What Mobo

  1. What do you currently have? ... why have you purchased the RAM before you've purchased the other components? You've paid like twice as much for that RAM, if you bought it from Kalahari, as to what you should've paid. I mean, I bought 2x 4GB So-DIMM DDR3 1333 for my brother's laptop for R416 !
  2. How much are you willing to spend?
  3. Do you want to run SLI/CrossFire?
  4. What do you want to do with the PC?

The RAM that you've got isn't recommended for Sandy Bridge setups, which would've been my recommendation if you haven't bought that RAM.
The Sandy Bridge CPU's have the memory controllers built in and they are rated for 1.5V +- 5%, which gives you an upper limit of 1.575V, but people have reported that 1.65V RAM modules still worked.

I would've recommended the MSI P67A-C43 / P67A-GD65 + i5 2500k if you wanted a very good gaming PC.
 
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Pada said:
  1. What do you currently have? ... why have you purchased the RAM before you've purchased the other components? You've paid like twice as much for that RAM, if you bought it from Kalahari, as to what you should've paid. I mean, I bought 2x 4GB So-DIMM DDR3 1333 for my brother's laptop for R416 !
  2. How much are you willing to spend?
  3. Do you want to run SLI/CrossFire?
  4. What do you want to do with the PC?

The RAM that you've got isn't recommended for Sandy Bridge setups, which would've been my recommendation if you haven't bought that RAM.
The Sandy Bridge CPU's have the memory controllers built in and they are rated for 1.5V +- 5%, which gives you an upper limit of 1.575V, but people have reported that 1.65V RAM modules still worked.

As far as sli/cross fire I just want to play battlefield on good graphics so yeah whatever doesn't really matter

I would've recommended the MSI P67A-C43 / P67A-GD65 + i5 2500k if you wanted a very good gaming PC.
Click to expand...

I got the ram for free from someone this is the only reason I have them though

I would consider getting other ram as I would mainly like to build up a pc for battlefield 3

Power Supply i got a cooler master 750watt or something like that

My main concern is the chip set though and I would like to focus on this and then the graphics card as i buy my parts in batches and then assemble when I have all
 
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I would actually prefer though if possible if I can use that ram somewhere though if possible at all being a second pc or whatever
 
Ah OK.

Could you find out exactly what Coolermaster PSU you've got? I suppose you have the GX 750. If you've got the Silent Pro, then you've got an awesome
PSU.

The minimum graphics card that I'll recommend for BF3 would be the GTX560Ti / HD6870.
I would also highly recommend going for a P67/Z68 chipset + i5 2500k CPU then - ... like what I've recommended in the first post.

If you can afford to wait a little longer, you might even be able to get a new AMD Bulldozer setup, which should be able to handle that 1.6V RAM without putting strain on the memory controller. I'm just not sure when the desktop CPU's will be available in SA.
 
There's a reason you got it for free. It's 1.6V

For sandy bridge CPUs you need 1.5V memory to be safe.

That's probably R200 worth of memory anyway, don't let it dictate the rest of your rig.

If you want to buy in batches, get a i5 2500k cpu with a p8z68 mobo and 2x4gig 1600mhz memory. That way you can use it now with the igpu in the cpu and still be able to OC the cpu. Then add your gfx card later at whatever fits your budget at that time.

I'd say wait till you have your cash ready and then buy everything at once, that way you won't have outdated hardware from the start and waste the warranty period with the hardware sitting in your cupboard.
 
Pada said:
Ah OK.

Could you find out exactly what Coolermaster PSU you've got? I suppose you have the GX 750. If you've got the Silent Pro, then you've got an awesome
PSU.

The minimum graphics card that I'll recommend for BF3 would be the GTX560Ti / HD6870.
I would also highly recommend going for a P67/Z68 chipset + i5 2500k CPU then - ... like what I've recommended in the first post.

If you can afford to wait a little longer, you might even be able to get a new AMD Bulldozer setup, which should be able to handle that 1.6V RAM without putting strain on the memory controller. I'm just not sure when the desktop CPU's will be available in SA.
Click to expand...

