[SOLVED] Ram timing

[Mbaier]

How do you determine what timing of ram you get? I have been looking at Corsair Vengence 2x8gb DDR4 3200 just because I have used Corsair in the past. Looking on Newegg there are probably 20 different sets with prices varying widely. I am not going to be overclocking but playing WoW and maybe some other games. Also, is it worth the savings to get a brand like OLOy or Team T Force, which I have never heard of before? My gut is telling me the 10 dollars isn't worth it.

This is my build so far, kind of piecing it together as things go on sale mixed with parts I already had.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor | Purchased For $115.00
Motherboard | MSI X470 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard | Purchased For $110.00
Storage | Intel 660p Series 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | Purchased For $49.99
Storage | Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | Purchased For $0.00
Video Card | MSI Radeon RX 550 - 512 4 GB AERO ITX OC Video Card | Purchased For $0.00
Case | Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case | $94.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply | SeaSonic 520 W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply | $66.89 @ OutletPC
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $449.87
| Mail-in rebates | -$13.00
| Total | $436.87
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-12 12:38 EDT-0400 |

 

[feelinfroggy777]

For your use case, RAM is gonna be RAM. I would get 3200mhz with a CAS latency of 16. Go for the cheapest RAM that has those specs.

Additionally, there are only a few memory manufactures out there, so those Team Force RAM sticks may have the same chips that are in the Corsair Vengeance. Traditionally, Samsung B-Die chips will have the better timings and OC the best, but it really wont equate to any real world performance.

 

[Dunlop0078]

Get someting on your motherboards QVL list. Generally the lower the timings the better. For a 3200mhz kit CL14 would be nice though from what I have seen there isn't much of a difference between CL16 and CL14 3200 kits in gaming at least. But again just get something on the QVL list if you don't want issues, especially with ryzen.

And yes generally regardless of brand DDR4 is going to be using SK Hynix, Samsung, or Micron DRAM. It should all be quite reliable, however Samsung tends to make the higher end chips say 3000mhz+, micron has a few too I believe.

 

[Darkbreeze]

OLOy is a no.

Team has SOME good memory and some super cheap stuff. Personally, I'd avoid them because the difference in price between what they offer and what you can get from G.Skill or Corsair isn't enough to be worth dealing with a second rate company if you have problems. I've seen a few members on here who have had a terrible time with RMAs on Team memory and with support.

Also, I would not recommend that old Seasonic unit unless you live in a region where that simply is the only decent unit available. The platform is group regulated and is very old, lacking many modern protections. It's still an ok quality unit, but there are much better units available within a reasonable range of that unit's price.

 

[Darkbreeze]

QVL list is meaningless. I've said this again and again here. The ONLY thing the QVL list tells you is that a given set of sticks will RUN on a specific motherboard. It does not reflect the only sticks that are compatible with that board AND it DOES NOT tell you that the sticks will run at their rated speed. For Ryzen chipsets, it ONLY tells you that that kit will run at the default speed of 2133mhz. They do not test kits for the QVL lists at the XMP profile. They test at the default JEDEC profile.

 

[scout_03]

use the qvl list and get corsairor g-skil that use samsung chipset https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/X470-GAMING-PLUS#support-mem-14

 

[feelinfroggy777]

RAM compatibility is pretty good with the x470 chipset, you dont need to go by the mobo QVL. For the 300 series, then yes I would suggest so, but those issues have all been addressed.

 

[Mbaier]

OLOy is a no.

Team has SOME good memory and some super cheap stuff. Personally, I'd avoid them because the difference in price between what they offer and what you can get from G.Skill or Corsair isn't enough to be worth dealing with a second rate company if you have problems. I've seen a few members on here who have had a terrible time with RMAs on Team memory and with support.

Also, I would not recommend that old Seasonic unit unless you live in a region where that simply is the only decent unit available. The platform is group regulated and is very old, lacking many modern protections. It's still an ok quality unit, but there are much better units available within a reasonable range of that unit's price.

Thank you for your response, it was very helpful. Do you have recommendations on a PSU instead of that Seasonic? I just picked it because it was bronze, modular and seemed like enough watts.

 

[Dunlop0078]

QVL list is meaningless. I've said this again and again here. The ONLY thing the QVL list tells you is that a given set of sticks will RUN on a specific motherboard. It does not reflect the only sticks that are compatible with that board AND it DOES NOT tell you that the sticks will run at their rated speed. For Ryzen chipsets, it ONLY tells you that that kit will run at the default speed of 2133mhz. They do not test kits for the QVL lists at the XMP profile. They test at the default JEDEC profile.

Where are you getting that info? I've always heard it can matter a great deal. Gamers nexus talks about it here.

View: https://youtu.be/9IY_KlkQK1Q?t=945

 

[Darkbreeze]

Experienced builders almost always "say" that to novice builders because it limits their responsibility if a choice doesn't work out. It's true that usually if you go by the QVL list you will have a higher rate of success AT THE DEFAULT configuration at the least but it doesn't, in any way, guarantee you'll be able to run the XMP profile or anything really outside of the JEDEC parameters.

Steve is a smart guy, but he's not always right, and in this case, he's not. I've spoken directly with several motherboard manufacturers technical leads (Not level one monkeys) as well as with several of our native engineers who have specific engineering degrees that are focused on memory architectures, and the feedback from all of them is that the QVL list is entirely specific to JEDEC standards, not to XMP profiles or speeds outside the purview of the JEDEC standards. Any OC or XMP speed or timing is not guaranteed to you just because the kit you chose happened to be on the QVL list.

Will that kit run on that board. Probably. Will it run at any of the probably three different JEDEC configurations listed that are within the JEDEC specifications from 2133mhz to 2666mhz? Again, probably, almost certainly. But beyond that you are MUCH better off looking at the MEMORY MANUFACTURERS compatibility lists because THOSE are a lot more likely to have board specific verification at the RATED speed and timings than anything you'll see on the QVL list for any motherboard.