[sierrahotel]

Background info:

System built in August 2012 primarily to run FSX and DCS

 

Intel core i5 3550 3.30 GHz

P8z68v lx

Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti

Patriot G Series Sector 5 DDR3 1333 MHz 8GB (2x4 GB)

HDD 2TB

Windows 7 64-bit

 

My PC has experienced occasional stuttering (question 3) almost since I first built it. For about 2.5 years I was away from my PC and consequently never investigated the problem further. The stuttering would not just happen while in FSX and DCS. For example, it could happen while on youtube as well.

 

At present:

Currently updating for X-plane 11 and DCS 2.0+

New SDD, additional memory (Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600MHz ) and a new GPU.

 

I jumped the gun in purchasing Corsair ram that apparently will not work with the existing Patriot ram I have. However, I have also read that both types of ram can potentially work together, but at the lower MHz (reduced clock rate?).

1. Can both types of ram work together?
2. If they can, would it be advisable to go with the Corsair 16GB alone or combine all memory? I would prefer 24GB over 16GB but I understand there could be drawbacks here.

What is interesting is that PcPartPicker has stated that the original Patriot DDR3 runs at 1.65V which is too high for the i5 3550 which maxes out at 1.5V (5% 1.575V). From what I have read, overheating is the concern here but I also read to the contrary that the ram can take the added heat but that this is not necessary because the CPU will automatically down clock the ram to 1.5V. Additionally I read that you can go into BIOS and change the ram speed. Basically, I don’t know what is correct and what isn’t. 

 

      3. So did I originally in 2012 purchase the incorrect memory (thanks tigerdirect) and could this be the reason for the stuttering that I have experienced? If this is the case, then I        presume this rules out any further use of the Patriot ram. Correct?

 

Might have to read through this one a couple of times. Thanks in advance for taking the time to look this over.

 

- Matt

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    sierrahotel,

 

Before I get to answering your questions, there is one major component missing from your list of parts, the PSU, please post the brand and model name or number of the power supply that you have been using since August 2012, can you also post the same for the new GPU that you have purchased.

 

In answer to your questions;

 

Can both types of ram work together?

 

 

If both the same voltage then yes but the 1600MHz RAM will only run at the reduced speed of 1333MHz.

 

If they can, would it be advisable to go with the Corsair 16GB alone or combine all memory? I would prefer 24GB over 16GB but I understand there could be drawbacks here.

 

 

X-plane 11 is the most demanding software that you wish to run with the recommendation being 16 to 20GB of RAM for best performance, 16GB of the faster 1600MHz RAM would be how I would set up your rig, sell the slower RAM and if hungry for more add another 2X4 or 8GB sticks of same spec Corsair.

 

So did I originally in 2012 purchase the incorrect memory (thanks tigerdirect) and could this be the reason for the stuttering that I have experienced? If this is the case, then I        presume this rules out any further use of the Patriot ram. Correct?

 

 

Not necessarily, please see my canned text below;

 

For the best and most stable performance you should where possible purchase a CPU and Ram that have been tested and approved by the motherboard manufacturer, this is referred to as the QVL ( qualified vendors list ) understand though that there are too many products released for them all to be tested so other hardware will be compatible but not proven to be.

 

 

 

 

[phillpower2]

    sierrahotel,

 

Before I get to answering your questions, there is one major component missing from your list of parts, the PSU, please post the brand and model name or number of the power supply that you have been using since August 2012, can you also post the same for the new GPU that you have purchased.

 

In answer to your questions;

 

Can both types of ram work together?

 

 

If both the same voltage then yes but the 1600MHz RAM will only run at the reduced speed of 1333MHz.

 

If they can, would it be advisable to go with the Corsair 16GB alone or combine all memory? I would prefer 24GB over 16GB but I understand there could be drawbacks here.

 

 

X-plane 11 is the most demanding software that you wish to run with the recommendation being 16 to 20GB of RAM for best performance, 16GB of the faster 1600MHz RAM would be how I would set up your rig, sell the slower RAM and if hungry for more add another 2X4 or 8GB sticks of same spec Corsair.

