Hero VIII Alpha optimal ram size/speed for build.

[SinisterDev85]

Hello all!
So, i decided to pull the trigger and buy an Hero VIII Alpha. I'm pretty excited.
I've been looking at ram. Im rather fond of Gskill Tridents and some are on sale right now.
Originally i was going to get the 16gb 3200mhz kit. Seems pretty good. (Im using 16gb of Trident X's on my older build) However, upon reading more about the skylake processors, it would seem that ram speed is taking precedence over tighter timings. I'm trying to squeeze as much performance out of my budget as possible.
I've seen some people say that 8gb is plenty and will be for a while. I've seen others recommended 16 for future proofing. I noticed that for about the same price as the aforementioned kit, i could get an 8gb kit @3733mhz.
What do y'all think? Go with the bigger, slower kit, or the smaller faster kit? I have no experience with the z170 platform, so im kinda learning as i go along and buy parts lol. I don't know how much difference in performance there would be between 3200 and 3733 mhz kits.

[Chino]

For DDR4, 2400MHz is pretty much the sweet spot. I would gladly choose capacity over speed anyday. 🙂

[SinisterDev85]

Ah ok. I just wasn't sure because I've been overloaded trying to learn all i can about the z170 so i make the most informed decisions on buying components. I read a few articles where they were stating that unlike previous generations , higher effective memory frequencies were taking precedence over memory latency . It was saying that higher latency wasn't slowing the Skylakes down due to their super fast caches and that performance was scaling with increased frequencies. Then i saw that companies like G. Skill were making 4000+ mhz ram for the Z170s and began second guessing myself as to whether 3200mhz would be enough lol!

And yeah, i think id rather go with 16gb of ram vs 8.

[Menthol]

Chino always gives the best advice to follow but the price of DDR4 has recently dropped significantly for raw speed the smaller capacity kits have always been the choice and continue to be, 16GB kits are the new norm and soon 32GB kits and above will be. You can't go wrong with Trident Z and the new lower prices make them very affordable, my personal opinion on Skylake platform would be 3200 to 3600 MHZ 16 GB kit but as Chino points out above 2400 MHZ the gains if any are very small, mostly personal satisfaction but right now is a very good time to purchase DDR4

[NemesisChild]

I'm tempted to get the 2x8GB 3400MHz TridentZ set that is on sale now.

A month ago, it was over $200.00, now $139.99 at Newegg.

[SinisterDev85]

Yeah, the prices on DDR4 are great right now! Especially on Newegg. The Trident Z's are more expensive elsewhere ive looked. Thanks for the advice Chino!
Im also considering the 3400 kit. Maybe the 3200. I've seen some forums recommend avoiding the 3000 kit because many of them have had troubles performing at rated speeds. Something about the 3000mhz kit being pushed to the upper limits of what it's capeable of already with the chips used on them, where as the chips being used on the higher speed ones have an easier time running at their rated speeds.

[Chino]

Well, just don't expect those high speed kits to be plug-n-play. 😛

[NemesisChild]

I have had no problems whatsoever with my 3200MHz TridentZ set.

Manual settings versus XMP profile are typically required at these higher speeds.

[otec]

I use Team Group Xtreem 2x8Gb 3733mhz kit, but I can't make it work at 3733mhz with XMP profile. It works stable at 3600mhz with same timings though.