RAM, 1333 vs 1600, 1.25V vs 1.5V

[Arterial]

Dear everyone,

I'm planning to make a new computer.

I'm either going to use the ASUS P8Z68-V-PRO, or the ASRock Z68 Extreme 4 (with my i7 2600K), which means I'm planning to overclock.

What are the differences in 1333 and 1600 (and even others)? What are the differences between 1.25V and 1.5V (does 1.25V mean that it would have better performance when OCed to 1.5V)?

[ShyguyXPC]

I assume your talking about DDR3 1333MHz, vs 1600MHz, the difference is the clock speeds they run at, and thus Data Bandwidth their capable of. Obviously 1600MHz is going to shuffle more data than 1333 will. 1600MHz is an Overclock rating as well. your CPU and board should run the RAM at its stock 1333MHz speed from the start (you'll need to tweak it in the bios to reach 1600MHz, but no need to jump it up to 1600 right away, since 1600 is its official max rating, may be capable of more possibly).

As to 1.25V, that should be the base voltage the RAM should be capable of doing, depending on how things progress with the Overclocking, you may need to boost the RAM's voltage to produce a stable Overclock. Some ram can overclock with little to no voltage increase, others need to start increasing as soon as you start OCing.

Keep in mind, some boards allow you to separate the CPU and RAM when overclocking, allowing you to only boost the CPU and keep the RAM at its stock speeds.