What type of RAM would you recommend for my new gaming pc?

[ComputerNovice]

What type of RAM would you recommend for my new gaming pc? I'm going to be running a AMD Phenom II x4 955 Quad Core BE, on a MSI motherboard. So obviously I'm going to be using DDR3 memory, my question is probably silly. But anyways I'm somewhat stumped as to if it really matters what specific brand of RAM I buy.

I mean I know that a lot of people I have talked to tell me that as long as you buy RAM with good specs it makes basically no difference. But on the other hand a lot of people say you should stick to brands like Kingston etc. So if someone could please tell me their opinion on the matter I'd really like to hear it. Also just so you know I plan on using all 4 slots my motherboard has, my motherboard will support up to 16 gigs of DDR3 ram. So I will be buying 16 gigs of memory in total. So obviously I only want to buy 4 gig sticks (Unless you can use bigger sticks and just not use all the available slots) I don't know if you can do that or not cause I personally haven't ever tried that.

Anyways thanks to anyone who actually took the time to read threw this, and a even bigger thanks to anyone who could possibly give me a idea of what brand I should decide to go with or possibly offer me suggestions as to what specific type I should pick.

Here is a few sticks of ram I have been thinking about buying so tell me what you think.
KingstonHyperX or Gskill possibly

 

[nun]

i usually just go to newegg.com and read the reviews on various types ram and choose one. seems like g-skill is a good ram. someone more experienced can tell you more though.

 

[Mongox]

Look at the native RAM voltage on motherboard specs - use the MSI website, not a sales site. Your board likely allows you to increase the voltage, but you don't want to have to increase it just to match the required volts on the RAM.

I don't know your board, but on my AM3/AM2+ board, there are some advantages to running 2 sticks over 4 sticks - but that'll cost more too. Have to search thru the MSI site to see if the manual or other data shows anything like that.

Also, read thru the MSI forum here to find any mention of your board. Search the forum for a partial model number to be sure to find all mentions of it, such as "G45X" rather than "MS_G45X-1445D" (imaginary part numbers)

 

[ComputerNovice]

Alright good to know, just so I can be sure I understand what your telling me, I wanna ask just one more question cause its something I haven't been sure about for awhile cause I havent ever asked. Okay so your saying that if a Motherboard supports up to 8Gb's and it has 4 memory slots. So since it supports up to 8 gigs does that mean I could chose to put two 4 gig sticks in two of the slots. Or would I have to only use two gig sticks in all 4. I think you made it clear I just wanna make sure I understood what ya said.

 

[Mongox]

The motherboard specs/manual will answer the question about how much RAM each slot can hold. You didn't post the M/B type, so I don't know the details. You know enough to figure it out tho - I don't know if you can use 2 4GBs.

SOME motherboards will run faster RAM with 2 sticks rather than 4. I'd go to the MSI forum after you look up the full specs on your board and look for it. Be ready with the link to your board at MSI - and while you're there, download everything you find about your board - even if you have no plans to install it. Save the webpage (all files) and the url. Read everything!

 

[ComputerNovice]

Thanks much I found the answer. I think I'm going to end up buying some KingstonHyper X ram though. (Mainly cause from everything I've read its good solid RAM.)

 

[scudst0rm]

I used a 4 gig kit of G-skill 1333 MHz RAM in my 955 build. I chose it because it was on my motherboards QVL (ga-ma790xt) had good reviews, low timing and was cheaper then most other brands of DDR3. Has been running great for about a month now, although I haven't overclocked it yet, so I can't comment on its performance there.

I would recommend looking for something on your mobos QVL and to go for lower timings instead of higher bandwidth, 1600MHz is just not worth at this point and time.