Looking for a 32GB (4x8GB) 1.5v kit. Don't bother suggesting Corsair

T

Teenyman45

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My 3930K and Intel DX79SR board came a little while back and I did a test boot with a spare 2GB stick.

Now it is time to upgrade in full. I would rather go with 4x8GB rather than 8x4GB so I have the option of going to 64GB later for RAM disk fun. 1.5v keeps me well under the 1.65v threshold. The faster and tighter the timings the better for that extra 1-2% frame rate.

Personal bias makes Corsair RAM a non-starter.

This kit looks pretty good Viper 3 Series, Black Mamba, DDR3 32GB (4 x 8GB) 2133MHz Quad Kit . Any other suggestions are welcome.
 
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G. Skill has a pretty good rep around here, Patriot has been good for me as well. Kingston also has a good rep, so I would just say pick something from those three brands.
 
Tsumi said:
G. Skill has a pretty good rep around here, Patriot has been good for me as well. Kingston also has a good rep, so I would just say pick something from those three brands.
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I am aware of the rep and use gskill's pi line in my X58 rig (see the sig which really needs to be updated to reflect my TH-10 case). I wanted info on any specific kits people have day to day use with rather than reading reviews where the RAM is tested for a couple days and often at 1.7v for maximum overdrive.
 
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I've been using the G.skill Ares Quad-channel 4x8gb 1866 F3-1866C10Q-32GAB kit for several months now in a workstation with high utilization on a 3930K. I've lowered the speed to 1600 and dropped timings to 9-9-9-24 at stock 1.5v and it's been serving my needs beautifully. I did a 36 hour ramtest before i gave it an all-clear just to be safe:


flying colors!

I highly recommend this set.
 
With Kingston watch out for those 'hightower' heatsink sticks.

Nothing gets in the way of a decent HSF like they do.

Doh!
 
Teenyman45 said:
My 3930K and Intel DX79SR board came a little while back and I did a test boot with a spare 2GB stick.

Now it is time to upgrade in full. I would rather go with 4x8GB rather than 8x4GB so I have the option of going to 64GB later for RAM disk fun. 1.5v keeps me well under the 1.65v threshold. The faster and tighter the timings the better for that extra 1-2% frame rate.

Personal bias makes Corsair RAM a non-starter.

This kit looks pretty good Viper 3 Series, Black Mamba, DDR3 32GB (4 x 8GB) 2133MHz Quad Kit . Any other suggestions are welcome.
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4 of these. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231488
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104338

They are alot cheaper and you probably wont be able to even tell that they are 1600 compared to anything faster, except in benchmarks. If price means nothing then the ones you picked are just fine.
 
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I don't like Corsair, either (or Kingston, Mushkin, G.Skill, Geil, Patriot,...), but they actually do have some memory that isn't made from overclocked or junk chips, like this 8GB module for $36:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233371

It's rated only PC12800 but is made with actual PC12800 chips (Elpida edj4208bbbg-gn-f). EDIT: Elpida says those chips can be either PC10666 or PC12800. :(
 
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Crucial, Kingston (though I find them better for non-enthusiast set ups) Mushkin (made in Colorado) Geil, and G Skill are brands I recommend.
This said, your 1.5v requirement is a sticking point. Typically, at the speed you wish most are 1.65v and higher. (Presumption here, you want 2133mhz.)
Off hand, I do not know of any 4 piece kits meeting your requirements. Again 1.5v and 2133mhz. (Crucial and Mushkin do not have anything meeting the full requirements (1.5v, 8gb size) on their websites.)
A suggestion: Wait a little while. Use what ram you have now, as you are early, and let the manufacturers come up with products meeting your wants and needs.
 
bloodypulp said:
Crucial
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Also agreed on Crucial (or Samsung UDIMM).

Crucial is actually the retail arm of longtime USA-based (Nampa, Idaho, to be precise) Micron - one of only two companies (Intel being the other) to manufacture *all* their memory modules in the United States. (This can be critical if you are working on government computers due to the "Buy America Act".) Also, Micron memory modules last - I still have decade-old-plus Micron DIMMs that haven't even begun to show signs of failure.

Micron also supplies private-label memory modules (notably to MicroCenter) - atypical from common (or even perceived common) practice, these private-label modules directly match (on terms of quality) the same modules sold under Crucial branding.
 
Not to mention in the event the unfortunate should happen, crucial has one of the best customer service teams I have ever had to deal with.
 
X1950XT said:
It's pointless to get anything above 1600mhz IMO.
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Aren't the new Intel CPUs limited to around DDR3 1333/1600 anyway?

