I am getting a new system: i7 975, Asus P6t Deluxe v.2, and most likely ATI 4890(I need it for Video Capture)The memory highest possible compatible with the above : OCZ, KINGSTON or CRUCIAL..........NO overclocking for me. Please specify exactly what I should get.Appreciate any help and comment.Thanks.Abe

ABEThis has had some good write-ups: CORSAIR XMS3 DHX 4GB DDR3 PC3-12800 1600Mhz Ram TW3X4G1600C9DHXNVand is compatible with your mobo, cpu etc.RegardsPeterH

I am getting a new system: i7 975, Asus P6t Deluxe v.2, and most likely ATI 4890(I need it for Video Capture)The memory highest possible compatible with the above : OCZ, KINGSTON or CRUCIAL..........NO overclocking for me. Please specify exactly what I should get.Appreciate any help and comment.Thanks.Abe

OCZ have DDR3 1.65V 1600MHz with latency 7-7-7-24 (OCZ3P1600LV6GK) and it's tripple channel RAM designed for the X58 chipset mobos incl Asus P6T Deluxe V2.The RAM suggested by PeterH is not suited for Core i7. It's not tripple channel memory at 1.65V. It's dual channel RAM at 1.8V.

OCZ have DDR3 1.65V 1600MHz with latency 7-7-7-24 (OCZ3P1600LV6GK) and it's tripple channel RAM designed for the X58 chipset mobos incl Asus P6T Deluxe V2.The RAM suggested by PeterH is not suited for Core i7. It's not tripple channel memory at 1.65V. It's dual channel RAM at 1.8V.

Thank you Ulf and Peter.Could you tell me the difference between your suggestion (OCZ3P1600LV6GK) and the following: OCZ3P16002GK 2gb kit (1gb x 2) 1600mhz 7-7-7-20 240-pin... OCZ3P13334GK 4gb kit (2gb x 2) 1333mhz 7-7-7-20 240-pin... OCZ3P1600EB4GK 4gb kit (2gb x 2) 1600mhz 7-7-6-22 240-pi... OCZ3P16004GK 4gb kit (2gb x 2) 1600mhz 7-7-7-24 240-pin... Thanks.Abe

Thank you Ulf and Peter.Could you tell me the difference between your suggestion (OCZ3P1600LV6GK) and the following: OCZ3P16002GK 2gb kit (1gb x 2) 1600mhz 7-7-7-20 240-pin... OCZ3P13334GK 4gb kit (2gb x 2) 1333mhz 7-7-7-20 240-pin... OCZ3P1600EB4GK 4gb kit (2gb x 2) 1600mhz 7-7-6-22 240-pi... OCZ3P16004GK 4gb kit (2gb x 2) 1600mhz 7-7-7-24 240-pin... Thanks.Abe

I think there's some misunderstanding here...a lot of folks think that DDR2 means dual channel and DDR3 means triple channel--it does not. DDR2 and DDR3 are different JEDEC standards for memory (signal, topology, control etc)--it really has nothing to do with dual or triple channel, although the x58 chipset--the only one currently available for the i7 line of CPUs--just happens to be designed for a triple channel configuration of DDR3 memory. You can have a single or dual-channel config of DDR3 RAM, and could also have a triple-channel config of DDR2 RAM, although I know of no chipsets that ever supported that.You can use 2 x 2GB DDR3 modules in a dual-channel config on your P6T, but that means you're leaving a third of your available memory bandwidth on the table. The x58 chipset in the P6T is designed for a 3-channel config of DDR3 memory at 8.4 GB/s bandwidth for each channel--that means one or two banks of three DIMM modules each. It seems to me that forking out a major pile of money for a no-compromise i7 975 Extreme Edition processor and then using only two of three available memory channels is a contradiction...sort of like buying a Porsche and then putting an automatic transmission designed for a VW Jetta into it. And any discussion of effects of CAS timings on performance is pointless if you're opting to only use two of the three memory channels. I'd opt for a triple-channel config with 3 x 1GB DRAM before I'd put in a dual-channel config with 2 x 2GB DIMMs. Either way, all the DIMMs must be 1.65v DDR3CheersBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

AbeMy apologies to you I highlighted and copied down the wrong Corsair Ram it should have been similar to this (though not necessarily 12GB) : Corsair HX3X12G1333C9 12GB (6x XMS3 2GB) PC-10600 (1333MHz) XMS DDR3 TRIPLE CHANNEL RAM. Ulf B and Colonel Scott are correct, my apologies if I misled you.RegardsPeterH

