DDR3 On A Budget: Six 6 GB Memory Kits

[Crashman]

Triple-channel 6 GB kits finally dropped below $100 last month. Today’s overclocking and under-latency tests prove how much value these low-cost parts can provide. Sure, Intel's Core i5 might be close at hand, but don't think Core i7 is going anywhere.

DDR3 On A Budget: Six 6 GB Memory Kits : Read more

 

[aspireonelover]

Great review, this helped me determine with determining about DDR3 6GB kits. Since I'm in the middle of building my core i7 rig. thx!
btw, isn't there any cheaper ram on the way as well?

 

[Crashman]

These were all available for under $90 at the July 3 price deadline. Amazing what's happened since, eh?

 

[pirateboy]

rather silly not to include any gskill ram

 

[neiroatopelcc]

Is 1.65v really needed?
I recently built an i7 mashine with 2x6gb ocz gold modules.
Instead of running them at their rated 1600mhz @ 1.65v I decided to go for 1333 @ 7-7-6-17 - and that @ stock 1.5v ; I don't really get the point of feeding them more juice just to get timings a tad lower, or frequency a tad up.

 

[hixbot]

With the minimal performance gains from high-end RAM, glad to see an evaluation of the "cheap" stuff. Good work.

 

[bk420]

I wish these came in 2 or 4 packs also!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[inmytaxi]

OCZ DDR3 3x 2 GB kits, the Gold and the Plat at 1333 and 1600, dropped below 100 bucks at NewEgg and ZipZoomFly three months ago. They've been $89 - 99 PLUS a 20 rebate with FREE shipping there on and off since April.

The statement at the heading is inaccurate.

 

[monkeysweat]

what about kingston ram?

 

[itadakimasu]

I picked up some 12gb ocz platinum 1333 kits for $135, and 140 off of amazon. Found them using bing.com/cashback.

 

[xanubisx]

do not use ocz's xmp set the memory yourself. On my memory the 1600mhz with xmp i tried the xmp 1600 setting and it cooked my i7 cpu. After the shitty rma process i installed the memory and set all the timings myself and found out that the xmp profile set the qpi voltage to 1.4 when it runs fine on 1.105 (i think) the default qpi voltage anyways i learnt my lesson ocz might have cheap memory but dont use the xmp.

 

[doron]

Maybe you live in an area where usual temps are 10-30* celsius, but don't forget that there are people who live in areas where at summer things can get really hot so I don't understand why not add at least a warning saying that overclocking this ram is really not safe unless you know what you're doing.

I know lots of people who read toms hardware occasionally and don't know a thing about computers - have cramped cases without proper ventilation and low-end ram without heatspreaders. Temps around here in July-August are around 40*C. Do you think it's smart if they were to overclock their ram? Because that's actually what you imply..

 

[aspireonelover]

[citation][nom]pirateboy[/nom]rather silly not to include any gskill ram[/citation]
Budget RAM XD

 

[chripuck]

[citation][nom]aspireonelover[/nom]Budget RAM XD[/citation]
I got my 6 GB 1600 DDR3 GSkill kit for $95 with free shipping back in March. Run's rock solid at 8,8,8,21 on 1t timings.

 

[chripuck]

[citation][nom]doron[/nom]Maybe you live in an area where usual temps are 10-30* celsius, but don't forget that there are people who live in areas where at summer things can get really hot so I don't understand why not add at least a warning saying that overclocking this ram is really not safe unless you know what you're doing.I know lots of people who read toms hardware occasionally and don't know a thing about computers
- have cramped cases without proper ventilation and low-end ram without heatspreaders. Temps around here in July-August are around 40*C. Do you think it's smart if they were to overclock their ram? Because that's actually what you imply..[/citation]
Where do you live that 40C is the norm in summertime? I live in Atlanta and 35 is average. Even South Florida doesn't really get much hotter.

 

[Guest]

I tried this memory.... it SUCKS! This memory caused my computer to crash every single time I tied to run prime95!

