Ok. All I need now is the ram. What which speed? Ah, a very good question.

Here's what I'm working with:

Intel Quad core 6600 (1066fsb)
EVGA 680i mobo
2 - 7800 gt's in sli (for now)


All my rigs are built for gaming/internet/movies/music.


The question is should I get 800 or 1066 ram? I've read tons of sites were they say 800 is all you need to game with and 1066 is overkill, but then I see data sheets showing 1066 kickin 800's *** on everything. I have two mags that on their extreme builds they used 1066 with a quad core and got good results.

I've also read that 1066 is better for OC becuase you'll be able to overclock your cpu with out it affecting the 1066.

Here's a forum response to the same question.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1031493481

read Markyip1 post

 

get the most n best you can afford on your budget. I am guessing this is the DDR or DDR2? More n better RAM is the best n most useful upgrade.

 

Its not.
IMO 2GB, obiously, 1066FSB. That way your CPU and memory is on a 1:1 FSB ratio. That gives your memory more head room to overclock without your memory holding your overclock back because it can't handle the increased FSB. Being such a high FSB your most likely gona be looking at CAS5 timings. I'm sure CAS4 timings will be hella expensive with no preformance gain other wise. Another thing most people over look is the brand. Not all memory is made same. You want handpicked micron ICUs.

 

DDR only goes up to 550 (400 is the common)


The better the ram is questionable. I could get the higher speed 1066 but at the cost of higher timings or I could go with the slower speed 800 and have lower timings (until you overclock).

 

Ya, I saw a few articles on the micron chips. Seems to be the ****.

 

It always better to having matching FSB vs better timings. Having lower timings isn't going to increase preformance little if at all. When you start overclocking you'll most likely need to increase the timings to lessen the load on the ram if its giving you trouble. Which still isn't going to effect your preformance thats gained little if anything at all.

 

checking my mobo's ram voltage

 

On the mobo box it says "Dual DDR2 up to 800MHz". Is that talking about dual channel?

Beside that it says "Support for Nvidia SLI-ready memory with EPP up to 1200MHz"


EDIT:

Yep it does mean dual channel. So I guess the question is if I use 1066, will it not run in dual channel?

 

if your FSB is 1066, then you have 2 options, buy 1066 so the RAM will run at its stock speed easily (plug and play)....or buy the 800 and get into the BIOS and change the ratio of the RAM so it runs slower and doesnt error out when trying to give it a 25% overclock.

Basically, get 1066. It's the easiest way to get things running, and if you ever plan to overclock, it will much easier as well.

No real point in getting 800 RAM and slowing down the system to match it.

 

You had me at Plug and Play.