7 replies to this topic

[Technique]

I believe the maximum my motherboard can hold is 16GB, so that's what i'd like.

Motherboard like so: http://www.asus.com/...A88TDV_EVOUSB3/

Good or best RAM for this motherboard? I understand 4x4GB=16GB, but with a range of prices there must be a reason & i'm not one who believes top price=best quality as it isn't always the case. These RAM chips have a lot of numbers in their name (aside from the 4GB) so i don't know what is suited, what isn't, what is good, what isn't.

T.I.A.


As i understand there's many members from outside the UK on this website, then the typical websites i'd be buying from would be:

http://www.ebuyer.com
http://www.scan.co.uk

I know there's Overclockers - but i find that they're generally quite expensive compared to the previous two mentioned (usually).

[+Crisp]

£30... 8GB, 1600MHz DDR3...

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item2a25a47bdb

Do you really need 16GB?

This time next year your RAM will be out of date anyway with the release of DDR4.

[capr]

Here is a quick tutorial. there is always a number with GB following it. that's the amount of ram. it's important over 4 is fine.

there is always 1x, 2x, 4x number. this tells you how many sticks there will be to make up the GB number we just went over. less sticks means you can upgrade more in the future. your mobo will usually have 4 slots.

there is always a number followed by -pin. this is the pin count for the sticks. you need to make sure this matches your mobo. it's basically telling you the socket type (size).

there is always a DDR2,3 number. this is the classification for the technology used. it is directly related to the speeds you are going to get. again, it needs to match your mobo and higher is better.

your ddr number will be followed by a number in the 1000s. this is the actual speed of the ram. higher the better isn't the case since your board will lower the number depending on the CPU speed and some other mobo factors

there is always a PC2,3 number followed by a number in the 10000s. this is the peak transfer speed in MB/s. don't worry about it. jsut go with the ddr3 1000s number that we went over first

now it gets hard.... you wont' see these numbers in the name but they are the reason for some of the major price differences.
timing, cas latency. these two are very important but you shouldn't worry about them. voltage is about power usage but again don't worry about it.

one last thing that affects ram price is the casing they use for it. some have heatsinks built in and you can even mount fans on top of them.... you don't care about this either.

hope this is helpful in the long run.

[+PeterUK]

Unless you need low profile RAM this kit will be fine.
http://www.scan.co.u...9-9-24-xmp-150v

[+Phouchg]

Go Corsair or Kingston. Corsair simply makes most of the good stuff (for a midrange price), and if it still fails, their RMA has been top-notch even in otherwise forgotten areas (given that retailer, if there is one, isn't some totally irresponsible shyte). Kingston - about the same for a bit less monies. OCZ and, strangely, Crucial/Micron have failed me one time too many. Other ones I can't vouch for, not enough data by far.

As for 16 GB: because I couldn't afford a decent SSD, I've recently bumped from 8 to 16 GB, so that I can use ramdisk. Poor man's solution - reading in/writing out, obviously, still sucks, but after that it's warp speed 10, and, moreover, I don't have to worry about life span of writes or anything. If it's cheap - why not! Moar horsepwer gagabites

[Technique]

Thanks for the replies guys

Crisps, on 18 November 2012 - 19:10, said:

This time next year your RAM will be out of date anyway with the release of DDR4.

Will the board support DDR4?

If not then DDR4 is a bit wasted on me then.

Even if the board will support it, what 'real-world' difference is there going to be between DDR3 & DDR4?

[+Phouchg]

DDR4 will not be compatible. No DRAM has been so far either. DDR4 has different architecture (one DIMM per channel now), higher frequencies (therefore, bandwidth), lower voltages, higher densities and simply different pinout. And they'll be ridiculously overpriced at launch, anyway.

[Technique]

Phouchg, on 18 November 2012 - 20:37, said:

DDR4 will not be compatible. No DRAM has been so far either. DDR4 has different architecture (one DIMM per channel now), higher frequencies (therefore, bandwidth), lower voltages, higher densities and simply different pinout. And they'll be ridiculously overpriced at launch, anyway.

Thanks for the clear up on that.

In that case, it makes the comment regarding DDR4 a bit of a pointless one, as i wont be changing MOBOs any time soon - & by any time soon i mean for a good number of years.