Paul writes:

Haines Brown wrote:
In the past I've had no problem picking RAM according to motherboard
specifications and had no trouble, but this time the more I
investigate, the less comfortable I become.

http://www.gskill.com/en/configurator

Thank you for your very informative post. It didn't occur to me to visit
Skill to see what they might recommend for my motherboard. I see they
offers a wide selection. My intuition is that the RipjawsZ is intended
for overclocking. The Sniper SDRAM is much shorter and it is not clear
how they can recommend it for the motherboard. Am I correct to assume
that the DDR3-1600s are faster than the DDR3-1333s? I gather that the
timing 9-9-9-24 and voltage will probably have to be defined in
Gigabyte's BIOS.

If I go to ark.intel.com and select a 4790K processor, it lists

Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type) 32 GB
Memory Types DDR3-1333/1600

So the motherboard appears to stick with the Intel recommendation,
rather than going crazy with overclocks.

Your board has an extensive CPU support chart, and I don't
see any immediate danger signs there.

http://www.gigabyte.com/support-down....aspx?pid=4962

Notice the processor at the top of the chart requires BIOS
version B4.

Yes, the 4790K is my CPU, which requires BIOS version F4. Is the
implication that the Intel H97 - GA-H97-D3H (rev. 1.0) has it, or will I
have to start by flashing my BIOS? :-(

The Haswell has FIVR, a thin film switching regulator system inside
the processor, that makes the ~1.0V for the CPU die. The advantage of
FIVR, is the power can be more steady in there (shorter distance from
regulator to distribution plane). The disadvantage is any heat created
by that regulator, adds to the thermal load of the processor (part of
the TDP).

Yes, I anticipated heat and bought a good after market cooler.

Haines