How different are sticks of RAM and what is the best?

[Tokamocha]

Hello,
I want to buy a set of DDR3 RAM sticks that equal to 16 GB. when I was shopping around I noticed that there were many different timings and numbers that varied within the same sizes of RAM.

My question is what specs make RAM better or worse, and what is a good deal?

If anyone has any advice on the exact model of RAM that you think is good, or can explain all the terms, such as unbuffered, ECC, etc, that would be great.

Thanks

 

[rolli59]

It really depends on what system you are going to put it in but most people buy 1600MHz 1.5 volt ram with CL9 or 8. Some systems will not go past 1333MHz others will go higher than 1600.

 

[Raiddinn]

I would get CT2KIT51264BA1339 x 2

The top two things RAM related that I suggest paying attention to are the DOA rate as in having a broken stick (or more than one) and having to do configuration before it will work.

Both those are absolutely limited with the above suggestion almost regardless of what setup you have. If your board can reach 16GBs, it can pretty much reach it that way just fine.

ECC means error checking as in the RAM checks itself before doing things, which makes it much slower. It is only ever used for server systems. Non-ECC is good enough for everything else.

 

[Tokamocha]

Best answer selected by Tokamocha.

 

[nikorr]

This topic has been closed by Nikorr