RAM sold out, 2nd choice?

[Talmok]

Hey guys, I've been planning to put together a new build for a couple months and was finally ready to order everything, but when I went to order it the RAM I'd been considering was sold out.

G.Skill Sniper DDR3-1866 was what I was thinking of going for originally as it seemed to be a highly recommended set of RAM.

However now that I can't get it (to my knowledge) I'm not overly sure what I should be looking at. I've G.Skill Trident and Ripjaws being recommended quite a lot, and I see Tradesman1 seems to be a big supporter of G.Skill RAM. (I don't know much, but from reading around and from his Trademan1's answers I've picked up a lot more than I used to xD)

I'll be using an Asus Hero mobo along with a Noctua NH-D14, so clearance is a bit of an issue, which is why I'd been looking at the Snipers originally, but I supposedly the Trident X (with the upper hearsink removed) and the Ripjaws all fit.

It's more along the lines of would the Tridents be worth the higher price over all of them, or even when comparing Sniper vs Ripjaws with the same idea.

Thanks for reading o/

 

[Someone Somewhere]

I'd just get this: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f31866c9d8gab

Nice and low profile.

Any reason for the ROG board? I don't normally recommend them; they tend to be pricey without being substantially better; old case of paying for the label.

 

[terry4536]

I would absolutely recommend G Skill Ripjaws X.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231455

Note the 439 five egg reviews.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Eh, Newegg reviews are hopelessly useless.

That said, the Ares I linked has a higher percentage or 5-star reviews.

 

[terry4536]

Eh, Newegg reviews are hopelessly useless.

That said, the Ares I linked has a higher percentage or 5-star reviews

I think many times they just like the color of the RAM

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Yup.

Or the fact that 'hasn't blown up yet' is worthy of a five star raving review.

 

[Talmok]

From what I've read the Tridents are the preferred or at least the #1 recommendation for Haswell and Z87. With Snipers coming in a close second. Ripjaws I'm not sure what the difference is really.

I'm curious as to whether the Tridents are worth the extra money over a set of Snipers / Ripjaws?

Just for examples sake (Probably bad choices for comparison):

• 
  ■G.Skill Trident X DDR3-1600 16GB (£120)
  ■G.Skill Ripjaws X Series DDR3-1600 16GB (£121)
  
  ■G.Skill Ripjaws X Series DDR3-1600 8GB (£63)
  ■G.Skill Sniper DDR3-1600 8GB (£83)
  ■G.Skill Trident X Series DDR3-2400 8GB (£78)

Comparing the 2 16GB sets the Tridents obviously look better. I know I only need 8GB, but the 8GB for the Trident for the price of it doesn't seem to match up to the Sniper or Ripjaws. Other Tridents for example for 8GB are so much more, and at a frequency I don't think I'd need?

I've been toying with getting 16GB from the start (not for gaming, image and video related stuff, not that I do that much of it) and I'm just debating whether the 16GB Tridents are worth the bump in price or whether the 8GB Ripjaws X would still be a good choice.

 

[gskill support]

That is really a question for each user. With Trident X you get the best chips available on the market, but the RipJaws and Snipers are very good as is so it's not absolutely necessary to get the absolute best.

For most people, the difference is negligible, and probably wouldn't notice a difference either.

Either way, just get the capacity you need so you don't have to worry about upgrades in the future.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

 

[Tradesman1]

I generally look to the Tridents and Snipers as my first choices for Haswell, the 2400 set you show (2400/10) for example if you wanted to run at a lower freq will easily run at 1600/7 or 1866/8 or 2133/9, but think you might like the higher bandwidth you'll get from the higher freqs, see here:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7364/memory-scaling-on-haswell

 

[Talmok]

Thanks for the link!

I'm kinda new to all of this, so when it comes to thing like altering RAM frequency etc I always forget that it's possible.
In that case, do you think it'd be worth the extra £10 to do for the Trident over the Sniper (One just came back into stock)?

