oc ram/mobo help

[drewjustforyou]

Thinking about buying this mobo:

Newegg.com - MSI 870A-G54 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

and this ram:

Newegg.com - CORSAIR XMS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) Desktop Memory Model CMX4GX3M2A2000C9

is there anything special that needs to be done to make this set-up work at full speed (2000 mhz) or can it be plug and played?

Also, does anyone see anything wrong with this setup?

Additionally, 4 core or 6 core?

Thanks so much for input.

-Drew

 

[Slaymate]

The ram may or may not set itself up, probably not. While I do have DDR3 2000 myself, I rarely keep it running at 2000 MHz. It puts a big strain on the memory controller, which usually requires a boost in the controllers stock voltage. This adds more heat which equals more instabilities, especially at the cpu speeds I run at.

If you want some good, fast memory I would buy this OCZ kit of DDR3 1600. It priced great and if you raise the latencies it will probably overclock to close to 2000 MHz. It may not run quite as fast as the Corsair but it will probably run close. And you can use the savings on a better cpu.
Newegg.com - OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G16004GK

If it was me I'd be buying the 6 core thinking of the future, but at this very moment a fast quad core will probably perform just as well or better in most games.

 

[Dr.House]

I would recommend this: Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL8D-4GBRM

It is probably your best bet, if you look closely at the specs for the mobo, even 1600 requires some Overclocking to be done (OC) I would take the highest clock you can get without OC, unless you can be really sure it won't cause some flaky-ness in your system.

Plus that RAM has good timings and should be fine if you do choose to overclock it, not anything too extreme though.

I personally am just a bit cautious when it comes to overclocking because it hasn't produced stable results for me in the past, but its your machine, take my advice for what its worth (probably very little)

 

[drewjustforyou]

my goal is to get the GF to build her own rig, but she is relying on me to make it easy. I have never forayed into the bounds of OC'd ram, though Im sure I could make it work, I want it to be her deal. With my GFX card, I got the OC'd edition, and it was an easy instal, no bios settings or anything, because the mobo does say 1600 (oc) does that mean it wont work with the oc'd ram, or will it just not work to its fullest potential? (I dont screw around with fast RAM in my rig, DDR2 600 is plenty fast for my needs)

if it'll work out of the box (she can tweak it once she gets some confidence) than we will go with the 1600, otherwise we will do that 1333.

oh and Dr. House, thank you very much for your input, I believe we will end up going with your suggestion, just cause its easier to K.I.S.S.

-Drew

-Edit, what are the odds, before posting this we both had 151 posts... im 1'upping you. /macho

 

[Slaymate]

The Bios in most Motherboards will default to 800 or 1066 MHz. Performance wise DDR3 1600 will be the best fit for your new Modern PC. Adjusting your memory speed is a pretty simple operation, order the 1600 and if you need help all you have to do is ask