Which DDR3 RAM should I get?

[Teny]

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB

Capacity - 4GB (2 x 2GB)
Speed - DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
Cas Latency - 9
Timing - 9-9-9-24
Voltage - 1.5V
ECC - No
Buffered/Registered - Unbuffered

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB

Capacity - 4GB (2 x 2GB)
Speed - DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
Cas Latency - 9
Timing - 9-9-9-24
Voltage -1.5V
ECC - No
Buffered/Registered - Unbuffered

CORSAIR XMS3 4GB

Capacity - 4GB (2 x 2GB)
Speed - DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Cas Latency - 9
Timing - 9-9-9-24
Voltage - 1.65V

All three is $39.99 (Corsair has a $5 poromo code). They will be going into an AMD Phenom II X4 965 and MSI 880G-E45. This build is mostly for gaming and daily use.

 

[familyman1]

ripjaws x series!!

 

[dude_56013]

I'd grab the Corsair. 1600mhz and it's 1.65v. Now, normally, the higher the voltage = not so good. However, I've heard that some AMD systems are finicky with 1.5v rated RAM (as really that's supposed to be used with the new i-series Intels). Now, this is just some of what I heard when I started researching when doing my build. So...if it was me, and you don't wanna jack the G.Skill up to 1.65v on your board, just grab the Corsair to begin with. It's all good RAM anyways. Plus, to be honest, I'd grab the 1600mhz over the 1333mhz, even if it's got CAS9. From what I've heard, between 1333 and 1600, you'll see a bigger performance boost going 1600 CAS9 vs 1333 CAS8. Just hearsay, but it seems to make sense in my mind.

One thing though...will you ever want 16GB? If so, get ONE 4GB stick and not 2 x 2GB.

 

[Teny]

Hmm, kinda wish you responded to that before I bought the RAM.

I ended up not getting any either of those. I went with the blue G Skill Ripjaws X with 1333 Mhz CL8 1.5V. I went with lower timings than higher speed because my motherboard only supports 1333 MHz unless I OC. Also that AMD works better with lower timings.

 

[dude_56013]

Hmm, kinda wish you responded to that before I bought the RAM.

I ended up not getting any either of those. I went with the blue G Skill Ripjaws X with 1333 Mhz CL8 1.5V. I went with lower timings than higher speed because my motherboard only supports 1333 MHz unless I OC. Also that AMD works better with lower timings.

You shouldn't have anything to worry about then. If your board only supports 1333, then that's perfectly fine. It should work just fine (glad you grabbed CAS8 though...should equalize the loss in speed). Like I said, typically the RAM that's being listed as 1.5v is for the Intel guys using XMP or whatever. It should still handle 1.65v if it's unstable at 1.5v in your AMD system. I don't think you've got anything to worry about.

Also, I apologize. I never saw this until the other guy bumped it up!

 

[Indigo]

Seconded, you should be fine. I recently bought some G.Skill and it works great in my Phenom II based server.

 

[Teny]

Awesome. +rep to everyone. Except for dude-56013, for being late on the response, haha.

Just kidding, gotta spread some rep before I can rep you again.