# How much RAM is needed for gaming pc?



## I7wish

Hey guys,
Im doing my final research before putting in my part order and so far im going with 4gb ADATA 1600 mhz. is this enough for gaming with an i7 950 rig with a gtx 570?
I have 4 slots and the 4 gb comes in two 2gb chips so i guess i could just add another 2gb chip if i need more?


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## jamesd1981

i would say no less than 4gb minimum


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## 2048Megabytes

Why get a Socket 1366 processor?  I would get a Socket 1155 Intel Core i7 2600K processor if you are spending that much money.  They are priced at about $330, consume less power and roughly have about 30 percent more processing power over the Core i7 950.

A-Data usually makes decent quality memory.  4 gigabytes of memory is more than enough for most programs.  If you wanted more memory in the future you could get extra memory for the additional slots.


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## Troncoso

2048Megabytes said:


> Why get a Socket 1366 processor?  I would get a Socket 1155 Intel Core i7 2600K processor if you are spending that much money.  They are priced at about $330, consume less power and roughly have about 30 percent more processing power over the Core i7 950.
> 
> A-Data usually makes decent quality memory.  4 gigabytes of memory is more than enough for most programs.  If you wanted more memory in the future you could get extra memory for the additional slots.



Apparently there is a recall on them, so that's a no go until the end of February.


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## powerpack

Whatever! 4GB's!


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## Benny Boy

I7wish said:


> i could just add another 2gb chip if i need more?


If the motherboard supports dual channel, then it *has* to be 2 sticks at a time in order for it to be dual channel. When only using 2 sticks on a 4 slot dual channel motherboard, they must be inserted into the correct 2 slots,,,otherwise it will be 2 sticks running in single channel.


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## FuryRosewood

unless your really sold on L33T Uber low latency crap, you could pick up some reasonably priced ddr3 1333mhz stuff from crucial, really cheap right now per 4 gig pair, 80 bucks....could give a triple channel system 24 gigs for less than 300 bucks... (thats 4gig x2)


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## I7wish

FuryRosewood said:


> unless your really sold on L33T Uber low latency crap, you could pick up some reasonably priced ddr3 1333mhz stuff from crucial, really cheap right now per 4 gig pair, 80 bucks....could give a triple channel system 24 gigs for less than 300 bucks... (thats 4gig x2)



the problem is that i had already ordered 4gb of 1600 mhz ram for a cyberpowerpc that i ended up having to cancel because of the sandy bridge fiasco.

Also, do i need a SATA controller card to run an SSD in conjunction with my normal hard drive?


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## 2048Megabytes

I just read about Intel discovering a bug in their Socket 1155 chipsets.  It's going to cost Intel around 1 billion to fix this problem.  Ouch.

Socket 1155 is off limits until at least March.


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## powerpack

2048Megabytes said:


> I just read about Intel discovering a bug in their Socket 1155 chipsets. It's going to cost Intel around 1 billion to fix this problem. Ouch.
> 
> Socket 1155 is off limits until at least March.


Point is? 4GB?


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## Aastii

If you are going for an i7 950, that is x58 chipset, which is triple channel memory, NOT dual channel, that is the only major difference, along with greater bandwidth on the chipset.

As such, you are better off getting 3 x 2GB memory, to have 6 GB total in triple channel.

G.Skill, Corsair, Crucial, Kingston, Corsair, A-DATA, Mushkin, any of those are decent brands, just go with whichever is cheapest, or if you can get G.Skill Ripjaws for slightly more expensive, the slightly more is worth it


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## Benny Boy

Aastii said:


> If you are going for an i7 950, that is x58 chipset, which is triple channel memory, NOT dual channel


 Thanks for clarifying that.


I7wish said:


> the problem is that i had already ordered 4gb of 1600 mhz ram for a cyberpowerpc that i ended up having to cancel because of the sandy bridge fiasco.
> Also, do i need a SATA controller card to run an SSD in conjunction with my normal hard drive?


You won't have to buy anything to run the ssd. Sata 6.0 would be good to have for it. May need latest AHCI driver tho.


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## Aastii

Benny Boy said:


> Thanks for clarifying that.



To clarify completely:

i5 6xx = dual core i5 processor
i5 7xx = quad core i5 processor
i7 8xx = core i7, socket 1156 (all quad)
i7 9xx = core i7, socket 1366 (970 and 980x hex, the rest quad core)

all socket 1366 boards use x58 chiset and triple channel memory, that doesn't mean that they can not use dual channel though, it just means it is better to use triple channel to use the full bandwidth and make the most of the performance. If you are buying a socket 1366 system with the hopes of using only dual channel memory, you may as well build a socket 1155 system with an i7 and save money on the CPU and motherboard


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## powerpack

4GB is plenty but I would buy 8GB if tri-channel 6GB/12GB.


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## chamgamer

For me the minimum is also 4GB, but i had a lot of money i will stick to the maximum RAM.


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