Intel corei5 2500k, best memory configuration; & how much shared ram?

[idata]

Hi,

I'm in the process of upgrading my pc, and wondered what type of motherboard and memory would best fit this processor?

On my XP, I never needed more than 2GB of RAM.

Now I'm thinking of buying a corei5 2500k processor (the bugfixed version which will be released second part of february), Windows 7 64 bit, SSD, and install between 4 and 8GB of RAM.

I'm concerned about getting max performance, and min power usage.

I'm looking at motherboards that provide 2, 3, and 4 slots of DDR3 memory, and question what is the best and most optimal stock setting?

I can choose to install between:

2x2GB (=4GB, minimum)

3x2GB (=6GB, I think optimal)

2x4GB (=8GB)

3x4GB (=12GB, maximum)

4x4GB (=16GB, only if benchmarks prove there's a substantial performance gain in installing all 4 slots of memory)

All DDR3 memory.

I seriously doubt I need any more than 2GB of program memory. Add 786MB of Windows OS memory, and ~?512-1024?MB of VRAM, and I suspect I won't use more than 4GB for the mean time, but still want to be able to up the memory to 12GB if the future points out it is necessary.

From power consumption perspective it is better to keep the dimm slots low

From performance perspective, here are my questions:

Is it better to install 2x4GB than 4x2GB?

Is it better to install 3 DIMM slots of DDR3 memory than 2 or 4?

Is it better to buy a motherboard with only 3 slots (and equip them with 3x2GB), rather than buying a 4slot board and leave 1 slot unused?

What is the best speed of memory fitting the corei5 2500k processor, when NOT overclocking? I don't want to invest nearly double the money on memory that will not significantly improve performance anyway. So comments to insert 2133Mhz will be largely ignored. Performance and value are very important for me, so I suspect I'd either get 1333Mhz for quad or tri slot, or 1666Mhz dualslot DDR3 memory.

For the internal graphics:

How much is the maximum on shared memory of the graphics chip?, and does this value change when installing more memory (eg: is this value different when having 2GB of ram compared to 16GB of RAM)?

I don't really want to install more than 12GB, as I doubt I'll need more than 4GB for the mean time. I can always upgrade later if necessary, but the mobo needs to support it.

I never overclock, and keep everything at stock settings.

I prefer a low power profile computer, meaning I don't want to install a 4th 2GB RAM stick if it impacts performance only marginally.

My PC will be mainly used to display HD movies, occasional gaming, and photo editing, and occasional video editing.

I really don't know if it's better to go with a mobo having three memory slots or four, and what to put in there.

Comments, thoughts, remarks and ideas greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

[idata]

Bump, anyone?

[idata]

I've used 4 x 4 GB of Corsair Vengeance Dual Channel DDR3 1866 MHz RAM (16 MHz total) on my Sandy Bridge built (the motherboard failed a week ago). I didn't noticed significant performance gain using the maximum RAM (besides web pages opening faster than before). I tried overclocking it to 2133 MHz but it's impossible to overclock the RAM when all RAM slots were occupied.

My suggestion is for you to get the higher maximum RAM frequency available but go with 8 GB of total RAM (with 2 RAM slots unoccupied). 1866 MHz seems to be the higher RAM maximum frequency available at 4 GB per RAM stick.The 2133 MHz are not yet available plus it's going to be very expensive I think once its available so it's not practical to use it.