the release, that is certainly the way things are going to pan out for these model chips. Oh well.

 

[piasabird]

The question is do you upgrade to skylake and use DDR4 or not. DDR4 has more latency in their RAM. So that is one negative rating. However, you could purchase RAM that is twice as fast. The IGP works a little differently if your building a HTPC and want to encode video. While you don't need an 1151 socket motherboard to do that, I saw some nice offerings that were not too expensive. The RAM seemed to be available and the motherboards for the average user were within price range so all you have to do is find some i-5's that haven't sold out yet or just wait for them to come back into stock.

I kept hearing how the RAM was more expensive but I don't think that is necessarily the case.

I saw some reviews and was not really that impressed by the overall numbers. I think the main point is that buying a newer motherboard might increase the resale value or its value for a later upgrade.

A new chip set and the first motherboard with the original BIOS is not always such a good buy. Sometimes waiting a while will get you some better results. I guess around Christmas Time there might be some good deals. There is always a back to school sale also.

 

[vailr]

There are some Z170 boards that do support DDR3, such as:
GA-Z170-HD3 DDR3
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5488#ov
The OP wanted to use his existing 1.5 volt DDR3 with a Skylake CPU, which doesn't seem very likely to work, at least not without doing some undervoltage adjustments in the bios setup.
DDR3L (1.35 volt) memory would work, although you should first check with the motherboard support site for compatibility.