[Help] H370 motherboard performance with 3000Mhz RAM

[BrutalBubu]

Hello Everyone,

 

I am upgrading from my 3rd Gen i5 to the 8th Gen i5. I had waited a long time for the H370 to become available, however when it is here, I am in a dilemma to choose the right one. I have watched so many reviews, guides, benchmarks, videos etc. but in none of those I found my answer. So, lets ask here too.

 

My build:

1. CPU: i5 8400

2. Motherboard : ?? TBD  ??

3. RAM: Corsair or G Skill 3000Mhz 8GBx2 C16 (C15 is hardly available in my place)

 

Things I already have:

4. GPU: Zotac 1060 6GB amp edition

5. HDD: 1TB WD Blue

6. SSD: 250GB Samsung 860 Evo

7. PSU: Corsair CX600

 

Now lets come to the question.

How much is the performance difference in Games when I compare the below set of boards with i5 8400 + 8GBx2 3000Mhz C16 RAM:

 

Asus ROG STRIX H370-F GAMING $172

GIGABYTE H370 AORUS Gaming 3 WIFI $165

 

AND

 

Gigabyte Z370 AORUS ULTRA GAMING 2.0 $246

Gigabyte Z370 AORUS ULTRA GAMING WIFI $269
Asus Strix Z370-F Gaming $243
Asrock FATAL1TY Z370 GAMING K6 $215

  

Because the difference is only in RAM frequency which I cannot use in H370, it is limited to 2666Mhz, so how much is the performance difference with 3000Mhz? Its like a bad feeling that I have a higher speed RAM but I cannot use it because of the motherboard limitation.

Now when we consider the performance then comes the price, the prices above are what I pay in India. So is it worth going the Z370 way or take the H370? I would never go for future processor upgrade so no question of having the Z370 for future upgrades. I might overclock the GPU but that has nothing to do with the Board I guess.

 

Now for the people out there who might suggest me to get 2666Mhz RAMs, to answer them, I can only find RAMs of 2400Mhz and above 3000Mhz, nothing in between are available.

 

One more thing that the 3000Mhz RAMs run with 1.35V whereas the 2666Mhz runs with 1.2V, when I put the 3000Mhz RAM into a H370 board then will the downclocked RAM gets 1.2V or 1.35V? Can a H370 board handle the 3000Mhz RAMs properly?

[samcool55]

Nothing, the CPU is locked so it's pointless getting a Z370 board, the cheapest H370 is good enough.

[Jurrunio]

Are looks that important? Because B360 is what usually compared with Z370. H370 boards are rarely considered because they dont support overclocking but only barely cheaper than Z370.

 

Effect of dropping RAM to 2666 is tiny. Not something I'd be worried.

[BrutalBubu]

Those blings on those chosen H370 boards are not the main reason (but one of the reasons I wouldnt deny) attracts me, the main reason is that the more HSIO lanes in H370 are more than B360 and the H370 boards have the better ALC1220 audio engine, this is important to me. 

You might have noticed that all that boards I mentioned have that ALC1220 audio engine.

 

HSIO lanes are important for me, may be not all those I would use, but I have too many USB and SATA engagements, in future I will buy one NVMe M.2 as well.

 

More to say B360 and H370 have a price difference of less than 1000INR = $14-15 so it doesnt make sense for me to buy B360 to save only that amount and sacrifice features

 

On 5/16/2018 at 6:00 AM, Jurrunio said:

Effect of dropping RAM to 2666 is tiny. Not something I'd be worried.

This is what I am looking for, how much FPS difference? Any at all?

Can I run that 3000Mhz C16 RAM to 2666Mhz C14 (C13 if possible) or it would run in 2666Mhz C16?

 

One more thing that the 3000Mhz RAMs run with 1.35V whereas the 2666Mhz runs with 1.2V, when I put the 3000Mhz RAM into a H370 board then will the downclocked RAM gets 1.2V or 1.35V? Can a H370 board handle the 3000Mhz RAMs properly?

 

I am adding this to my OP

[Jurrunio]

47 minutes ago, BrutalBubu said:

This is what I am looking for, how much FPS difference? Any at all?

Can I run that 3000Mhz C16 RAM to 2666Mhz C14 (C13 if possible) or it would run in 2666Mhz C16?

might see up to 5% effect in minimum frame rates, not something you notice when actually playing the games.

 

idk. After enabling XMP, set the frequency to 2666 and see if it gives as lower timings settings. Usually it does, but I'm not sure how low it will go.

54 minutes ago, BrutalBubu said:

Those blings on those chosen H370 boards are not the main reason (but one of the reasons I wouldnt deny) attracts me, the main reason is that the more HSIO lanes in H370 are more than B360 and the H370 boards have the better ALC1220 audio engine, this is important to me. 

You might have noticed that all that boards I mentioned have that ALC1220 audio engine.

 

HSIO lanes are important for me, may be not all those I would use, but I have too many USB and SATA engagements, in future I will buy one NVMe M.2 as well.

 

More to say B360 and H370 have a price difference of less than 1000INR = $14-15 so it doesnt make sense for me to buy B360 to save only that amount and sacrifice features

Then I prefer the H370 Gaming 3. Asus one only sells you AURA sync and the brand name, while it cost more and lacks WiFi (which is good when you're trying to sell it in the future).

 

30 minutes ago, BrutalBubu said:

One more thing that the 3000Mhz RAMs run with 1.35V whereas the 2666Mhz runs with 1.2V, when I put the 3000Mhz RAM into a H370 board then will the downclocked RAM gets 1.2V or 1.35V? Can a H370 board handle the 3000Mhz RAMs properly?

 

I am adding this to my OP

Any chipset can handle RAM voltage much higher than that, it's not an issue.

[FatalArchon]

On 5/16/2018 at 5:33 PM, Jurrunio said:

might see up to 5% effect in minimum frame rates, not something you notice when actually playing the games.

 

idk. After enabling XMP, set the frequency to 2666 and see if it gives as lower timings settings. Usually it does, but I'm not sure how low it will go.

Then I prefer the H370 Gaming 3. Asus one only sells you AURA sync and the brand name, while it cost more and lacks WiFi (which is good when you're trying to sell it in the future).

 

Any chipset can handle RAM voltage much higher than that, it's not an issue.

I have a similar build idea as OP.. I would go for gigabyte h370 wifi edition. You get far better IO support and a wifi module. 

I know the max ram frequency it supports is 2666mhz. 

Correct me on this if we can use a xmp profile higher then this. If not I would manually lower the cl one at a time run a memory stability test to find a sweet spot. (for ops ram) it is less then 4000mhz difference. 

Or sell that ram and get a hyperx ram which has a xmp support of 2666mhz with CL 13. That is a latency of 9.25ms

Model no. Hx426cl3pb3/8