[SOLVED] Help selecting RAM for gaming laptop.

[Phosphonothioic]

I ran Crucial's Advisory Tool. I have a Gigabyte P57X v7 gaming laptop that currently sits with one stick of RAM at 16GB. I'd like to go dual channel and bump it up to 32GB (max for system). I've always had difficulty differentiating which modules to purchase...in terms of "which is better than the others?"

I am looking for performance and I'll consider money once I have some choices laid out. The RAM does not need to be from Crucial, I just used them to get the type of RAM I needed (DDR4-2400).

Other notes:

i7-7700HQ
GTX 1070
256GB SSD
1TB HDD

Thanks for your help in advance!

 

[LORDPrometheus]

So when buying ram there are 4 considerations:
1: Compatibility ALL motherboards and CPUs will have a list of compatible ram somewhere just because a module is not on the list does not mean it is not compatible but sticking to the list is generally the best course of action. In your case look for a 2x16gb kit of DDR4 SODIMM memory at between 2600 and 3200MHz

2: Frequency: The higher the frequency IE the Mhz the faster the ram cycles which leads to better performance

3: CAS Timings; These will be a series of 4 numbers something like 13-13-16-18 and determine the latency of the ram. lower is better but most of the time the higher the frequency the higher the CAS timings.

4: Format: since this is a laptop ensure you are buying a SODIMM module this is just the shape of the stick and does not affect performance only which slot it fits in.