Yeah i got that one just checked the box now, I have that with a cooler master case as well

Thanks for the recommendation in that case I would rather keep that ram one side for now and just get other ones

Where can I get the best price on that cpu/ mobo and ram ? I normally buy from prophecy I quite like them
 
DanH said:
There's a reason you got it for free. It's 1.6V

For sandy bridge CPUs you need 1.5V memory to be safe.

That's probably R200 worth of memory anyway, don't let it dictate the rest of your rig.

If you want to buy in batches, get a i5 2500k cpu with a p8z68 mobo and 2x4gig 1600mhz memory. That way you can use it now with the igpu in the cpu and still be able to OC the cpu. Then add your gfx card later at whatever fits your budget at that time.

I'd say wait till you have your cash ready and then buy everything at once, that way you won't have outdated hardware from the start and waste the warranty period with the hardware sitting in your cupboard.
Click to expand...

+1 Thanks

I will definately be waiting then rather to get all

I have a case and power supply now so will wait to get the cash ready and then get everything at once
 
You can buy pretty much from any of the following online shops - whichever has the best prices: Wootware, Prophecy Shop, Takealot, RebelTech, iKonicIT, Zaps Online, Sybaritic
 
DanH said:
There's a reason you got it for free. It's 1.6V

For sandy bridge CPUs you need 1.5V memory to be safe.

That's probably R200 worth of memory anyway, don't let it dictate the rest of your rig.

If you want to buy in batches, get a i5 2500k cpu with a p8z68 mobo and 2x4gig 1600mhz memory. That way you can use it now with the igpu in the cpu and still be able to OC the cpu. Then add your gfx card later at whatever fits your budget at that time.

I'd say wait till you have your cash ready and then buy everything at once, that way you won't have outdated hardware from the start and waste the warranty period with the hardware sitting in your cupboard.
Click to expand...

Bleh, interesting.

I have 4x khx1600c9d3/4g in an Asus P8Z68-V mobo, with an i5-2500k.

As you say, it is also 1.65V rather than 1.5V, which may explain why it is only recognized at 1333MHz.

However, I found it near impossible to find 4GB sticks at 1600MHz at all, let alone 1.5V sticks. Any specific part numbers I should be looking for?
 
RoganDawes said:
Bleh, interesting.

I have 4x khx1600c9d3/4g in an Asus P8Z68-V mobo, with an i5-2500k.

As you say, it is also 1.65V rather than 1.5V, which may explain why it is only recognized at 1333MHz.

However, I found it near impossible to find 4GB sticks at 1600MHz at all, let alone 1.5V sticks. Any specific part numbers I should be looking for?
Click to expand...

I have CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9/B/R Veng 4Gx2 from frontosa. Its 1600MHz, 1.5V, CL9, 2x4gig sticks. I run a i5 2500K on a Asus P8Z68-V LX.

When I first powered on the system mine ran at 1333mhz as well. Go into the bios, click exit, then load defaults, Save, Restart. Then go back into the bios, click exit, advanced mode. There you will find the setting to change the memory to 1600MHz.

1.6V memory should work fine, but it is out of the safe range for the cpu. Make sure you keep your base clock at 100 so the memory speed doesn't creep up. Then you can play with the multiplier as you like to overclock.
 
RoganDawes: there are tonnes of 2x 4GB 1.5V modules available. Perhaps you're just not looking at the right online shops.

Like Prophecy Shop has a whole section dedicated to DDR3 1600MHz modules. The 4GB DDR3 1600MHz modules are rather expensive compared to the 1333MHz modules. At Prophecy Shop they start almost at R800 for 2x 4GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 1.5V: http://www.prophecy.co.za/ddr3-ddr31600-c-118_744_360_1068.html?page=2&sort=3a - see the Corsair Vengence kit.

The cheapest 2x 4GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 kit that I know of that would work on Sandy Bridge is this: ADATA 1600MHz DDR3 8GB XPG™ Gaming Series Dual C @ R634

I think you just have to overclock the RAM to let it run at 1600MHz. Usually the RAM won't run at 1600MHz if you're not overclocking it, which has nothing to do with the voltage.
 
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