What do you think is the best RAM?

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RAM. Random Access Memory. We love it, you love it, and you should have at least 8GB of it.

Whether you're starting a new build or just need to upgrade your current one, you'll probably need to buy some eventually. But which RAM is the best RAM?

This is where you come in.

What's the best RAM? What would you recommend to everyone on Tom's Hardware?

Below:

  • ■Let us know which specific RAM is the best. Not a brand of RAM. One item.
    ■What makes it the best RAM? How has it made your build better?
    ■What does the RAM look like? Post a picture! (We recommend hosting on imgur, but use whatever you like).
    ■Finally, where can you buy the RAM? Post a link!
Do you agree with someone? Don't post again (it makes it harder to navigate). Upvote them to show your support!

Here we go!
 
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I personally believe the Corsair Vengeance 8GB 2400mhz dual channel kit is one of the best. Here are my reasons:

1. 8GB is more than enough for gamers and casual users
2. 2400mhz speed really helps in memory intensive apps
3. The large metal heatsink really dissipates heat well.
4. High speed DDR3 RAM is incredibly cheap these days. So it doesn't hurt to buy faster speeds.

I personally was trying to figure out if I should go with 1600mhz or 2400mhz for my build. I purposely chose 2400mhz so that my RAMdisks and VM's run quickly. It has defiantly helped for sure. Plus 2133 and higher is becoming the new standard in memory, so for future applications the extra speed will most likely help indefinably.

I bought mine off newegg.com. It's on sale for only $66. I payed around $85 when I got mine half a year ago: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233605
 
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In my opinion, the best RAM is the Crucial Ballistix Sport 4x4GB.

I used to have 8GB ram, but I found that with all of the really RAM-Demanding games like DayZ needed more.
The black part of the RAM stick matches the build I currently own, which is black and blue-colored.
I also used to have very slow 1066-MHz ram, which was also not a factor that would speed up my pc.

300x300px-LS-4d43edac_B004T8TREE-41Ydu9hDGkL.jpeg

 
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+1

There is no single set that can be proclaimed the BEST, it all depends on the individual rig. Whether AMD or Intel based, what CPU is being used (it's MC (memory controller) determines what data rate it can run), and a users needs for the rig, i.e. 8GB, 16GB, etc

With that said, I like the choice of the Tridents from GSkill, very strong sticks and with a tight CL across the board by data rate, OC headroom, detachable upper fin for tighter CPU coolers, and in a wide variety of data rates and amounts of DRAM.
 
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Agreed, there is no single set of perfect RAM for every occasion. It used to be as simple as "you get what you pay for". Nowadays there are some lower priced RAM sets that are just as good if not better than the more costly ones. Which makes it even more difficult in choosing the best RAM for your rig.
 
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Yep, I liked your pick of the Tridents and at 2133/9 either 8, 16 or 32GB is a great all round choice for a modern rig, (either higher end AMD CPU (8320/50/70), APU or Intel CPU (preferably K model). Though on AMD I still lean a little more to the Snipers or Ripjaws X, the tighter CL on some of the Trident X sets plays havoc with many AMD CPUs
 
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Thanks for the +1!
I am not familiar with AMD to much. Though in the next year I may look into building an AMD system (complete with radeon graphics) just to compare, all depending on funds. My current rig is built for OCing with the Rampage IV Black ed MB and a 4930k, though I seem to have lost the lottery when it comes to OCing this particular CPU. I can't hit anywhere close to what others have so far. Though My MB waterblock set is on order.
Thank you for the info I did not realize that RAM reacted differently with AMD systems.I'll try and remember your suggestions, though by the time I can do this it might be a completely different platform by then....
 


I enjoyed the read. I have a question on something I have heard about and read in your article but have not encountered yet.
Is there that much of a difference in the RAM manufacturing process where if I purchase two separate sets of the same RAM that I could have stability issues? In the past with DDR2 and older I never had this problem and have not actually had a need to add any more DDR3 RAM to an existing system. But that is changing now, as I would like to add another 2 strips of 8gb Trident X 2133mhz RAM to my system. I currently have 16gb (with 48% in use right now), and my ram usage does get pushed up higher depending on what I am doing.
While writing this I also just remembered something that may have affected my CPU's ability to OC. I was told when purchasing my MB (RIVBE) that it will OC better with 4 sticks of ram instead of 2. Since I only have two I wonder if I had 4 it would OC better.... If I have to purchase 4 new sticks I might go up some in speed and get the 2400mhz RAM. Not sure yet.....though 2133 is the max recommended speed for reachin high OC numbers on this board.
 
