deciding on ram for new rig

[vafan13]

Medieval 2 rapes my 2 1/2 year old rig so it's time to start eating ramen and build a new computer. I've got everything set except the mobo and memory. For reference, I am going with one of these boards (I have a threat on it already in the mobo section):

Commando
P5B-E
QuadGT
BadAx2
965P-DS3

For ram I'm looking between these 2 GB kits (unless someone has a better idea):

Team Xtreem 6400
Team Xtreem 8000
Corsair XMS2 6400
Corsair XMS2 8500
OCZ VX2
OCZ 8500

The only reason both Xtreems and both Corsairs are on there is because I want to know if the 8000/8500 is going to actually OC any better than the 6400s, and if so, is it enough to be worth the $70 and $90 differences respectively. Ballistix would be on there but I've had bad experiences with them in the past (multiple sticks went bad after a year or so). Anyways, any help deciding on this would be wonderful, thanks.

 

[vafan13]

anyone?

 

[LiuKang]

Straight from Anandtech:

"There is also the reality that Core 2 Duo and AM2 really don't need the highest memory speeds to perform best. What they need is low latency DDR2-800 or possibly 4-4-3 DDR2-1067 to get the best performance possible. The unfortunate reality that we see again and again in memory tests is that the super high memory speeds are great for bragging rights and flexible overclocking, but they really don't do much for increasing actual real world performance on either the C2D or AM2 platforms."

I avoided the faster ram in order to get lower latency... saved my pennies for a GTX (every penny helps!)

Hope this helps, you can never do too much research. Good luck...

 

[agentsmith957]

If you indeed will be overclocking, and want significantly higher than stock memory speeds, than you should probably get the faster PC8500 memory. If you arent planning on significant overclocking the lower latencies of the PC6400 memory and lower cost will benefit you more, so it really depends on what you are doing. I would always reccomend corsair XMS memory, i have used it in all of my systems, and besides 1 or 2 DOA sticks, I have had zero problems and total reliability.