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Help me decide between these two memory choices.

B

bajafx4

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Dec 2, 2011
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Keeping the manufacturer name out of it for now, which is better between these two timings/voltages for games and basic Windows tasks.

Brand AAA, mfr. specs: 8-8-8-24 1.5V
Brand BBB, mfr. specs: 7-9-8-24 1.65V

EDIT: Should have mentioned, it's for a Phenom X4 955 and Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3.
 
I would get AAA since 1.65V is non standard and will not be supported in future Intel CPUs SB and beyond. Also timings are pretty much only important in benchmarks. You will not see much if any gain in real world applications. Just get 1.5V DDR3 1600 and you will be fine for now and the next few years.
 
Above was CL8 Corsair Vengeance vs CL7 Mushkin RedLine.

So, what is the benefit between the two below to justify the additional $28?

CHOICE 1: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4) 1600 9-9-9-24 1.5V - $47
CHOICE 2: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4) 1600 8-8-8-24 1.5V - $75

Also, if you bundle CHOICE 1 in the four-channel kit, it's only $88 for 16GB. It seems for the cost, this is the route to go for the future w/ 16GB only costing $13 more than the CL8 8GB.

CHOICE 3: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4x4) 1600 9-9-9-24 1.5V $88

I don't want to spend over $100 on memory right now, so I'm either between 16GB of CL9 for $88, 8GB of CL8 for $75, or just save some money and get the 8GB of CL9 for $47 and then add more later. What should I get?
 
So, what is the benefit between the two below to justify the additional $28?

CHOICE 1: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4) 1600 9-9-9-24 1.5V - $47
CHOICE 2: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4) 1600 8-8-8-24 1.5V - $75
Click to expand...

The benefit to choice 2 is slightly higher benchmarks. I would not bother. Just get choice 1.

See this:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4503/sandy-bridge-memory-scaling-choosing-the-best-ddr3/6

However with this said I believe Phenoms have more dependence on latency than Intel processors although I do not believe it is worth the price difference.
 
Thanks for the link drescherjm. These don't seem like real world results worth spending the extra money on. For the sub-$100 price, I'd rather have the 16GB.

Appreciate the help!
 
Well generally speaking, for the same speed, with no overclocking in mind, it is better to go with the lowest rated voltage with the required capacity, tight timings help, but not much when comparing CL7 vs CL8.

Now if you were to be overclocking, then the ones that have tightest timings, lowest voltage, at highest base line speeds are the ones you should generally go for, reasoning, usually the ones that have a high speed tight timing basline with ok voltage, tend to overclock better and have more range in thier timing numbers, whereas something that is fast but has very loose timings, more often then not, does not usually have as much play up/down with speeds or timings.

Most ram now will be able to do at least 2 bins lower and at least 1 bin or so higher speeds, timings that all depends, but generally is about the same, drop 1 bin or 2 in speed and tighten timings up 1 loosen the timings some. Generally speaking the sweet spots for speed/timings seem to be the 1333 and 1600 range, more often then not it take 1900+Mhz to see any real benefit from the faster speeds, however, becuase the ram allows it, it usally helps when overclocking to find a slightly faster sweet spot.

Also just to point out, real fast ram, or having the imc spinning alot faster have near the same benefit both in AMD and Intels respective cases, you rally will not notice it much in gaming maybe a frame or 2, in doing encoding and such where raw bandwidth and transaction times help, it can be quite noticeable, however, having to shell out alot more for say ddr3 2000 speed ram vs ddr3 1600 or 1866, it just is not worth the cost premium, unless you are overclocking as a profession :p
 
Under normal, everyday computing, most people will NOT notice 1 bit of difference in the chips you linked to. In the long run, you will be WAY better off to go up from 8GB to 16GB of whatever type you can get for just a bit more $$.....
 
bonehead123 said:
Under normal, everyday computing, most people will NOT notice 1 bit of difference in the chips you linked to. In the long run, you will be WAY better off to go up from 8GB to 16GB of whatever type you can get for just a bit more $$.....
Click to expand...

The OP stated this was for gaming and basic Windows tasks. He does not need 16GB of RAM. He will never use it or benefit from it. 8GB is more than enough.

OP, get the 1.5V RAM. The timings are too close to matter in real world tasks.
 
I second the just use 8gb of memory, its a phenom so that in itself shoots down some of the need as compared say to a i7 neh or i7 sandy-e.

For gaming wise 8gb is plenty enough, if your gpu also uses say 2gb or so of memory do make sure you are using a 64bit os to make sure all the memory is addressable.

You could also go with 1333 based memory. benchmarks/real world and such state pretty clearly 1333 at tight timings or 1600+ at loose timings do about the same in 9/10 cases, the exception is overclocking where 1600+ usually has a better range of dividers and selectable timings to tighten or loosen as required.

I know the Vengeance are sweet looking ram, they do also have the LP version, and of course there is always G Skill, my personal favorite now a days, good price, and very good ram, they also have lots of options in regards to speed, price etc, the main thing I like about them, is the height of the ram sink is usually not much higher then not having any, which is good as well :) (they also have ultra low voltage memory available which overclocks very nicely)
 
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