Gskill DDR4 Value vs Ripjaws?

[Alpha0mega]

I am putting together a new Haswell-E system, with the following specs:

i7 5820k
MSI X99S SLI Plus
Noctua NH-D15
GTX 970 SLI (brand undecided)
Phantom 530
Reusing my current Seasonic S12-D 850W

I am stuck on the RAM front, and would appreciate some advice. My choices are:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-789-_-Product

vs

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-792-_-Product

Normally I would go with the latter, but the price difference where I live is the equivalent of USD 40-45 (based on current exchange rates).

Just by looking at the spec list, there doesn't seem to be any visible difference between the two kits, apart from the heat spreader. How useful is a HS, especially now that DDR4 is at only 1.2v? I wouldn't mind paying the additional money, since I expect the system to last 4-5 years till the next upgrade, but still don't want to essentially throw away the money if there is no real reason to.

I will be OC'ing the 5820k (max 1.25v), but probably not the RAM, at least not more than either 2666 or perhaps tighten the timings a bit.

So, are there any differences between the two, like better binning etc.? If you were in my position, which one would you go for?

 

[TemjinGold]

I actually like it w/o when not OCing. Less chance of it interfering with your cpu cooling system.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I actually like it w/o when not OCing. Less chance of it interfering with your cpu cooling system.

I've had some thoughts about this. There was a time back in the ancient days of DDR1, when everyone went goo-gah over RAM with heatspreaders. I became familiar with G.SKILL with DDR2. They'd always produced model-lines with nice-looking heatspreaders -- most, excluding the Tridents, were of a reasonably low profile.

If the RAM is rated at a certain speed, voltage and timings, I think I'd feel comfortable without the heatspreaders -- with the assumption that it won't make any difference. These days, it's really not worth the trouble to OC RAM very much: easier to just run at the XMP profile settings. And I'm beginning to suspect that XMP for certain motherboards would simply set a RAM-kit to command-rate of 1. It might in turn require a bump up in the VCCIO voltage, but that's the processor -- not the RAM.

 

[Cerb]

I've had some thoughts about this. There was a time back in the ancient days of DDR1, when everyone went goo-gah over RAM with heatspreaders.

TSOP doesn't use the PCB for heatsinking. BGA does, lessening the benefit of them (then, they are often attached by thick pads, making them entirely decorative).

 

[BonzaiDuck]

TSOP doesn't use the PCB for heatsinking. BGA does, lessening the benefit of them (then, they are often attached by thick pads, making them entirely decorative).

So it's all a marketing frill. I don't think I'd seen many kits with the specs I sought which didn't have heatspreaders. If those special Samsung 1.35V modules had been released before I bought my RAM, I might have bought one or two kits. The G.SKILLs met my spec requirement -- seemed to be among the better low-volted, tight-latency RAM.

I'd say anyone who can be influenced by the "bling" of a RAM kit is dabbling and fiddling with his computer building project. They may look nice, but nobody is going to spend a lot of time looking at them. You want the performance and reliability above any bling.

 

[Alpha0mega]

Thanks for the replies. I am going for the value series, since the price difference here is too much to justify some added bling. Also read elsewhere that the heatspreaders can sometimes be detrimental, trapping heat. Since the Phantom 530 has good airflow, along with additional cooling caused by the NH-D15, I think the non-spreader modules will be fine.

 

[Cerb]

Unless overvolting the RAM, you shouldn't worry about that.