 

So did I originally in 2012 purchase the incorrect memory (thanks tigerdirect) and could this be the reason for the stuttering that I have experienced? If this is the case, then I        presume this rules out any further use of the Patriot ram. Correct?

 

 

Not necessarily, please see my canned text below;

 

For the best and most stable performance you should where possible purchase a CPU and Ram that have been tested and approved by the motherboard manufacturer, this is referred to as the QVL ( qualified vendors list ) understand though that there are too many products released for them all to be tested so other hardware will be compatible but not proven to be.

 

 

 

 

[sierrahotel]

Hi Phil,

 

The PSU I have is: ULT-LSP750

 

Ultra Professional LSP (Lifetime Series Professional) 750

750 Watt Peak ATX Power Supply - 135mm fan

 

Output

+3.3V   +5V   +12V   -12V   +5VSB

  28A     30A    68A     0.8A    3A

       180W      816W   9.6W   15W

          730W                    20W

                         750W

 

As for the GPU, I have not purchased this yet. I am looking at the GTX 1070 though. Beyond that I would not know if a specific version of it would be better suited. I did however purchase the SDD. The Radeon R3 Series (R3SL240G) is the one I went with.

 

I agree with you on the sole use of the Corsair 1600 MHz ram. Good call.

Edited by sierrahotel, 26 November 2016 - 08:32 PM.

[phillpower2]

Hello sierrahotel,

 

Sorry to be blunt but that PSU is junk and quite possibly the cause of the previous problems that you have had, claims to be 750W but only produced 540W when tested, see database here and rated Tier Five here with the advisory "Avoid IMMEDIATELY." , the PSU is out of warranty in any event and even if a good brand would need replacing before upgrading.

[sierrahotel]

Well that is disconcerting. It's a potential fire hazard FFS. I did not do my homework when it came to the PSU back in 2012. I did tell the tigerdirect employee to give me a good PSU though, and this seems anything but that. I have just placed an order for the EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G2 220-G2-0850-XR 80+ GOLD 850W. It appears to have great reviews. I also purchased another 1x8gb of the same Corsair ram to get me up to 24gb. So, you feel the stuttering is more or less due to the PSU in this instance?

 

Right now I'm pretty certain I am going to go with the GTX 1070. X-plane 11 was just released on Beta and I hear the bugs are being worked out. I'll probably wait a month to purchase it and at that time spring for the GPU.

[phillpower2]

So, you feel the stuttering is more or less due to the PSU in this instance?

 

 

Please note what I said in my reply #4;

 

Sorry to be blunt but that PSU is junk and quite possibly the cause of the previous problems that you have had

 

 

the PSU is out of warranty in any event and even if a good brand would need replacing before upgrading.

 

 

The PSU was the only weak component in your build and it would need replacing as part of your upgrade path in any event, in essence it should not be seen as an unforeseen expense but more as a necessity to protect your new hardware, great choice of PSU btw and with the added security of a 10 year warranty, you chose well 

 

I also purchased another 1x8gb of the same Corsair ram to get me up to 24gb.

 

 

In case you are not aware, If you add an additional 8GB stick your RAM will only work in single channel mode, that was why I mentioned in reply #2 "if hungry for more add another 2X4 or 8GB sticks of same spec Corsair."

[sierrahotel]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also purchased another 1x8gb of the same Corsair ram to get me up to 24gb.

 

 

In case you are not aware, If you add an additional 8GB stick your RAM will only work in single channel mode, that was why I mentioned in reply #2 "if hungry for more add another 2X4 or 8GB sticks of same spec Corsair."

 

 

No I was not aware actually. I read that to mean 2x4GB or 1x8GB.

 

I did not know what single channel mode was. I knew to place the ram into the same colours. Having a look on the net I found the following quote below. Makes a little sense to me. Is this a huge deal?

 

 

 

"A single channel can often achieve the best latency characteristics compared with multi-channel configurations, however, it's rare to find a workload that scales better with the improved latency than it would with the significant bandwidth advantages that come from running multiple channels.

Configuration changes effecting performance, in order from having the most effect to the least effect in my experience:
1. Channel interleave
2. Rank interleave
3. Speed
4. Timings

That's not to say I haven't managed to find some workloads that scale with channel interleave at the bottom of that list, but in these cases, the performance advantage of going that route aren't significant enough to offset the advantages of channel interleave in other workloads.

