I wanted to buy 1600MHz DDR3 for my M15x

Hey guys I just purchased my M15x and I was wondering what kind of memory to put in it because I left the stock 3GB 1066MHz DDR3 in my order. I don't know too much about RAM, but I have been hearing that lower cas and memory timing is good. I have also heard that the i7 benefits from 1333MHz, meaning that I can assume that 1600MHz gives a good performance boost as well right? So I was wondering which is the best from the following Memory Sticks for my money's worth:

(I'd assume that #1 is obviously best, but does its performance justify the price)

1) Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 @ 1600MHz [$145]
# Cas Latency: 7
# Timing: 7-7-7-20

2) Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 @ 1600MHz [$110]
# Cas Latency: 9
# Timing: 9-9-9-27

3) Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 @ 1333MHz [$110]
# Cas Latency: 7
# Timing: 7-7-7-20

 

Hey Singh, I got some 1333Mhz sticks myself. I have always heard that the lower the latency the better. Why not go for #3 and save yourself a little dough and try overclocking the ram in the BIOS. Although you cannot overclock the CPU in the M15x you can adjust the voltage and ram speed. I am going to try it myself on mine and check stability.

Maybe try checking reviews of those sticks on Newegg, see if anyone has tried overclocking it or commented on their performance.

 

Here's option #3 apparently an M17x user gave them a good review. check it out under the customer reviews http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104158

 

Hey! That's exactly where I found it too at newegg lol! I was thinking that is probably best approach too because of the low memory timing, but with the talk about 1333MHz being a good boost for i7 I was curious if the same priced 1600MHz would be better?

and I live in the valley too ^.^, UCLA next fall hehe

 

Congrats on becoming a Bruin, I went to UCD myself.

The 1600Mhz I saw on their had a higher latency, I'm not sure which would be the better trade off if the lower latency, but lower speed or higher latency, higher speed. Maybe someone with some experience with these different sticks could jump in and give their two cents. Quite a few people here seem to be of the opinion that the speed does not really matter a lot. I haven't seen any conclusive benchmarks though.

I'm currently not with my M15x so I cannot try overclocking the Ram just yet, but I'll let you know how it turns out. I wonder if these Hyper-X give a good overclock, they have a pretty slick looking heatsink.

 

have people changed the power setting on the bios? what kind of preformance upgrades were shown?

 

You can go into Performance Options in the Bios and adjust Ram Frequency, Ram voltage and turn i7 turbo mode on and off and that's about it. Unfortunately there's no manual i7 overclock on the M15x.

 

Thats what i mean, i saw u could change the voltage to the ram, i wasnt sure what that would do so i left it alone lol

 

explanation is quite simple;

To over clock the ram you need to over clock the bus speed.

But the I7 does not have a bus = Memory controller was removed from the I7 and moved the Ibex chip.

Result:

Memory runs as fast as it can; 1033, 1333, 1600, 1800 depending on the Memory.