Yes, and thats addressed in Part 2 of the article, which was scheduled for tomorrow, but may be delayed by some soon to break news 😉 which will be getting coverage and I can't disclose.

Each set of DRAM has sticks that have been tested to play nice together, and 4 stick sets are often a little pricier than two sets of two sticks as it takes more time testing to find 4 that all play nice. You could walk up to an assembly line and pull consecutive sticks off that won't play nice, but will with other sticks, which is why they test.

No guarantees, but I've been working with the Tridents since they were released and they are my fav on Haswell, so if you do pick up another set and have any problems, give me a shout, we can tweak the timings and/or voltages if needed and possibly even go into the secondary timings

As far as OCing, I've almost always found that OCing the CPU goes better with less sticks as it's less stress on the MC (memory controller) in the CPU, i.e. my 4770K on my Z97 Hero runs 4.8 with a full load of 32GB 2800, but I can move it to 4.9 at same voltage settings and all by dropping to 16GB
 


Wow, that's interesting. Maybe I should of gotten a 2x8GB instead of buying 1 2x4GB kit then another later.
 

So I am learning. I am thinking of dropping down to 8gb of RAM just to see if I can at least hit 4.6ghz with my 4930k. Right now I am limited to 4.3ghz with a 1.36 vcore. I was able to hit 4.4ghz and after running a stress test and playing some games I thought it was stable. Then later that night it shut down on me when not really doing anything at all, and no matter what I did I was unable to get it to boot up again at 4.4ghz with no higher than a 1.4 vcore.

I'll keep an eye on Tom's for your article and what this breaking news is... Don't tell me nVidia lost another 500mhz of RAM?....LOL

That's what everyone is saying nowadays.
 


I know, I was just picking on nVidia...lol
 
128Gb DDR 4 around £2000 developed by the chinese, it is expected to show up later this year. The development as I understand it is based on the 64Gb memory module.

Can just imagine shoving 4 of those on a high end MOBO 512 GB of RAM, and if they were to put 4 64GB memory modules on a DDR5 (theoretical at the moment) 4 of those on a high end MOBO would give you a TB of RAM !

You could practically build a super computer by the end of the year, couple of 128 Gb DDR 4 in a few high spec computers clustered in a Beowolf.
You could run the Matrix
 


So what was this breaking news? Either I missed it or it wasn't that "breaking" to me....lol..

I am also unable to find part two to your RAM article. Has it been posted yet?

 
Believe it was the Broadwell for desktop release though primarily the release of the 3xx cards from AMD. Haven't heard further on Part 2, but on my two previous articles, I heard about the publication after it was already out from others who saw and read it (always the last to know 🙁 ) Am planning to submit some reviews later this week and was going to check then if I don't see or hear anything
 

I have seen the AMD cards and wondering if they will perform well compared to the 980 Ti's or not. There are two conflict reviews with those cards in comparison though the one that claims equal performance to the 980's is much less reputable that what I have read on here. I am saving up for the 980Ti (I need the extra RAM for rendering and other things), but am tempted by the 300 series AMD cards. But we'll see.

 
I only found out about it 2 months ago,
http://blog.gsmarena.com/sk-hynix-develops-128gb-ddr4-ram-module/

As for DDR5 that has been a theoretical possibility in computer science for a while but it has never been developed as testing on the viability of a 128Gb DDR4 had not been done before. If the 128Gb DDR 4 is successful in the commercial sector the next step is to develop the architecture for the DDR5 bus for placement of four 64Gb memory modules on the board.

Further the question regarding DDR5 development is not when they do it it is IF they do it at all, there are far better methods for developing better means of RAM storage with greater capacity and speed.

Theoretically they are looking at an option called a Data Cube, a device that would allow you to store 2 Tb per inch cubed. It apparently would work with some kind of layered photonic data storage system, but I do not completely understand how they expect to achieve the results the claim on the DARPA website, a total storage capacity of 10 Eb and transfer rate of 28 Ghz per 0.5 sec, I really don't understand this as by today's standard's a Nvidia Tesla K20 series Parallel Processing Card will take 1.76 sec to transfer data, also another thing I do not understand about this Data cube thing that has been theorised is why would it have a on board processor and with built in ALU ?
 
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