What brands of ram do you prefer

[smithinator101]

i was looking at buying 4gb of ocz ram but before i do i want to find out what brands of ram are the best, what do you think?

 

[aznguy0028]

I've had really good experiences with Mushkin and OCZ. I would really stay away from Crucial Ballistix though. I bought 8gb of those for my comp/housemate's comp build, it all went bad.

I replaced them with Mushkin and have been running excellent ever since. I've also used OCZ in recent builds for my friends and they ran great as well.

 

[smithinator101]

I was thinking about getting the OCZ Gold Dual Channel Kit DDR2 PC2-8500 does anyone know if this is a good ram? I will be using it mostly for gaming.

 

[ausch30]

Mushkin. I don't have a lot of experience with OCZ but they seem to be a good company so I would feel safe recommending them.

The thing you need to understand about RAM is that there are a lot of shady marketing things companies do to make their products more attractive. DDR2 voltage is 1.8v, DDR3 voltage is 1.5v. Look for memory with as close to those voltages as possible (right on would be best), with the lowest timings.

 

[ausch30]

I was thinking about getting the OCZ Gold Dual Channel Kit DDR2 PC2-8500 does anyone know if this is a good ram? I will be using it mostly for gaming.

As I stated before, memory companies do some shady things. That memory you listed is actually DDR2 800. The 8500 rating is an overclocked rating. You will have to go into the BIOS and manually set those timings to 1066 5-6-6-18 2.1v, even then the specs are all that great. This is the memory I would suggest.

Read my thread here
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=30&post=260473&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0
It will help shed some light.

Companies add names like gold or platinum and attach shiny heatspeaders or lights to their memory to make them more attractive. Don't give in to the marketing.

 

[smithinator101]

what ram would you suggest that is good for gaming, and easy on the wallet. i am looking for ddr2 dual channel 4gb

 

[smithinator101]

when ever a ram says it is 1066mhz is that always what it overclocks at or can that be what it actually runs at without going into the bios?

 

[ausch30]

when ever a ram says it is 1066mhz is that always what it overclocks at or can that be what it actually runs at without going into the bios?

If it states 1066 1.8v then it is actually DDR2 1066, such as this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227453

 

[jsc]

I've had really good experiences with Mushkin and OCZ. I would really stay away from Crucial Ballistix though. I bought 8gb of those for my comp/housemate's comp build, it all went bad.

I, on the other hand, have had great success with the Ballistix.

 

[smithinator101]

would you recommend mushkin ram because i have only recently heard about them. tell me if you have any experience with mushkin good or bad. thanks again

 

[smithinator101]

"DDR2 voltage is 1.8v, DDR3 voltage is 1.5v. Look for memory with as close to those voltages as possible (right on would be best), with the lowest timings." could someone please tell me why lower voltages in ram are better, thank you

 

[iori276]

OCZ's have been great, when i got my first one it was DOA but then once newegg sent me the replacement, they work great, overclocking ( if you do ) and regular! i used the reaper series personally but they got some new stuff that looks pretty tempting. Ballistix i had for a while cant really "compare them" since it was an elcheapo set, and Buffalo * yes buffalo, the router makers* made a pretty darn good one if you ask me. nothing compared to OCZ though

 

[cjl]

My personal favorite is Corsair - I've used their RAM with no issues at all many times. OCZ and G.Skill are nice too.

 

[somerandomguy2]

I've always had a great experience with Kingston. I have four sticks of rambus ram in there that have been going strong for the last 7 years overclocked. Never have had any problems. I also hear good things about Patriot Memory and am thinking about putting some of their ddr3 stuff in my new build.

 

[ausch30]

"DDR2 voltage is 1.8v, DDR3 voltage is 1.5v. Look for memory with as close to those voltages as possible (right on would be best), with the lowest timings." could someone please tell me why lower voltages in ram are better, thank you

Lower voltages mean the manufacturer is using better chips which are likely capable of greater stability and higher overclocks. If you see 2 different sets of memory which are both at, say, 5-5-5-12. 1 of the sets is rated at 2.1v while the other is rated at 1.8v, the set rated at 1.8v has better chips. All DDR2 has settings for 1.8v even though they're not all sold at that voltage. If you get some RAM and run CPUZ and click the SPD tab you will see several different settings. Manufacturers cover for lower quality chips by increasing the voltage in order to reduce the timings to something that a consumer would accept. Many of the sets out there with, say, 4-4-4-10 2.2v timings are rated at like cas 6 or 7 at 1.8v.

Mushkin is very good. I've used them almost exclusively for the last several years, they make very good products and have excellent support.

 

[smithinator101]

thank you all you have been very helpful please feel free to keep posting!!!