Memory compatibility

[DesiPower]

I was reading some reviews on newegg and there were a few memory issues reported by people and one of them reported that after having problem, when he switched memories with ones tested by the manufacturer everything worked fine.

I looked up on the manufacturer's website (ASRock) and the list was Looong with memories listed that are not even supported by the board, like DDR3 2400 and 2000 for a H67 board. For 1333 ones I noticed that they were all "10666" modules.

My question is
1. Is it really necessary to go with manufacturer's recomendations?
2. Is there any perticular specification I should be looking? for examples ASRock H67 supports 10666 only?
3. Is there any rule of thumb? like buy this make or this speed or somthing and they will be universally compatiable.

The reason I am asking is coz I was planning to go with a G.SKILL 1333 10600 with no heat skin and it was $39 and the recomended one is 1333 10666 with a heatsink and costs $45...

 

[fffblackmage]

1. Is it really necessary to go with manufacturer's recomendations?
2. Is there any perticular specification I should be looking? for examples ASRock H67 supports 10666 only?

No, if the specs says you need DDR3-1333 (PC3-10600), then any ram with that spec should be assumed good.

3. Is there any rule of thumb? like buy this make or this speed or somthing and they will be universally compatiable.

Good brands are generally preferred, but it's not necessary. I've bought lesser known names like Geil, A-data, and Avexir, and those worked just fine. The only brand I would stay away from is OCZ. They've had issues and ended up leaving the DRAM market (guess it's that bad).

The reason I am asking is coz I was planning to go with a G.SKILL 1333 10600 with no heat skin and it was $39 and the recomended one is 1333 10666 with a heatsink and costs $45...

That sounds good. The heatsink isn't necessary. In fact, tall heatsinks, like one those Corsair Vengence or G.Skill Ripjaws, may interfere with some tower heatsinks.

 

[BoomerD]

Generally, the ones on the board's QVL list are the ones they've actually tested with their motherboard.
Even though the Corsair RAM I bought wasn't on the ASUS QVL, Corsair said it would work...and it does.