# Fastest memory for Sandy Bridge? (2500K)



## ArmoredCavalry (Nov 16, 2015)

Ever since I originally bought my 2500K, I've run it with 1600Mhz memory, specifically these.

Recently I've started playing Fallout 4, and I've noticed in a lot of areas I get frame rate drops down to 40's, regardless of what settings I use (even on low I get the drops). The interesting thing is, there is not very high GPU/CPU usage for these 'problem' areas.

So, I looked into it a bit more, and it turns out that memory speed may actually play a role in the drops (strange, I know). Here are some benchmarks showing the differences -

http://www.techspot.com/review/1089-fallout-4-benchmarks/page6.html

This got me thinking, can I buy some faster memory and get it to work properly with my Sandy Bridge processor? It seems like my motherboard will support up to 2400Mhz RAM (at 2133Mhz speeds). Will the CPU also work with this?


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## Jetster (Nov 16, 2015)

Have you tried over clock the CPU? Cooler?

If your board support 2400 your CPU will too

DDR3 2200  is max

PCIe is 2.0 not 3.0 although that shouldn't be an issue even with the wide format


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## Schmuckley (Nov 16, 2015)

err..it's G. Skill 2600 C10 stuff..not sold anymore.
http://www.overclockers.com/gskill-tridentx-ddr32600-cl10-ram-kit-review/
Maybe even Hypers.
You could freeze some premium psc and get better results; but is that what your looking for?
G.Skill Pis 7-8-7..7-9-7..2133
I don't be trying no 2400Mhz RAMs on 1155..I don't.


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## LightningJR (Nov 16, 2015)

ArmoredCavalry said:


> Ever since I originally bought my 2500K, I've run it with 1600Mhz memory, specifically these.
> 
> Recently I've started playing Fallout 4, and I've noticed in a lot of areas I get frame rate drops down to 40's, regardless of what settings I use (even on low I get the drops). The interesting thing is, there is not very high GPU/CPU usage for these 'problem' areas.
> 
> ...




I have a 2500k and use 1866 ram, with my 670 and everything on low I have never seen the game go below the 60FPS cap. I have heard the vsync in the game (when in fullscreen) creates stutters in some situations, I play in borderless so I have not seen these issues. Try playing in windowed borderless and see if the drops in fps is still there.

But yeah that link you gave is crazy.. If it's true then overclocking ram could do wonders for this game and getting better memory for your system might fix your problem.


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## rtwjunkie (Nov 16, 2015)

With Sandy Bridge, the IMC is rated for 1600, and overclock reliably (much of the time, but not always) to do 1866 RAM.  Beyond that is a crapshoot.


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## jsfitz54 (Nov 16, 2015)

I have 2 sets of these in my Sandy Bridge:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231476

Runs fine.  I really like this particular memory.


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## Jstn7477 (Nov 16, 2015)

Sandy Bridge only does 2133MHz with two sticks if you're lucky, 1866MHz is generally safe.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Nov 16, 2015)

Jstn7477 said:


> Sandy Bridge only does 2133MHz with two sticks if you're lucky, 1866MHz is generally safe.



It really depends on the IMC of your chip. IIRC was able to take my memory to 2400 when I tried with 2500k.


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## RejZoR (Nov 16, 2015)

You already have 16GB RAM so that's plenty. Don't even try wasting money on "faster" RAM. You'll maybe gain 2 more FPS. Invest that money into better graphic card. You'll have significantly higher gains that way. Faster RAM just isn't worth it as gains are pretty much insignificant.


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## jboydgolfer (Nov 16, 2015)

Im running 1333 (@1600) and i dont get this. unless its JUST a fallout thing.


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## basco (Nov 16, 2015)

your vengeance ram can be overclocked too!
on your ram the sticker on the side tells you which version you got-if ya can take a pic or tell me what ver. its got.
you can look yourself for version number which chips you have under hood here:
http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68811


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## ArmoredCavalry (Nov 17, 2015)

Sorry for late reply, for some reason I didn't get any thread notifications, even though I have it watched, and notifications are turned on. Checked spam folder as well, nothing...

So, I ended up getting some 2400MHz RAM and it seemed to run fine at 2133MHz. However, I didn't see any big improvements in the frame rates/drops in Fallout 4, unfortunately. Still plenty of drops into the 50's in problem areas.

So, maybe the faster memory speeds are only really useful for the newer CPUs, like 4790K? I dunno...


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## rtwjunkie (Nov 17, 2015)

ArmoredCavalry said:


> Sorry for late reply, for some reason wasn't getting thread notifications.
> 
> So, I ended up getting some 2400MHz RAM and it seemed to run fine at 2133MHz. However, I didn't see any big improvements in the frame rates/drops in Fallout 4, unfortunately.
> 
> So, maybe the faster memory speeds are only really useful for the newer CPUs, like 4790K? I dunno...


 
The days when faster memory made a big difference in gaming are long gone.