AbeMy apologies to you I highlighted and copied down the wrong Corsair Ram it should have been similar to this (though not necessarily 12GB) : Corsair HX3X12G1333C9 12GB (6x XMS3 2GB) PC-10600 (1333MHz) XMS DDR3 TRIPLE CHANNEL RAM. Ulf B and Colonel Scott are correct, my apologies if I misled you.RegardsPeterH

Thanks Bob for the information about the memory structure, I am going to keep a copy of it on the side and possibly refer to it whenever it is needed. I decided essentially, even at the beginning of this thread to go with 3x2gb DIMMS. Just wanted to find out compatability, speed variations, and price among the slew of manufacturers. For example why this:"The OCZ PC12800 1600MHz 6GB DDR3 CL6 Edition Platinum Series" would be priced at around $360 compared to the other equiavalent memory sticks which sell for around $99.Thanks Peter, NO apologies needed, I'll check on your other CORSAIR suggestion.Regards.Abe

Thanks Bob for the information about the memory structure, I am going to keep a copy of it on the side and possibly refer to it whenever it is needed. I decided essentially, even at the beginning of this thread to go with 3x2gb DIMMS. Just wanted to find out compatability, speed variations, and price among the slew of manufacturers. For example why this:"The OCZ PC12800 1600MHz 6GB DDR3 CL6 Edition Platinum Series" would be priced at around $360 compared to the other equiavalent memory sticks which sell for around $99.Thanks Peter, NO apologies needed, I'll check on your other CORSAIR suggestion.Regards.Abe

If you look at the CAS timing for expensive RAM sold by a reputable seller, it's likely to be very fast. 1600 MHz DRAM at CAS 6 is considerably more expensive than the very loose CAS 8 and 9 stuff that the nondiscriminating consumer might get stuck with based on price alone. Too many people just look at RAM frequency alone (heck, most couldn't tell you what "gigahertz" really measures), and don't realize that their CAS 9 memory at 1800 MHz is actually slower than CAS 7 at 1600 MHz. They just see that 1800 is bigger than 1600, so it must be bigger, faster, & better. Heck, I just saw an ad someone posted here that took the CPU freq of 2.66 GHz, multiplied it by the number of cores, and proclaimed that their system was turning in "10.6 Ghz" of CPU power. All that said, an i7 system will leverage good fast, low-latency memory very well. I bought CAS 6 DDR3 1600 for my 975-based build.CheersBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

If you look at the CAS timing for expensive RAM sold by a reputable seller, it's likely to be very fast. 1600 MHz DRAM at CAS 6 is considerably more expensive than the very loose CAS 8 and 9 stuff that the nondiscriminating consumer might get stuck with based on price alone. Too many people just look at RAM frequency alone (heck, most couldn't tell you what "gigahertz" really measures), and don't realize that their CAS 9 memory at 1800 MHz is actually slower than CAS 7 at 1600 MHz. They just see that 1800 is bigger than 1600, so it must be bigger, faster, & better. Heck, I just saw an ad someone posted here that took the CPU freq of 2.66 GHz, multiplied it by the number of cores, and proclaimed that their system was turning in "10.6 Ghz" of CPU power. All that said, an i7 system will leverage good fast, low-latency memory very well. I bought CAS 6 DDR3 1600 for my 975-based build.CheersBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Thanks again, Bob. What an opportune time to bring out what I believe the LATENCY in memory ( I hope that CAS means essentially that). I had done some minor research which I am outlining below: CORSAIR TR3X6G1600C7 6GB(3 x 2GB)1600MHz 1600MHZ LATENCY 7-7-7-20 1.65V $138.99CORSAIR TR3X6G2000C8GTF 6GB(3 x 2GB) 2000MHz 2000MHZ LATENCY 8-8-8-24 1.65V $319.99CORSAIR TR3X6G1600C9 1600MHZ LATENCY 9-9-9-24 1.65V $108.99OCZ3P1600LV6GK PLATINUM 1600MHZ LATENCY 7-7-7-24 1.65V $99.99So, if I read you right, the '7' Latency of 1600MHZ would be faster than the '8' Latency of 2000MHZ. Is this a right assumption? Would appreciate your take on that. I also would like to hear from you about your experience with the 975 that you have, I would appreciate that as well.Thanks again, Colonel.Cheers.Abe