Also, there seems to be a split between people thinking 1.65V is alright and other that don't. If I lowered the frequency, you can lower the voltage as well right? As it wouldn't need the higher voltage? Or would it be best to keep it at 1.65V?

 

[Someone Somewhere]

I'd generally try to avoid 1.65V wherever possible.

You don't get much of an improvement above DDR3-1866, in most uses.

 

[Talmok]

I'd generally try to avoid 1.65V wherever possible.

You don't get much of an improvement above DDR3-1866, in most uses.

With the Trident, Tradesman1 said you could scale it down, which would possibly go down to 1866/8, at that frequency it would be slightly better than the Sniper wouldn't it? Would the voltage be able to be dropped to 1.5V at that point?

If so, it leaves room for being able to boost it up later if it's needed for any reason. Sorry if these are stupid questions, I'm still trying to get a grasp on everything =/

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Still more pricey than just getting a set of 1.5V DDR3-1866.

Personally, I'd be more worried about getting nice low-profile stuff that's not going to get in the way of a CPU cooler than blazing-fast RAM. There's very very few cases where RAM speed makes much of a difference (apart from APUs and bragging).

 

[terry4536]

I would also recommend the Sniper or Ripjaws. Both are essentially the same RAM, they have only different heat spreaders and appearance.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Same with the Ares (nice and low profile), IIRC.

 

[Tradesman1]

I'd generally try to avoid 1.65V wherever possible.

You don't get much of an improvement above DDR3-1866, in most uses.

With the Trident, Tradesman1 said you could scale it down, which would possibly go down to 1866/8, at that frequency it would be slightly better than the Sniper wouldn't it? Would the voltage be able to be dropped to 1.5V at that point?

If so, it leaves room for being able to boost it up later if it's needed for any reason. Sorry if these are stupid questions, I'm still trying to get a grasp on everything =/

_________________________

Correct, in fact many will go this route, can often find deals on higher freq DRAM that are better, like say a special on 2400 where you planned to run 1866, and the 'special' 2400 will run at a lower CL then the regular price items

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Yep. However, unless there's a good special, I normally wouldn't bother.

 

[Talmok]

Correct, in fact many will go this route, can often find deals on higher freq DRAM that are better, like say a special on 2400 where you planned to run 1866, and the 'special' 2400 will run at a lower CL then the regular price items

Yep. However, unless there's a good special, I normally wouldn't bother.

When you guys say special, do you mean a special kind of RAM, or just as in the RAM being on sale?

 

[Tradesman1]

With same price or better and better performance, it's the only way to go

 

[Talmok]

The Snipers that I linked originally, the 8GB 1866/9 1.5V were the original plan, and I was more than happy to go with them when I saw them come back into stock, but then when I remembered (thanks to you guys) that you can altar RAM frequency, voltage etc I'm became unsure whether to go for them or just to spend an extra £10 for the Tridents.

In regards to the low profile / fitting reply the Snipers (~£67) would fit without any adjustment, but the Tridents (~£77) would fit if I remove the top headsink.

 

[Tradesman1]

Yes, the Trident heatsink is easily removed

 

[Talmok]

One last question (Again, simple things), if I do go to scale it down, everything is done via the BIOS right? Without needing anything on top of that?

Thanks in advance!

I'll probably just go with Tradesman1 for the article link for solution as it helped quite a bit, but if I could I'd go with Someone Somewhere as well.
I'm pretty new when it comes to actually putting a build together as I've never had the funds to do it properly, but I'm not an utter moron so I should be fine! Your replies in all the other threads have been pretty helpful for learning what's what, so thanks again!

I'll probably go with the Tridents, as they're the last thing I needed to decide on before ordering! And if I screw up altering things then I'll just go and cry in a corner!

 

[Tradesman1]

Yes, you'll set them up in the BIOS, if you hand just give a shout (or PM might work better 😉 )