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## ArmoredCavalry (Nov 17, 2015)

rtwjunkie said:


> The days when faster memory made a big difference in gaming are long gone.



I dunno, according to that benchmark I linked in the original post, they had some large differences (going from 1333-2400 at least). I figured it was worth a shot, but guess I will be returning it.


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## newtekie1 (Nov 18, 2015)

ArmoredCavalry said:


> I dunno, according to that benchmark I linked in the original post, they had some large differences (going from 1333-2400 at least). I figured it was worth a shot, but guess I will be returning it.



That is because they only tested 1333 and 2400.  The fact is 1333 is likely going to cause bottlenecks on a high end gaming rig, but even just going up to 1600 removes that bottleneck.  Going beyond 1600 gives very big diminishing returns.

I noticed some suttering when I had the game installed on my HDD, moving it to the SSD eliminated the stuttering for me.  Is Fallout installed on your SSD?


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## Schmuckley (Nov 18, 2015)

Umm..Sometimes the latency of the memory is what counts.
Actually most times;because if something gets it done quicker,it gets it done quicker.
Also with Fallout X Ugrids..cache,LOD comes into play.Havok threads..
Any Bethesda game.Drivers...HDR


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## Tatty_One (Nov 18, 2015)

basco said:


> your vengeance ram can be overclocked too!
> on your ram the sticker on the side tells you which version you got-if ya can take a pic or tell me what ver. its got.
> you can look yourself for version number which chips you have under hood here:
> http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68811


Agreed, at a guess, if the RAM is really holding back some game performance for me it's more likely to benefit from lower latency, I would get a little more voltage running through them, 1.6V should be absolutely fine with those sticks and the Op may just be able to get CL7 out of them (certainly 8) if he has the appropriate options in his Motherboard Bios.


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## FreedomEclipse (Nov 18, 2015)

faster memory makes a bit more difference if youre running an AMD APU or a Multi-GPU setup. Faster Ram keeps the GPUs fed with data.


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## ArmoredCavalry (Nov 18, 2015)

newtekie1 said:


> That is because they only tested 1333 and 2400.  The fact is 1333 is likely going to cause bottlenecks on a high end gaming rig, but even just going up to 1600 removes that bottleneck.  Going beyond 1600 gives very big diminishing returns.
> 
> I noticed some suttering when I had the game installed on my HDD, moving it to the SSD eliminated the stuttering for me.  Is Fallout installed on your SSD?



Yeah, I guess that could be the case (with only 1300 being a bottleneck). I have Fallout on my SSD, yeap.



Tatty_One said:


> Agreed, at a guess, if the RAM is really holding back some game performance for me it's more likely to benefit from lower latency, I would get a little more voltage running through them, 1.6V should be absolutely fine with those sticks and the Op may just be able to get CL7 out of them (certainly 8) if he has the appropriate options in his Motherboard Bios.



I tried tweaking things on the 1600Mhz ram beforehand, but I couldn't really get the system stable. I tried a lot of combinations of increasing clocks, decreasing timings, increasing voltages, but I think the sticks I got just aren't that great. They seemed especially sensitive to voltage increases (couldn't even get it near 1.6V) It could be partially because two of four are warranty replacements and appear to be slightly different (new XMP profile/timings). Seems like maybe being held back by the 'weakest link' when it comes to tweaking RAM though. Only one of the sticks needs to be unstable for it to fail, right?


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## Tatty_One (Nov 18, 2015)

Yes just one weak stick and the system will fail, it's unusual what you say about not liking higher voltage though, my set are 2133mhz low voltage 1.5V sticks but they love more power, they will run flawlessly at 2400mhz CL10 on 1.65V, try a little exercise, take your weakest 2 sticks out so your original 2 in the slots, then try 1.6V without tweaking anything, boot them up and run something like the AIDA Extreme to test for stability, if good then what I do is start with the first timing, in your case CL9 and try reducing just that one to CL8, if they boot and will run through the test, then leave CL8 and go on to the 2nd timing and so on and so forth.

If you end up with say (just as an example) with 2 sticks that are running stable at 8-8-9-24 then slot the other 2 in and see if the system boots.


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## EarthDog (Nov 18, 2015)

Jstn7477 said:


> Sandy Bridge only does 2400+MHz with two sticks if you're lucky, 2133Hz is generally safe.


Fixed...



FreedomEclipse said:


> faster memory makes a bit more difference if youre running an AMD APU or a Multi-GPU setup. Faster Ram keeps the GPUs fed with data.


Correct, since hte iGPU uses system ram for textures and system ram is a lot slower than GDDR5.


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## Jstn7477 (Nov 18, 2015)

Well, my 2600K must suck then, as 2133 was unstable for me with two sticks, even with the IMC voltage raised. That, or maybe my G.Skill 2133MHz sticks from almost 5 years ago had issues, but they still work fine in my 3770K machine.


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## rtwjunkie (Nov 18, 2015)

Ivy Bridge has inoroved IMC over Sandy Bridge.


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