CPU/Mobo Ram for gaming on i3-2100?

A

amithkallupalam

Disciple
Hey guys can you suggest a ram for the i3-2100?

A few people on TE advised me to get the 1600 mhz ram for i3-2100 instead of a 1333 mhz one but intel says that the i3 only supports 1333 mhz ram! And BTW should I get 1 4gb ram or 2 4gb rams? Will there be a difference in performance or anything?
 
I think your memory speed will be limited by the board you use also. Get 2 sticks of 4gb, or 2gb whatever you can afford ..... 8gb ram would be preferable. You want to use 2 matching sticks to get dual channel memory ..... much better performance.
 
Ok Ill be getting the Intel DH67BL and the mobo supports upto 16 gb. So I can either get 2GB x 4 or 4GB x 2.

Can you suggest a good ram and should it be 1600 mhz or 1333mhz?
 
I guess the reason you were suggested 1600mhz ram was because the price difference is very less. H67 boards support only upto 1333mhz though, so those 1600mhz sticks will run on 1333mhz. Get the 1600mhz ones if you can or else if the price difference is quite a bit then go for 1333mhz.

If you're getting 8gb, it's better to get 4GB x 2 sticks. G.Skill RipjawsX 1600mhz 8gb kit is what I recommend.
 
Get a 2 x 2GB kit of 1600MHz modules ~ 1800/- OR if that is not available even 4GB x 1 1600MHz module will be enough, dual-channel [bandwidth-wise] + the slight speed bump will be good overall for your system. I've already posted this plenty no. of times, but here we go again -- http://www.anandtech.com/show/4503/sandy-bridge-memory-scaling-choosing-the-best-ddr3.

[quote][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I think we confirmed what we pretty much knew all along: Sandy Bridge's improved memory controller has all but eliminated the need for extreme memory bandwidth, at least for this architecture. It's only when you get down to DDR3-1333 that you see a minor performance penalty. The sweet spot appears to be at DDR3-1600, where you will see a minor performance increase over DDR3-1333 with only a slight increase in cost. The performance increase gained by going up to DDR3-1866 or DDR3-2133 isn't nearly as pronounced.[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]As a corollary, we've seen that some applications do react differently to higher memory speeds than others. The compression and video encoding tests benefited the most from the increased memory bandwidth while the overall synthetic benchmark and 3D rendering test did not. If your primary concern is gaming, you’ll want to consider investing in more GPU power instead of a faster system memory; likewise, a faster CPU will be far more useful than more memory performance for most applications. Outside of chasing ORB chart placement, memory is one of the components least likely to play a significant role in performance.[/font][/quote]

viralbug said:
I guess the reason you were suggested 1600mhz ram was because the price difference is very less. H67 boards support only upto 1333mhz though, so those 1600mhz sticks will run on 1333mhz. Get the 1600mhz ones if you can or else if the price difference is quite a bit then go for 1333mhz.

If you're getting 8gb, it's better to get 4GB x 2 sticks. G.Skill RipjawsX 1600mhz 8gb kit is what I recommend.
Click to expand...

Sire even P67 chipset doesn't support speeds above 1333MHz --

p67_block_diagram.gif


OP for your RAM get either the Corsair XMS3 OR G.Skill RIPJAWS.
 
Ok so 1600 mhz ram will work perfectly well on the i3 huh? Ok anyway, @Alpha you suggested a 4gb ram combo.. Are you saying that an 8 gb ram wont make a difference?
 
^^ As such in gaming 4GB is more than enough, but for the future and keeping in mind how cheap performance RAM running @1600MHz is it really doesn't hurt.

Try to get, 2 x 2GB 1600MHz kits, if that is unsuccessful get a single 4GB module, if you feel you've the budget to get 8 GB RAM, go for it else a single 4GB module for now and another 4GB module ~6-8 months down the line will serve fine.

Hope this helps, cheers!!

amithkallupalam said:
Ok so 1600 mhz ram will work perfectly well on the i3 huh?
Click to expand...

Yep should work like a charm, and the heatspreaders you'll get for a ~350/- premium justify themselves, you can do a few voltage tweaks and squeeze some more performance out of those RAM modules down the line.
 
Running only one stick at a time will affect your performance a lot. Get a 2x2 gb kit now and you can get another of those later if 4gb falls short.
 
Zloyd said:
Running only one stick at a time will affect your performance a lot. Get a 2x2 gb kit now and you can get another of those later if 4gb falls short.
Click to expand...

Not to belittle you Sire, but for the past one year it seems that for RAM modules like G.Skill RIPJAWS and Corsair XMS3 I'm hard-pressed to find a 2 x 2GB kit, the 4GB modules have populated the market like crazy. I'm myself desperately in the need of 2 x 2GB G.Skill RIPJAWS [basic heat-spreader XMP edition] but so far no luck.

SO I think OP has to go for a $GB stick and can buy another 4GB stick ~6 -- 10 months down the line. Cheers!!
 
Lol chill man
<


One stick of ram is a very bad idea man you always want to run dual channel. Setup your system to sign into a ton of messangers, steam mutorrent etc etc. Now try booting it with 1 stick of 4gb and again with a 2x2gb kit you will see what im talking about yourself, there is a BIG BIG performance difference. (OR 2gb single stick and then with 2x 1gb sticks).

You help out a lot of people here you really should try this out see the difference and stop reccomending one stick of ram. Ofc you tell people that you get one stick now and later another but the thing is most arent that well informed and will most likely ignore the advice to later add another stick as they will think their current amount of ram is enough.

Edit:- Memory RAM in India | Buy Memory RAM Online at cheap Price

A few options for 2x2 gb there ..... really surprised that you are having a hard time getting kits .... maybe you are being a bit too picky. On another note I think 2x4gb kit is a good idea newer games will use up all 4gb of ram im sure so 8gb is the next step.
 
ALPHA17 said:
Sire even P67 chipset doesn't support speeds above 1333MHz --
Click to expand...

That block diagram does seem misleading, but I can assure you all P67 chipset boards support above 1333mhz. Look at the spec sheet of any P67 board.

@OP - 4gb is sufficient for gaming. But ram is pretty cheap and if you can afford 8gb, no harm in getting more.
 
I would recommend 2x4GB 1333Mhz RAM. Else 2x2GB 1333Mhz. But won't recommend 1x4GB as it won't run in dual channel mode, and this would affect performance.

Regarding the 1600Mhz, I am noob at this. I assume company's are just putting a better heatspreader on the 1333Mhz and then overvolting the RAM to get more clocks.
 
Ok so I still still still still still dont get why alpha always suggests a 1600mhz ram even if the i3 doesnt support it. Can you give me a reason?

If my system will under clock a 1600mhz processor to 1333mhz whats the point?
 
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