PC upgrade incoming and need advice

TofuMofu

TofuMofu

Honorary Master
Joined
Aug 11, 2008
Messages
13,383
Reaction score
4,201
Location
Cape Town
Heya!

So I'm going to upgrade from an AMD to Intel (never thought I would, but it's the best option right now).

In regards with memory, what is the difference between

CORSAIR XMS3 DOMINATOR 6GB(2GBx3) DDR3-1600 Desktop Memory 1.65V
and
CORSAIR XMS3 6GB(2GBx3) DDR3-1600 Desktop Memory 1.65V CL:9-9-9-

Same brands, same speed, same voltage etc, but about R900 difference in price o_O

Here are links:

http://www.ngrcomputers.co.za/corsair-xms3-6gb2gbx3-ddr31600-desktop-memory-165v-cl999-p-13748.html

http://www.ngrcomputers.co.za/corsa...bx3-ddr31600-desktop-memory-165v-p-13750.html

They look different (one has the heatsink and the other not)

PC will be used for gaming in case someone asks :p
 
Dominators have lower latency which will give you a barely noticeable improvement. The improvement is bigger if you're OCing and benching.

In your case, the cheaper the RAM the better! :D
 
Depends on your budget actually. Up until about R2000 AMD gives better value for money.

You can also get a 790gx chipset board now for a grand which lets you buy a better graphics card. The extra cash lets you afford a 5859 over a 5770.
 
There's a good article with benchies detailing the differences in performance that you could expect from different memory configurations (channels, frequencies, latencies) on an i7 setup from TechSpot here: http://www.techspot.com/article/131-intel-corei7-memory-performance/

As has been said already, the high-frequency memory is more important if you're looking into overclocking and tweaking. Just as a side-note, with RAM any faster than DDR3-1333MHz, you will likely need to set the speed and timings manually in your motherboard's BIOS.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the link Ratwiz! I'm aware of the over clocking needed for the RAM :)
 
The Dominator has a superior heat sink which runs the RAM cooler, and allows better overclocking. Increasing ram speed unfortunately has no impact on the user experience....
 
Even if he OCs his CPU the XMS3 will be fine. The only time you'd notice a difference between the memory is if he overclocked it or ran some benchmarks
 
Qwikslver said:
Depends on your budget actually. Up until about R2000 AMD gives better value for money.

You can also get a 790gx chipset board now for a grand which lets you buy a better graphics card. The extra cash lets you afford a 5859 over a 5770.
Click to expand...

lol... what??? What does this have to do with RAM? O_o
 
Method said:
PC will be used for gaming in case someone asks :p
Click to expand...

Qwikslver said:
Depends on your budget actually. Up until about R2000 AMD gives better value for money.
Click to expand...

Agreed, at R2000 for a CPU you either get an i5 750, or phenom 955/965. And thats the only reasonable choice if you are only gaming. Looking at the memory you are getting you are going i7? So you pay extra for the CPU, then extra for the motherboard, then extra again for RAM. Save your moola, get the i5 or phenom, and buy a beast of a GPU instead.
 
i bought the Phenom 965 x4 BE about 2-3 weeks ago and its a huge improvement over my Core2Duo E6600....unfortunatly i bought 1600MHz ram but cant get it to run on that frequency without getting BSOD's :-( if you go AMD, better stick to low latency 1333MHz RAM ...
 
Method said:
So i7 isn't really needed for gaming then?
Click to expand...

LoneWolf said:
i bought the Phenom 965 x4 BE about 2-3 weeks ago and its a huge improvement over my Core2Duo E6600....unfortunatly i bought 1600MHz ram but cant get it to run on that frequency without getting BSOD's :-( if you go AMD, better stick to low latency 1333MHz RAM ...
Click to expand...

i7 definately not needed for gaming only. If you do other stuff (photoshop, video editing, audio encoding etc) then an i7 makes more sense. However, if you have heaps of cash lying around, then I'd say i7. But most of us don't have 15-20k to spend on a PC, and getting the i5/phenom allows you to spend your money where it matters - the GPU. This is where you'll get the most bang for buck if you are gaming.

Lonewolf PM me and we can get your RAM working properly. AFAIK both Intel and AMD need some tweaking to get above 1333, just a matter of finding the right settings.
 
Last edited:
Ah, I was going to go the i7 route. I like big upgrades where it's not needed again for a while.

My current PC (4600+ AMD Dual Core) lasted me 5 years :p That's pretty good seeing that I only have problems with games now :)
 
Why i5? Just remembered, AMD released their new northbridge, so you get 6 x SATA 3 which dont eat up PCI lanes. Most implementations of USB3/SATA3 on i5 platforms reduce your GPU from 16 lanes down to 8. More reason to go with an AMD board, whether it is the 700 or 800 series northbridge.
 
I'm going with the i7 930 with triple channel RAM setup :)

Did some research and it is way better than an i5 and Phenom II setup.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X