Does brand matter?

[pacotacobell]

So I've been researching on all of the parts for my first build and one of the last things I was wondering about is if brand names matter with memory? I'm assuming they all do the same thing essentially, but is there a performance increase with different ones?

This is my build. The one I have right now seems kind of pricey. I have to order all of my parts on Amazon since it's the only one that can ship to Guam, and the price for these is $141.99. So I was wondering if I can get any suggestions to cheaper alternatives? I mainly want 16gb, 8x2, and preferably blue to match my case. If there's a cheaper black one I don't mind. I'm not really sure if the memory will be that visible anyways through the side panel. DDR3 1600mhz, though I don't know what's the difference between the different mhz to be quite honest. If the performance isn't visible then I don't want to spend the extra bucks for bigger numbers. I'm even willing to downgrade to 1333 if it's not a big difference.

 

[jk_ventolero]

It's not much of a performance jump, TBH. But 16GB is quite overkill. What will you be using that build for? You can save up by going 4x2 here. 8GB of RAM will be enough for almost all things.

 

[pacotacobell]

It's not much of a performance jump, TBH. But 16GB is quite overkill. What will you be using that build for? You can save up by going 4x2 here. 8GB of RAM will be enough for almost all things.

Lots and lots of video editing.

 

[Legohouse]

So I've been researching on all of the parts for my first build and one of the last things I was wondering about is if brand names matter with memory? I'm assuming they all do the same thing essentially, but is there a performance increase with different ones?

This is my build. The one I have right now seems kind of pricey. I have to order all of my parts on Amazon since it's the only one that can ship to Guam, and the price for these is $141.99. So I was wondering if I can get any suggestions to cheaper alternatives? I mainly want 16gb, 8x2, and preferably blue to match my case. If there's a cheaper black one I don't mind. I'm not really sure if the memory will be that visible anyways through the side panel. DDR3 1600mhz, though I don't know what's the difference between the different mhz to be quite honest. If the performance isn't visible then I don't want to spend the extra bucks for bigger numbers. I'm even willing to downgrade to 1333 if it's not a big difference.

Brands does not matter as long as they meet the required memory spec but that doesn't mean some generic brand is okay. 16GB is not an overkill, in fact some memory intensive apps tend to use more than 8GB, so 16GB is the right choice if you run memory intensive apps. Else 8GB should do the job.

What abt this one? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231560

 

[Shneiky]

RAM performance is most dependent on 2 factors: MHz and Latency. Two kits of, lets say, 1333 MHz and 1600 MHz will bring 7% more increase in synthetic benchmarks. (synths are not a good real life performance indicator, just for reference). Those 7% are consistent if the two kits have the same latency. Lets say CAS9.

Now lets take a 2nd pair of kits. First one is at 1600 with a CAS of 7. Second one is 1866 with a CAS9. The 1600 low latency kit will perform better in real life RAM heavy applications (I do a lot of content creation, so I am speaking from own experience).

Now that we know about the MHz and latency deal, lets talk about brands. Different brands differentiate by aesthetics, price and model variety. Also some brands have better customer support than others, and some have better quality control than others. Through the years I have used a lot of Samsung (in the very old days), Kingston and Corsair. I had problems with OCZ and Crucial sticks, although those malfunctions were batch related I guess. But anyway it's not an excuse. Of course Kingston and Corsair require a few bucks premium, but I prefer to pay it, then to deal with customer support. In the recent years I started using Geil. The computer which I am behind right now has Geil Black Dragon 1600MHz and it has been working flawlessly. Also a colleague of mine has some Geil value RAM, which also didn't show any problems. Geil keeps it's prices fairly low compared to other brands, since they are a new company in the business and want to make a name for themselves.

As last I want to talk about the tall heat spreaders. RAM at 1333/1600 and even models at 1866 don't really need those. They are for show off. The above mentioned Gail Black Dragon goes to 2200 MHz without those heat spreaders. (Although mine is 1600, and the HAF 912+ keeps it very cool).

Well that's the deal with RAM according to me. Just my 0.02 Cents. Hope it was helpful. Good luck.

P.S 16 GB are kinda ok for Premier Pro. As for After Effects I even recommend 24 or 32. When I work in AE those 16 GB disappear quite quickly. And if you are constantly swapping footage between AE and Premier, having both programs running, things start to get really heavy.

 

[jk_ventolero]

It's not much of a performance jump, TBH. But 16GB is quite overkill. What will you be using that build for? You can save up by going 4x2 here. 8GB of RAM will be enough for almost all things.

Lots and lots of video editing.

Ahhh, then you're gonna need that extra RAM. :lol: