Which 32GB DDR4 kit to pick?

P

ponky

Limp Gawd
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Nov 27, 2012
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I've been planning an upgrade to Skylake. Still need to decide which ram kit to buy. I wont be overclocking, but would like to get RAM that allows me to overclock if I change my mind in the future.

HyperX Predator looks best performance-wise, there's 4 kits with different clock/timings available:

#1 HX430C15PBK4/32
- 3000 MHz
- CL15-16-16 @1.35V
- 432€

#2 HX428C14PBK4/32
- 2800 MHz
- CL14-15-15 @1.35V
- 412€

#3 HX426C13PBK4/32
- 2666 MHz
- CL13-14-14 @1.35V
- 383€

#4 HX424C12PBK4/32
- 2400 MHz
- CL12-13-13 @1.35V
- 359€

#5 HX421C13PBK4/32
- 2133 MHz
- CL13-13-13 @1.2V
- 408€

Prices are almost the same for each of these kits, so it comes to sacrificing clock or timings. Downsides for Predator kits are price and the size of heatsink (most likely can't fit a large CPU cooler with these).

Then there's HyperX FURY. HS is smaller and price is lower, but so are numbers:

#1 HX426C15FBK4/32
- 2666 MHz
- CL15-17-17 @1.2V
- 300€

#2 HX424C15FBK4/32
- 2400 MHz
- CL15-15-15 @1.2V
- 280€

#3 HX421C14FBK4/32
- 2133 MHz
- CL14-14-14 @1.2V
- 296€

Is there some other brands/kits I should be looking for? The ones I listed stood out from everywhere I looked at.

I know most people will say 'just pick the cheapest one and be happy', but I wan't to get best bang for the buck, even if the difference would be marginal. I'm not in a hurry to upgrade.
 
Well don't pick the cheapest one, pick the fastest speed you can get before the price starts getting out of hand. I am going with 3000MHz CAS16s from Gskill because they are on the QVL for the board I am going to use and I like that company. Would I buy the Tridentz version for $20 more maybe, for $100 more no

You need to find the balance of price and performance

Using your numbers

2133 is 9.25 euros per GB

3000 is 13.5 euros per gb

make a chart and see where it jumps to something you think is unreasonable.

Keep in mind that money spent on CPU and Video card should come first, never sacrifice on either of those to buy faster RAM.
 
this- has a lower voltage. If you kicked it up to 1.35v you could get better speeds.

#2 HX424C15FBK4/32
- 2400 MHz
- CL15-15-15 @1.2V
- 280€
 
zaniix said:
Well don't pick the cheapest one, pick the fastest speed you can get before the price starts getting out of hand. I am going with 3000MHz CAS16s from Gskill because they are on the QVL for the board I am going to use and I like that company. Would I buy the Tridentz version for $20 more maybe, for $100 more no

You need to find the balance of price and performance

Using your numbers

2133 is 9.25 euros per GB

3000 is 13.5 euros per gb

make a chart and see where it jumps to something you think is unreasonable.

Keep in mind that money spent on CPU and Video card should come first, never sacrifice on either of those to buy faster RAM.
Click to expand...

I already have GTX980 and will be getting i7-6700K.
 
Nasgul said:
I think the sweet spot is 2666 or 2800.

As for Latency? Something to think about it, go with the 2666 kit and spend as much as you'd want to spend. Although the Predator looks better than the rest.

Other brands? I only go for Corsair memory, been using it since DDR 333 days and have never had to RMA any kit before. But I also buy Kingston and nothing to complain about them.

My buddy wants to get a Skylake sys, I recommended him Corsair LPX DDR4 3000 CAS 15, they're $75 American Euros. 8GB only. Just for e-mail, browsing, facebook and the daily Pr0n viewing.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but 8GB LPX dimms have higher latencies:

Tested Latency: 15-17-17-35
 
I will probably get a 2x8gb kit of the Corsair LPX DDR4 3000 CAS 15 as well
I think that around 3000 will be a good price point.
 
Does tRCD, tRP and tRAS matter, or is it just CAS that matters when it comes to timings?
 
Nasgul said:
Yes, but it also has 3000mhz. Something not easy to achieve unless you push the latency higher.

Personally, I like higher RAM frequencies, and there's a reason why, even manufacturers are pushing it, now over 4000mhz.
It's a well known fact that Intel processors benefit from higher RAM frequencies, since the 850 days. I'm not saying a "day and night" difference but.......I feel the system to be smoother with higher frequency memory, but I also try to keep the Latency to a more suitable range to frequency ratio.

If I were to build that Skylake sys, I'd go for the DDR4 3000 (regardless what the benchmarks says or the personal opinions of others, I got my own experience with it: 850 + RDRAM, nuff said!), but in the 16GB kit to cut down the cost, 32GB is pointless IMO.
4 is not good enough, 6 is good, 8 is perfect, 16 is just showing off. 32GB? Well, you like to waste money. Buy whisky instead.
Click to expand...

Thanks, makes sense. In MOST cases 16GB is more than enough, but I've managed to run OOM when doing testing with multiple VMs and such. I do have pretty powerful home server(s), but every now and then I find myself struggling with VMs on my desktop as well.

IIRC, Skylake (1151) supports dual channel memory, so does it matter if I go with 2x 8GB DIMMs or 4x 4GB? Which one would you pick?
 
You always want the lowest latency possible, but higher frequency will win 99% of the time. I have ever seen anything that showed lower frequency RAM with tighter timings beating higher frequency

My choice is always Amount of RAM -> Frequency of RAM -> Timings

BUT sometimes badass heatsinks force me to make illogical decisions
 
From what I have read higher frequency always beats lower timings eg. 1 step up in frequency has more effect than 1 step down in timings, so probably just get the highest frequency if they are all the same price.
 
I pulled the trigger and went for:

#2 HX428C14PBK4/32
- 2800 MHz
- CL14-15-15 @1.35V
- 412€


Found it for 325€ :)
 
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