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Choosing memory brand

T

taq8ojh

Golden Member
I decided to replace my current memory, which is Corsair Vengeance. It's been giving me problems the whole time I've owned it, and I grew tired of the crap.
I sort of always bought their memory, so I am fairly undereducated on the whole subject.
Which are the better, "more" (I understand there are not exactly huge differences anyway) reliable brands? At one point I was looking at Mushkin, but it didn't materialize. This was the only specific brand I considered (and I still like it), but people buy lots of different ones, and I am a bit lost.

Basically, I am looking for something that's perfectly reliable without any known compatibility problems. To be more specific, it has to be 2x8GB modules rated at either 1866 or 2133MHz at 1.5V. Low profile memory is very welcome bonus, but not a requirement. Overclocking is not planned.

What else could I get?
 
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I've had experience with Kingston Value Select, OCZ, and G.Skill. The Kingston worked fine a few systems back, the OCZ was a dual channel kit with one dead stick, and I just upgraded my current system with G.Skill (it's been using G.Skill for 2 years). My current preference is G.SKill and last I checked, online reviews weren't bad for it. Both kits ran/run at their advertised timings by default.
 
I don't only have Mushkin RAM, but I've always liked Mushkin because of their warranty and customer service, and I've never had any problems with compatibility.
 
Crucial, typically, and look for low voltage, like 1.35V (you can always run 1.35V sticks higher, w/o any CPU risk). For the least hassle, get a kit of the total RAM size you want for your PC, that has the fewest sticks, as long as your mobo+CPU can handle them. Also, stick to Intel CPUs, and don't overclock your RAM (you really don't need to--get CAS 8 or CAS 9 RAM, if you're concerned about physics simulations, Dwarf Fortress, or other latency-sensitive tasks, and be done with it). Nothing against others, but it's hard to go wrong with Crucial, and they have been pricing aggressively, as of late.

8GB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148655
16GB (IE, get one like this): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148657
32GB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148665
 
I buy Crucial and sometimes Kingston (when Crucial is out of stock). I never buy memory with massive heatspreaders, irregardless of brand. I heard, Samsung's low voltage dimms are nice 🙂
 
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Samsung or non-Ballistix Crucial.

Reliability is mostly a function of the chips, with the best chips having brand markings (Samsung, Hynix, Micron, etc.) as opposed to in-house markings (Corsair, Kingston, Patriot, G.Skill, etc.), and they're not overclocked. You may wonder how you can check this when heat spreaders cover the chips. You can't and therefore should assume the worst.
 
Blain said:
If I were shopping for high quality memory, I would use the following parameters as a guide...

* DDR3 rated at 1.5v or lower
* DDR3 rated at the lowest CAS I could afford
* DDR3 rated at the highest clock speed I could afford
* Limit the scope of my purchease to G.Skill, Mushkin, Samsung, Corsair XMS or Crucial (non-Ballistix)

While not wavering on the voltage point, I would balance the other issues with my budget.

Remember, my goal is not pure "benchmarking" performance, but simply finding the highest quality memory I can afford. ^_^
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Blain said:
The only reason I pay a premium for low latency, high speed, low voltage memory is...
Quality and quality alone.
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Blain said:
1.5v is the JEDEC DDR3 voltage standard.
Stay with 1.5v or less if you can afford it..
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:colbert: What he said
 
Why so much Ballistix hate on these forums? Is there something I should know and is it for all Ballistix types (e.g., regular Ballistix, Sport, etc.).
 
Remobz said:
I have the Samsung green memory. Best damn ram I ever owned.
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I bet they'd be those 30nm model, released around 2yrs back, but the 20nm modules under production since last year haven't hit retail yet ! I've been inquiring about them for quite sometime now but alas their is no official confirmation from Samsung as to when it'll hit the general market 😡
 
Hm, Samsung memory seems a bit hard to find, at least in this country. Also, I like how the brand memory has guaranteed parameters. This looks like hit or miss.

I will see about G.skill though. Looks nice.
 
Octopuss said:
Hm, Samsung memory seems a bit hard to find, at least in this country. Also, I like how the brand memory has guaranteed parameters. This looks like hit or miss.

I will see about G.skill though. Looks nice.
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If you can find Samsung at 20nm or even 30nm you won't regret that decision one bit because they're the single largest manufacturer of DRAM in the world & alot many enthusiasts will vouch for them as well as the quality they bring to the table including their NAND parts !
 
Well, I am opened to give it a shot, as long as I can find where to buy that in Europe 😛 The bad thing is it's pretty much ungoogleable, because on first try the results I got were all brand memory modules or various articles.
 
If you're not overclocking, why do you need RAM that is higher than 1333MHz? I have those Samsung RAMs, they're good but YMMV. I've only pushed them to 1866MHz overclocked. G.Skill has plenty of factory binned/overclocked RAMs if you're not interested in overclocking yourself.
 
Octopuss said:
That's what I thought as well. It's just that people said the Samsung stuff was holy grail or something 😛
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Nope but their desktop retail parts at 30nm were industry leading in terms of power & overclocking headroom, even more so at 20nm. As someone else said that even Samsung makes low end parts for OEM's but their retail offerings are at par with best if not being the absolute best amongst them !
 
blastingcap said:
Why so much Ballistix hate on these forums? Is there something I should know and is it for all Ballistix types (e.g., regular Ballistix, Sport, etc.).
Click to expand...

It dates back to the DDR2 days, when Ballistix DDR2 were dropping like flies. I think it was well over 50% failure rate for me personally, and forums were filled with complaints.

Doomer said:
Don't understand the Samsung love. I've seen a boat load of bad Samsung OEM ram over the years.
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Samsung Magic RAM

Low voltage
Low profile
Overclocks like mad
Cheap

This was a mind expanding experience for many overclockers who thought that you had to pay a boatload for factory overclocked and overvolted RAM that had huge heatsinks/heatspreaders.

Like everything else (see Ballistix above) people will probably remember it for years. I still see constant recommendations to "buy this stuff for $15/4GB," even though that pricing and supply is long gone. I expect to continue seeing such statements in forums, just like people refusing to use [insert GPU brand here] due to driver issues fixed years ago, or people equating Celeron = Crap based on vague memories of original Pentium 4 based Celerons, unaware that you can get a $50 dual core Ivy Bridge CPU these days that just happens to have a Celeron name on it. How about the general "I won't use XYZ brand because they are crap" statements? :whiste:
 
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