Abe..You are in excellent hands with Bob as he is one of the few persons on this board actually qualified and certified to discuss this subject.. I am just going to add something I posted in the FSX Tuning thread as Simforums under the Memory section and follow up with comment.. =============================SAMPLES OF MEMORY SPEED/TIMING Here is a list of MAX memory timing per speed a user should strive for.. lower than posted is better and there are memory product out there that run lower timing than posted.. they are typically expensive and that is what you pay for DDR2 800 4-4-4DDR2 1066 5-5-5DDR3 1333 6-6-6 (1st or 2nd Generation)DDR3 1600 7-7-7 (1st or 2nd Generation)DDR3 1800/1866 8-8-8 (1st or 2nd Generation)DDR3 2000 (and up) 9-9-9 (1st or 2nd Generation)=========================The values posted above are the absolute highest a user should purchase. If one purchases lower timing for the same speed it means better performance. CAS (the first value) having the most impacti7 and Intel C2/Q are different with respect to memory bandwidth. Prior to i7 the absolute maximum efficiency one can hope for even on a bleeding edge memory clock on lowest CAS was right around 60%. With i7 that increases to right around 90%That being said a user does not need to buy DDR3 2000 to obtain excellent results with i7. CAS 6 DDR3 1600 is quite fast however CAS 8 @ 2000 is a gain as compared to that.. CAS 9 2000 would probably somewhat equal to CAS 7 1600 BUT!.. because of the efficiency increase from C2/Q to i7 that CAS 9 will provide more than 1600.. is that worth the cost? Cas 8 @ 2000 however is nothing to shake a stick at.. assuming you can really use it and I explain that further down. What Bob says is correct with respect to marketing and there is an aspect of CAS tuning that most users do not understand and that is the response of the memory. A 'ultra" high performance system (darn near uberclocked) will function within a 7.0ns to 7.5ns window of operation if the user chooses the correct memory and runs it at the right speed. With Intel C2/Q this also requires the northbridge be (in laymans terms) tuned for lower latency as well since the northbridge itself is a bottleneck however with i7 that bottleneck does not exist. Here is a set of charts I borrowed from a writeup on CAS latency with respect to memory speed from another forum. They shows the response time of the memory a user can expect based on CAS timing and memory speed.. DO NOTE this chart does NOT reflect the performance of a specific application with respect to these values however FSX does respond to both memory SPEED and memory TIMING if they are in sync as shownChart 1 shows the overall maximum memory timing one should strive for.. Chart 2 is the high performance chart Now, that being said there is a difference between purchasing memory within the suggested specs and it running stable on the motherboard and CPU in questionWith i7 I would not bother with above 1600 on the C0 series processors. They have an issue running such speeds whereby QPI voltage must increase to between 1.43 and 1.65. It can be done however it comes with a cost in heat and is also outside the 1.37 max Intel spec. Intel specifies 1.37 max due to heat, not voltage. Therefore if you intend to use DDR3 2000 you would be better served on the D0 stepping processors which from what I understand corrected the high QPIv issue.The next issue is the clock itself in relation to the CPU. Most people do not 'get it' when it comes to the Extreme series processor. They think they are paying for nothing and it makes me laugh when I read that.. although the price is a premium which I do agree is high at the same time but one of the advantages that extreme proc provides is tandem memory speed in relation to CPU speed. In other words your memory speed does not suffer and can be set to a defined value without requiring a significant overclock of the base CPU frequency or BCLOCK. With procs other than extreme, if a user can not obtain a high enough BCLOCK based on memory multiplier they may not be able to hit their target speed and the chart(s) above show what happens when the user does not hit their marks.. the vale of their purchases begins to deteriorate rapidly.Typically if the user plans ahead with respect to CPU cooling and researching the board they wish to use they can obtain the memory speed however this is also where overclock experience comes into play for the user. Without that experience one can end up settling for speeds/timings that devalue their purchases based on result.My advice with i7 if you are not an avid overclocker and understand how all this works is to purchase the lowest timing DDR3 1600 memory you can and it will deliver the goodies. You can always purchase something faster later when the price comes down and with x58 GulfTown (next Intel proc) will be supported. Therefore spending 400 bucks on DDR3 2000 memory is probably not a wise choice unless you have money to burn and just want to playhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820226061At the same time that CAS 6-6-5 1600 memory from Mushkin is not cheap either. Is it worth it? In my world.. you're darn tootin skippy :( It assures if you do not intend to purchse the extreme procesor your goals will be obtained without any risk.. and that is worth the cost right there.NOTE: Mushkin had a bad batch of those hit Newegg and other retailers.. they have since replaced their direct stock http://www.mushkin.com/doc/products/memory_detail.asp?id=771 however I do not know if they have replaced the etailers stick as of yet