 

The benefit of using four independent 64-bit DRAM channels over a single large 256-bit DRAM channel is reduced latency for small datasets, especially those that have little spatial locality.

Loading a physically contiguous 256 byte dataset aligned on a 256 byte boundary using channel interleaving would be incredibly quick. Just select rank0,bank0 and read the desired column address. However, loading the same data set using bank interleaving requires opening four rows on four banks on one channel (banks 0,1,2,3) and burst transferring from all of them sequentially. Multiple channels does not help here. Without any interleaving, the memory controller would have to perform four separate read operations from the same row (or two rows if it crosses a row boundary) from a single bank.

Similarly, loading a physically contiguous 64 byte data set (a single cache block) using channel interleaving would be quick if the memory controller could operate all four channels independently, but if the channels are ganged together, 192 bytes out of 256 bytes will be masked off. As a result, loading two or more unrelated 64-byte datasets may result in a block which incurs a latency penalty. Loading the same 64 byte data set using bank interleaving is very simple as well. However, if no interleaving is done, the memory controller may be blocked while it waits for another read operation on the same bank to complete. Ganging in a bank-interleaved configuration would be quite useless as there's non-unit stride between the addresses associated with each channel.

Channel and bank interleaving provides the best of both worlds and results in lower random access times across the board. "

[phillpower2]

No I was not aware actually. I read that to mean 2x4GB or 1x8GB.

 

 

I purposely said "sticks" and not " 2X4GB sticks or an 8GB stick"  of same spec Corsair, sorry if you misread it, can you have it swapped for 2X4GB sticks of matching Corsair.

 

It is much easier to explain and understand in layman's terms, compatible RAM operating in dual channel mode is twice as effective as RAM working in single channel mode, they wouldn`t have bothered inventing DDR (double data rate) if that was not the case.

[sierrahotel]

 

No I was not aware actually. I read that to mean 2x4GB or 1x8GB.

 

 

I purposely said "sticks" and not " 2X4GB sticks or an 8GB stick"  of same spec Corsair, sorry if you misread it, can you have it swapped for 2X4GB sticks of matching Corsair.

 

It is much easier to explain and understand in layman's terms, compatible RAM operating in dual channel mode is twice as effective as RAM working in single channel mode, they wouldn`t have bothered inventing DDR (double data rate) if that was not the case.

 

That's okay, it is my fault. I checked and I am not able to make changes to my order. I'll wait for it to arrive and exchange it for the 2x4GB. For future reference, would the 4gb and 8gb sticks have to be in the same colour slots? It would alternate between them correct? 4/8/4/8?

Edited by sierrahotel, 29 November 2016 - 01:19 PM.

[phillpower2]

2 X 8GB sticks in slots A2 and B2 (the blue slots) and when they arrive put the 2 X 4GB sticks in slots A1 and B1 (the black slots).

[sierrahotel]

Okay cool that's what I thought. Mind if I ask you another question? I will be installing the OS onto the SDD. I have backed up the HDD so I can wipe it clean if need be. I have been searching if it is possible to remove the OS from the HDD without wiping it of the remaining contents. Can this be done or is it best to just wipe it?

[phillpower2]

Best to start a new thread for your latest question as it is going off topic but in answer to your question, yes, it can be done but how depends on certain other factors.

[sierrahotel]

Ack, will start another thread. PSU is installed though and looks good.

[phillpower2]

[sierrahotel]

I have since checked my PC with the new PSU and the stuttering still persists. See what you make of this example. If I switch a video resolution from 480p to 1080p HD in youtube, often the stuttering will commence briefly for a couple of seconds. Later on, say 30 seconds later, it will stutter again. So on and so on. I believe I updated the sound driver to the most recent one some time ago. Is this GPU related? Keep in mind that this has happened since I first put this PC together back in mid-2012. It will stutter during DCS and FSX but not always. It's more the case of whether or not it decides to act up. If it starts to stutter, you can bet it will continue periodically. Otherwise it is not so frequent.