G.SKILL vs CORSAIR Vengeance for Macbook pro

[Heavybarrel]

I've decided to upgrade my mid 2012 13" Macbook pro's RAM. I'm considering G.SKILL (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231696)

or CORSAIR (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233242)

One of the specification on the Corsair RAM is that it has the ability to auto-overclock. Does auto-overclocking push the RAM for better performance, for good?

And what are CAS Latency and Timing, should i consider those specifications when buying? Also should i worry about the voltage, which would be better for my Macbook's performance, 1.35V or 1.5V? And would the higher voltage result in overheating?

 

[wildfire707]

Actually, for laptops the voltage used to be 1.5 volts standard, but was reduced to 1.35 volts for the Haswell refresh CPUs.

According to Apple, your Macbook Pro requires 1.35 volt memory.

As far as your question about auto-overclock, that adds XMP information on the memory so that it can run at faster speeds - but Apple products do not use that information. Basically, there is no overclocking on Macintosh systems (unless you really want to mess with the system).

The CAS timings on the system are important to Macintosh computers, as they normally only support a small range of timings. Looking this up online, you should use DDR3 1.35 volt CAS 11 PC12800 (1600 Mhz) modules. Ideally you would choose ones that are guaranteed to be compatible like:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007967%20600286623&IsNodeId=1&name=DDR3%201600%20%28PC3%2012800%29

The least expensive 8GB kit that is listed to work is the $93 one from Crucial at:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148608

Good luck

 

[Heavybarrel]

I am wondering if i have to decide between two sticks of RAM with same clock speed but different CAS latency, should i go for the lower CL? Seemingly if both stick are identical but one has CL 11 and the other CL 9, shouldn't i really go for CL 9, because lower is better? Or does it have to do something with what the MacBooks can support better?

 

[wildfire707]

It is with what is supported. Your laptop is set to support CAS 11 memory. Lower CAS number are faster, but your Macbook is only set up to use CAS 11 memory.