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]bk420[/nom]I wish these came in 2 or 4 packs also!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/citation]

Half of them do, read the descriptions.

[citation][nom]inmytaxi[/nom]OCZ DDR3 3x 2 GB kits, the Gold and the Plat at 1333 and 1600, dropped below 100 bucks at NewEgg and ZipZoomFly three months ago. They've been $89 - 99 PLUS a 20 rebate with FREE shipping there on and off since April.The statement at the heading is inaccurate.[/citation]

The Intel Extreme Edition was cheapest on July 3 when testing began, and the prices were updated the day before the article was published. No Gold or Platinum available for under $99 on August 5, since venders listing lower prices were out of stock.

[citation][nom]MonkeySweat[/nom]what about kingston ram?[/citation]

Everyone was invited, some companies chose not to participate. In particular, some companies don't like overclocking articles that promote their cheaper modules at the expense of some high-end product sales.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]vasgto[/nom]I tried this memory.... it SUCKS! This memory caused my computer to crash every single time I tied to run prime95![/citation]

Wow, you tried all of them? That's really sad.

 

[anamaniac]

Looking forward to likely a 8GB 1600 set myself.
Ramdisk FTW!

For my purposes, the 1600 is still over. With the i7/Core2, we have proven thus anything over 1066 useless in most games already. It may be different with the i5, but I doubt it. I just want cheap quantity at the moment.

 

[xanubisx]

[citation][nom]aspireonelover[/nom]Budget RAM XD[/citation]
I was running the ram at it's rated speed it was not an overclock I bough the 1600mhz kit that's shouldn't be hard to understand also everyone in the 2009 will have a/c in their house or apartment so it's not like I'm running my computer on some Mexican beach. Ocz XMP profiles are not clocked properly on the 1600 kit because it gives the qpi to much voltage causing the CPU to overheat. CPU is running stock clocks stock heatsinks. Before you run your mouth use your brain thanks. PS the memory works great you just have to set the clocks yourself

 

[xanubisx]

That was for doron btw clicked the wrong post by mistake

 

[adam suail]

@xanubisx
am using RAMDISK too, its totally a new level, i have TEMP/TMP, IE8, Firefox cache folders and Program files ALL running on my 3GB RAMDISK and there is still 2.5 GB free space...it ROKS!! no crashes, very stable system.
my pc is got 6GB in total.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

[citation][nom]xanubisx[/nom]I was running the ram at it's rated speed it was not an overclock I bough the 1600mhz kit that's shouldn't be hard to understand also everyone in the 2009 will have a/c in their house or apartment so it's not like I'm running my computer on some Mexican beach. Ocz XMP profiles are not clocked properly on the 1600 kit because it gives the qpi to much voltage causing the CPU to overheat. CPU is running stock clocks stock heatsinks. Before you run your mouth use your brain thanks. PS the memory works great you just have to set the clocks yourself[/citation]
Not everyone has an a/c in their home. Sure I live in denmark, and we don't really need it. But yesterday my mom was upset when I dropped by for dinner, because her pc kept beeping at her because the chipset reached 60C (front display beeped - not the crapsus board)

[citation][nom]adam suail[/nom]@xanubisx am using RAMDISK too, its totally a new level, i have TEMP/TMP, IE8, Firefox cache folders and Program files ALL running on my 3GB RAMDISK and there is still 2.5 GB free space...it ROKS!! no crashes, very stable system. my pc is got 6GB in total.[/citation]
3GB for temp might limit you if you download a dvd image or something else that is big.

 

[pirateboy]

[citation][nom]chripuck[/nom]I got my 6 GB 1600 DDR3 GSkill kit for $95 with free shipping back in March. Run's rock solid at 8,8,8,21 on 1t timings.[/citation]

right, this is about budget ram...not including gskill in this article is just plain ridiculous

 

[adam suail]

i actually use torrents for big files, my biggest http download would be around 1GB, but you have a point .
Since RAM is dirt cheap, am getting another 6GB and then boost the RAMDISK (Qsoft).