DDR2 800 4-4-4DDR2 1066 5-5-5DDR3 1333 6-6-6 (1st or 2nd Generation)DDR3 1600 7-7-7 (1st or 2nd Generation)DDR3 1800/1866 8-8-8 (1st or 2nd Generation)DDR3 2000 (and up) 9-9-9 (1st or 2nd Generation)=========================The values posted above are the absolute highest a user should purchase. If one purchases lower timing for the same speed it means better performance. CAS (the first value) having the most impacti7 and Intel C2/Q are different with respect to memory bandwidth. Prior to i7 the absolute maximum efficiency one can hope for even on a bleeding edge memory clock on lowest CAS was right around 60%. With i7 that increases to right around 90%That being said a user does not need to buy DDR3 2000 to obtain excellent results with i7. CAS 6 DDR3 1600 is quite fast however CAS 8 @ 2000 is a gain as compared to that.. CAS 9 2000 would probably somewhat equal to CAS 7 1600 BUT!.. because of the efficiency increase from C2/Q to i7 that CAS 9 will provide more than 1600.. is that worth the cost? Cas 8 @ 2000 however is nothing to shake a stick at.. assuming you can really use it and I explain that further down. What Bob says is correct with respect to marketing and there is an aspect of CAS tuning that most users do not understand and that is the response of the memory. A 'ultra" high performance system (darn near uberclocked) will function within a 7.0ns to 7.5ns window of operation if the user chooses the correct memory and runs it at the right speed. With Intel C2/Q this also requires the northbridge be (in laymans terms) tuned for lower latency as well since the northbridge itself is a bottleneck however with i7 that bottleneck does not exist. Here is a set of charts I borrowed from a writeup on CAS latency with respect to memory speed from another forum. They shows the response time of the memory a user can expect based on CAS timing and memory speed.. DO NOTE this chart does NOT reflect the performance of a specific application with respect to these values however FSX does respond to both memory SPEED and memory TIMING if they are in sync as shownChart 1 shows the overall maximum memory timing one should strive for.. Chart 2 is the high performance chart Now, that being said there is a difference between purchasing memory within the suggested specs and it running stable on the motherboard and CPU in questionWith i7 I would not bother with above 1600 on the C0 series processors. They have an issue running such speeds whereby QPI voltage must increase to between 1.43 and 1.65. It can be done however it comes with a cost in heat and is also outside the 1.37 max Intel spec. Intel specifies 1.37 max due to heat, not voltage. Therefore if you intend to use DDR3 2000 you would be better served on the D0 stepping processors which from what I understand corrected the high QPIv issue.The next issue is the clock itself in relation to the CPU. Most people do not 'get it' when it comes to the Extreme series processor. They think they are paying for nothing and it makes me laugh when I read that.. although the price is a premium which I do agree is high at the same time but one of the advantages that extreme proc provides is tandem memory speed in relation to CPU speed. In other words your memory speed does not suffer and can be set to a defined value without requiring a significant overclock of the base CPU frequency or BCLOCK. With procs other than extreme, if a user can not obtain a high enough BCLOCK based on memory multiplier they may not be able to hit their target speed and the chart(s) above show what happens when the user does not hit their marks.. the vale of their purchases begins to deteriorate rapidly.Typically if the user plans ahead with respect to CPU cooling and researching the board they wish to use they can obtain the memory speed however this is also where overclock experience comes into play for the user. Without that experience one can end up settling for speeds/timings that devalue their purchases based on result.My advice with i7 if you are not an avid overclocker and understand how all this works is to purchase the lowest timing DDR3 1600 memory you can and it will deliver the goodies. You can always purchase something faster later when the price comes down and with x58 GulfTown (next Intel proc) will be supported. Therefore spending 400 bucks on DDR3 2000 memory is probably not a wise choice unless you have money to burn and just want to playhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820226061At the same time that CAS 6-6-5 1600 memory from Mushkin is not cheap either. Is it worth it? In my world.. you're darn tootin skippy :( It assures if you do not intend to purchse the extreme procesor your goals will be obtained without any risk.. and that is worth the cost right there.NOTE: Mushkin had a bad batch of those hit Newegg and other retailers.. they have since replaced their direct stock http://www.mushkin.com/doc/products/memory_detail.asp?id=771 however I do not know if they have replaced the etailers stick as of yet

Thanks very much, Nick. I was hoping that you would chime in. Did not want to bother you, because I figured you wanted some solitude from the masses. :( Thanks to you previously and to Bob, I have a better grasp about the memory, not quite complete, but enough to do the task at hand.Let me reiterate what I want my system to be: i7-975, Asus P6T Deluxe, ATI 4890 (I know you lean towards Nvidia 285 or other), but I need the ATI for Video Capture. I had my present system, ATI RADEON HD 2900 XT, 3.07 gigahertz Intel Core2 Extreme Q6850, assembled and tested by MWAVE.com, a local vendor whom I dealt with before. And I am about to do the same thing this time. I am attaching a JPG of their Memory they have in stock. Would appreciate if you take a look and pick MY BEST OPTION.Thanks again, Nick. I hope I am not intruding. I am practically ALWAYS available and open for suggestions.RegardsAbe

Most people do not 'get it' when it comes to the Extreme series processor. They think they are paying for nothing and it makes me laugh when I read that.. although the price is a premium which I do agree is high at the same time but one of the advantages that extreme proc provides is tandem memory speed in relation to CPU speed.

