What is better for a gaming computers memory, size or speed ?

[stock12to32]

I have recently ran into a problem with my memory running all 4 sticks at 2133Mhz
See: http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?19414-RAM-or-Motherboard-issue&country=&status=

What would be best for a gaming computer ?
Running 16Gb @ 1866Mhz or 8Gb @ 2133Mhz

Im thinking 8Gb is plenty and I should go for the speed

[DaemonCantor]

Well if your only going to be gaming there have been arguments that you don't need more than 4gigs but I've seen a Vast Improvement by just having 8gigs in not only gaming but other things I do and no I don't just game on this system. I really don't see a need yet for more that 8gigs but that's not to say it might be good in a Year from now. As for speed I have 1600's in my system and I do just fine at gaming and haven't seen a bit of data on the AMD system that run any games faster vers. like 1866 or more...Frame rates are really dependent on your Video Card not system Memory. Things like the AI programming that makes enemies act out from like a Sniper Shot that is dependent on the CPU and Memory system but really you won't see a difference except if your trying to Over Clock the system instead of just Gaming. Now I have seen some improvements on the Intel lines where Higher Speed memory did make some small advancements in Game Quality but not as much as you'd like only around 2% to at most 12% and that's not enough for me to justify the added cost. Now the Difference in game play of an nVidia 260 to like a 560 now that's worth the added cost because not only better Frame Rates but also a lot better Quality.

[flearider]

8 gig would be fine at 1600- 2133 ..but yeah a sli/crossflow system would be better frames .. but saying that my old 5870 still plays em fine ..
best thing to do is play em and see what YOU think one component these days arn't the be all end all ..as a cheap ssd will add to any game ..
it's all down to what you want and how you want to play ..

and with 2 6970's your rocking your own world atm

[DaemonCantor]

Very Well put flearider! I also run the ATI HD5870 and have no trouble unless I try and go Higher than Catalyst 12.3 then I get major trouble!. Like I've stated in the past it don't matter if an AMD system gets 40FPS in Crysis or an Intel gets 40FPS it's still the same game and plays the same, you'll still frag just as much ether way.

[HiVizMan]

There is no 'one' correct answer here. Why I say that is each game will have optimal hardware configurations that are not exactly the same as another. As you know some games are more CPU intensive and others VGA. In the old days of DDR2 the debate was all about latency v frequency. Now we speak about frequency v capacity. And most of the time I would say go for the capacity. It is all very well to have the speed but if your ram has to do half the task 10% quicker then you have not gained at all. That being said 8GB is plenty. 16GB is currently my ideal memory capacity, you are able to clock the sticks to a decent rate, and 1866MHz is very decent as you have found out. Namely because you can play with latency just a bit more at that frequency.

If you can have 16GB at 1866MHz then go for it.