Upgraded Ram memory?

[neworldman]

Upgraded Ram memory?

I am looking to upgrade my Ram memory on my i7 pc. What would you recommend? I have 8gb of the below ram now. I also have a link to my motherboard.

PHP Code:
http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/motherboards/DP55WB/DP55WB-overview.htm


PHP Code:
http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/configurator_new/PartsInfo.asp?LinkBack=&ktcpartno=KVR1333D3N9/2G



Is this Ram better? Will it work on my board and i7 chip?


PHP Code:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231334&cm_re=ddr3_2200-_-20-231-334-_-Product


PHP Code:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231281&cm_re=ripjaws-_-20-231-281-_-Product

[redwudz]

Unless you're overclocking, probably little or no difference. That MB seems to be spec'd for DDR3 1333 /1066 MHz DIMMs. If that Kingston 1333 RAM is what you are using now, that looks like all the MB can handle for speed.

And the MB may not recognize faster RAM, then it would run it at slower than it's specification with no performance gain. You also want to be aware of the voltage that performance RAM needs. Regular DDR3 is usually 1.5DC, while performance RAM can be 1.67VDC. Make sure your BIOS can set that high a voltage. Performance RAM also runs hotter, so you need to have good cooling.

I use DDR3 1600 RAM, but my MB can set the correct timings for it. And I run it at 1600 on a OC'd MB.

Whether different RAM will work with a particular MB, not a simple question. RAM speed isn't as important as CPU speed for some operations, such as encoding. Check your RAM usage during an encode, it will probably be fairly low. I don't want to discourage you, but RAM can be very complicated to get right sometimes.

BTW, your links would be easier to read without the PHP tags.

http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/motherboards/DP55WB/DP55WB-overview.htm

http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/configurator_new/PartsInfo.asp?LinkBack=&ktcpartno=KVR1333D3N9/2G

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231334&cm_re=ddr3_2200-_-20-231-334-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231281&cm_re=ripjaws-_-20-231-281-_-Product

[jagabo]

Even under the best of circumstances the faster RAM would only get you 1 or 2 percent more performance. Why bother.

[neworldman]

Wow thanks. Good info. I won't bother then save some $. So even if I got a upgraded mother board that would run the faster ram like DDR3 2200 (PC3 17600). It will only be 1 to 2 percent more performance? What about just getting more ram? My board will handle 16gb. Get the same Kingston Ram but get 16gb total.

[Constant Gardener]

4 GB is more than enough for most of us. If you're in a spending mood, perhaps a SSD as a boot/program disk? I recently added a 60 GB SSD to an already-fast Phenom II gaming system - on some games the improvement was profound.

[redwudz]

If you have only the one drive for boot and storage, then a separate boot drive could make a big difference in performance. A SSD is one option, but I used a 150GB 10K RPM Raptor drive. I do have a SSD, but had issues with it. The Raptor works great. I would recommend either over a RAID 0 boot system, if that is a consideration.

If your MB accepted a faster RAM, you might get more than 1 or 2 percent performance increase, but probably not very much. Even a 5% overclock would likely get you more.

If you are running a 64bit operating system, 8GB is more than enough RAM for most any operation. Some CAD/CAM and a few advanced graphics programs can use more if they hold large images in RAM for manipulation. But with encoding/editing, just a waste of money, IMO. If you have a 32bit OS, then it can only recognize a bit less than 4GB, so more is basically useless.

[neworldman]

Thanks. Ya I got a 64gb SSD drive a few days ago. WOW it made a huge difference. I left me W7 home premium on my original SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive. Every once in awhile I need to go over to that hard drive to test something. Is there a easier way to get over there beside having to hit F2 and change to ASHI and then hit F10 to reboot to Samsung? Also does the SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive with W7 home premium update through the Internet(Windows update, Kaspersky update) when I am not using it? Or do I have to be on that hard drive for it to update through the Internet? Is it best just to wipe the hard drive clean and use it for storage only? I have W7 Ultimate on my SSD drive.

[jagabo]

It will only be 1 to 2 percent more performance?

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-870-1156,2482.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/memory-scaling-i7,2325.html

[redwudz]

Thanks, jagabo , those are both good articles. I had expected more of a performance gain also. It seems even a very mild CPU overclock would be a better option for a simple performance increase.

neworldman, since you have W7 on both drives, I would probably just use the SSD for boot and the Spinpoint for storage, editing, capturing, etc. You could wipe it if you like or just disable the OS on it so it's not a boot option anymore.

With that small of a SSD, watch out for the OS putting too much crap on it and overly reducing the freespace. You might consider moving the page file to the Spinpoint. Lots of programs also want to put temp files on the boot drive, so I would monitor that. I prefer a larger SSD, but they are pricey. I got tired of constantly keeping my small 64GB SSD from getting overfilled. That's one reason I went with a 150GB Raptor for boot.

[neworldman]

Thanks, jagabo , those are both good articles. I had expected more of a performance gain also. It seems even a very mild CPU overclock would be a better option for a simple performance increase.

neworldman, since you have W7 on both drives, I would probably just use the SSD for boot and the Spinpoint for storage, editing, capturing, etc. You could wipe it if you like or just disable the OS on it so it's not a boot option anymore.

With that small of a SSD, watch out for the OS putting too much crap on it and overly reducing the freespace. You might consider moving the page file to the Spinpoint. Lots of programs also want to put temp files on the boot drive, so I would monitor that. I prefer a larger SSD, but they are pricey. I got tired of constantly keeping my small 64GB SSD from getting overfilled. That's one reason I went with a 150GB Raptor for boot.

Great advice. I notice it slowly gets full. I am down to 35gb free. Can you tell me how to move the page file to my Samsung? And also how to disable the OS on my Samsung 1tb HD if i decide to in the future.

[jagabo]

I don't remember if Win7 is the same but in XP it's: right click on My Computer (just Computer in Win7), select Properties, Advanced tab, Performance -> Settings, Advanced tab, Virtual Memory -> Change.

[jagabo]

Thanks, jagabo , those are both good articles. I had expected more of a performance gain also.

Keep in mind that modern CPUs have lots of cache memory so they rarely (in a relative sense) have to access DRAM. You can see big differences when running programs that specifically test DRAM speed (note the Sandra memory bandwidth benchmark) but not with real world programs.

[neworldman]

I don't remember if Win7 is the same but in XP it's: right click on My Computer (just Computer in Win7), select Properties, Advanced tab, Performance -> Settings, Advanced tab, Virtual Memory -> Change.

Is this how you move the page file or disabling the OS on my Samsung 1TB HD?

[redwudz]

To kill an OS, what I've done is to boot from a Linux or similar live boot disc and just delete some of the main Windows files, that will make it non-booting. But make sure you have the correct drive. (I would unplug the SSD to be safe.)

I don't think W7 uses a Boot INI any more, so apparently, it can get complicated to change this.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/183281/remove_a_windows_7_dual_boot_part_i.html

I'm thinking at this point, maybe easier to wipe both drives and start over. Or at least wipe or disable the OS on the Spinpoint and see what happens. But maybe someone here has some better ideas.

For some W7 SSD tweaks, this site may be useful: http://bbs.blackviper.com/index.php?topic=2718.0