Yes and what most people might not know is that this time around with D0 stepping on the 920/950 an Extreme 975 is showing signs of not having anymore overclocking potential regardless of the unlocked multiplier. In other words if you are combining a D0 i7 with decent low latency DDR 3 1600 and only shooting for 4GHz on air what advantage would a 975 have over an 920/950?

Yes and what most people might not know is that this time around with D0 stepping on the 920/950 an Extreme 975 is showing signs of not having anymore overclocking potential regardless of the unlocked multiplier. In other words if you are combining a D0 i7 with decent low latency DDR 3 1600 and only shooting for 4GHz on air what advantage would a 975 have over an 920/950?

As I said above the price premium is what I consider higher than the value however the user does get value for what they pay for The chips are binned like any other in the industry and as such they are in fact guaranteed to be the highest quality and will withstand the greatest punishment and they will in fact hit the high notes without any question. They allow the full 6.4GT/s QPI over 4.8 GT/s of the lesser slugs (something people don

As I said above the price premium is what I consider higher than the value however the user does get value for what they pay for The chips are binned like any other in the industry and as such they are in fact guaranteed to be the highest quality and will withstand the greatest punishment and they will in fact hit the high notes without any question. They allow the full 6.4GT/s QPI over 4.8 GT/s of the lesser slugs (something people don

Thanks very much, Nick. I was hoping that you would chime in. Did not want to bother you, because I figured you wanted some solitude from the masses. :( Thanks to you previously and to Bob, I have a better grasp about the memory, not quite complete, but enough to do the task at hand.Let me reiterate what I want my system to be: i7-975, Asus P6T Deluxe, ATI 4890 (I know you lean towards Nvidia 285 or other), but I need the ATI for Video Capture. I had my present system, ATI RADEON HD 2900 XT, 3.07 gigahertz Intel Core2 Extreme Q6850, assembled and tested by MWAVE.com, a local vendor whom I dealt with before. And I am about to do the same thing this time. I am attaching a JPG of their Memory they have in stock. Would appreciate if you take a look and pick MY BEST OPTION.Thanks again, Nick. I hope I am not intruding. I am practically ALWAYS available and open for suggestions.RegardsAbe

I dont have time to run down all the numbers Abe. I went to the Mwave website and pulled up the high performance memory availablehttp://www.mwave.com/mwave/SkuSearch_v3.as...riteria=BA26094Since you are going for the 975 the 2000 CAS 8 memory is good and will workHowever OCZ has DDR3 2000 @ CAS7 .. and thats better than DDR3 2000 @ CAS 8: http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch_v3.as...riteria=BA26048@ CAS 7 DDR3 2000 is rock'in the house (see chart above)At 1600 these OCZ sticks @ CAS 6 are also excellent http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch_v3.as...riteria=BA26049So those are your choices. With the 975 you can run DDR3 2000 via the memory multiplier no matter what the CPU speed and the best choice would be the 2000 CAS7 product. Do note, I do not know the quality of those OCZ sticks as I have never used them and can only pass on what I see in spec as the best. The 1600 product at CAS6 is also a good choice too however DDR3 2000 @ CAS 7 will be a marked improvement. With the extreme proc the QPI frequency must sometimes be trimmed manually to obtain the highest result in a clock and it is very possible you will need to do some work in the BIOS once you get the system to obtain the best result clock. Do keep in mind what the CAS 8 or 7 DDR3 2000 product represents to FSX is a smoother experience and not so much frames (although you will see improvements in FPS as well). The frame rate will be there with any of the selections however with the higher speed/lower latency you will see a marked improvement in smooth flightReally is a shame about not using a 285.. all that awesome ability and its going to be choked by ATI in FSX. To me you are spending right with the exception of the video card and I would find a way/workaround to use the 285 and forget the ATI card completely.. As a matter of fact I can not be sure of the result as stated above using the ATi card. My fist thought it is will be bottlenecked.If you plan on clocking even the 285 is overmatched by i7.. the ATi card is going to be the Achilles heel to a lot of money invested for a FSX system