What is good ram

[misfitkid86]

ok, this may make me sound like a total idiot but: what makes one bit of ram better than another!? i'm building up a gaming rig and have been checking prices and specs for a while now but can't really sort out what makes one better than the other. are there brands like kingston or patriot that last longer or are faster? is a brand like geil terrible? what is cas latency? and one thing that is really tripping me up, if i'm running 8gb of memory is one stick or two sticks a better choice? basically i don't want to buy a *** stick it just needs to be reasonably fast (1600 or higher) and reliable. thanks!

 

[C12Friedman]

Good ram is ram that is stable at it's advertised speed/timings/voltage. Good brands for ram include (but aren't limited to) AData, Corsair, Geil, GSkill, Kingston, Patriot and Samsung. Timings on ram are defined as a delay from the request for data until the request is fulfilled (simplistically speaking) so lower numbers indicate less delay (quicker).
As far as how many sticks to run, if your motherboard supports dual channel, running two modules will (should) enable that.
One thing I have found is to try to use the ram that is listed in the motherboard's QVL, saves possible headaches later.
Hope it helped some

 

[misfitkid86]

Good ram is ram that is stable at it's advertised speed/timings/voltage. Good brands for ram include (but aren't limited to) AData, Corsair, Geil, GSkill, Kingston, Patriot and Samsung. Timings on ram are defined as a delay from the request for data until the request is fulfilled (simplistically speaking) so lower numbers indicate less delay (quicker).
As far as how many sticks to run, if your motherboard supports dual channel, running two modules will (should) enable that.
One thing I have found is to try to use the ram that is listed in the motherboard's QVL, saves possible headaches later.
Hope it helped some

yes, i appreciate your directness and that clarify's my questions. so is cas latency of 9 decent? or should i be looking for 6/7? i'll check out the mobo's website, as of now i'm buying an msi z77a g43 hope it's worth the savings!

 

[C12Friedman]

At a speed of 1600MHz, I consider timings of 9 to be very good, 8 or below to be excellent. I think to get timings tighter than 8 at 1600MHZ or above, you'd have to do some tweaking in BIOS.
Another thing to note is that you want the ram to run at 1.5v or lower (the QVL may list 1.65v or even 1.7v - stick with 1.5 stuff)

 

[misfitkid86]

At a speed of 1600MHz, I consider timings of 9 to be very good, 8 or below to be excellent. I think to get timings tighter than 8 at 1600MHZ or above, you'd have to do some tweaking in BIOS.

ok, and at my current skill level that's not the best idea. so i think i might grab the kingston hyperx 8gb sounds like it will be good.

 

[C12Friedman]

Kingston is very good ram, I would be looking at this kit: Kingston HyperX 8GB KHX1600C9D3P1K2/8G
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104255&Tpk=kingston%20hyperx%208gb
they offer a lifetime warranty on their ram when you register it - if the ram is on your motherboard's QVL (I couldn't get onto the website just now to check), or your motherboard is on the ram's QML, there should be no problems and if any, Kingston (I am told) will ensure you get running proper
Disclaimer: NewEgg link used for descriptive value

 

[bigcyco1]

get this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233186

 

[C12Friedman]

get this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233186

+1 a very good, less expensive option - also with a lifetime warranty