I'm using a set of 2x8GB G.Skill Ares DDR3-1866 in my AMD Trinity PC without issues. I had to specify XMP timings in the BIOS but other than that they work great. The Ares series gets solid reviews last I checked.
 
Emission said:
Aren't the new Intel CPUs limited to around DDR3 1333/1600 anyway?

I'm using a set of 2x8GB G.Skill Ares DDR3-1866 in my AMD Trinity PC without issues. I had to specify XMP timings in the BIOS but other than that they work great. The Ares series gets solid reviews last I checked.
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They aren't limited per se, as most decent MoBos will let the user OC the RAM above 1333/1600, but doing so will void the Intel CPU warranty.
 
I meant in terms of memory bandwidth that the CPUs can actually use. Do they benefit from DDR3 1866 and above?
 
Emission said:
I meant in terms of memory bandwidth that the CPUs can actually use. Do they benefit from DDR3 1866 and above?
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No, not that would be discernable outside of synthetic benchmarks. Even the difference between 1333 and 1600 is so tiny, that it wasn't worth the added cost to go with 1600 memory at the time I built my IB system (bought my i7 on release day).

Today, I'd recommend 1600 to pair with an IB but only because the price difference between 1333 and 1600 is almost non-existant.
 
kirbyrj said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148665

DDR3 1600 with CAS 9 and 1.35V. That's what I'd get probably. Bump it to 1.5V and see what it'll do.
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I'd recommend two sets of the 2x8GB version...only because if one of the modules goes bad, you'd still have 16GB to fall back on and keep a working system instead of having to pull all four modules for an RMA. This does depend on the manufacturer...whether or not they want the entire kit or just the failed module, but I'd rather not take chances like that.
 
DejaWiz said:
I'd recommend two sets of the 2x8GB version...only because if one of the modules goes bad, you'd still have 16GB to fall back on and keep a working system instead of having to pull all four modules for an RMA. This does depend on the manufacturer...whether or not they want the entire kit or just the failed module, but I'd rather not take chances like that.
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I second this. Most manufacturers want the entire kit back as far as I know.
 
Last year, when I RMA'd a 12GB triple channel kit to GSkill they did not need the whole kit back when 1 dimm out of 3 was bad but since I had other good ram I decided to send the kit back.
 
drescherjm said:
Last year, when I RMA'd a 12GB triple channel kit to GSkill they did not need the whole kit back when 1 dimm out of 3 was bad
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And that right there is proof positive that even the manufacturers themselves know that the term "matched kit" is nothing but marketing bullshit. ;)

- Buy a 4 DIMM "matched" kit for slightly more than the price of 2 separate kits.
- One module goes bad.
- User contacts the manuf.
- Manuf says just send us the bad module.
- Manuf packages and ships good module.
- User now has a perfectly good working system with the remainder of the "matched" kit and some random spare mixed in that came off a tray on a shelf.


HAHA! Brilliant marketing and cash grab scheme!
 
I sometimes find the larger sets to be cheaper but that might be on a sale or something, who knows.
 
I bought 2 separate 8GB sticks of that Crucial because there was a coupon code on them rather than on the 2x8GB kit. They work perfectly fine.
 
i got the Patriot Viper 3 Series 16G kits, for 64G total myself, the 8G sticks and no problems and running smoooth for me thus far and been running F@H for 1 week on my 3930k with out a hitch
 
PGHammer said:
Also agreed on Crucial (or Samsung UDIMM).
Also, Micron memory modules last - I still have decade-old-plus Micron DIMMs that haven't even begun to show signs of failure.
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I've had more Crucial memory fail (Ballistix piece of crap) than Mushkin, Kingston, G.Skill, GeIL, Supertalent, and Centon Combined
 
KarateBob said:
I've had more Crucial memory fail (Ballistix piece of crap) than Mushkin, Kingston, G.Skill, GeIL, Supertalent, and Centon Combined
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Eh...the only crucial sticks I know were really bad were the Ballistix DDR2 800 2x1GB kits. The rest of them were fine. I actually like the DDR3 1600 Ballistix Sport. They work great.
 
kirbyrj said:
Eh...the only crucial sticks I know were really bad were the Ballistix DDR2 800 2x1GB kits. The rest of them were fine. I actually like the DDR3 1600 Ballistix Sport. They work great.
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I've had a 4gb kit of those running fine since 2007. I think the biggest thing that killed them was the MFG rating them to run 2.2V. Running them at 1.8V their whole life has left me with 0 issues. Overclocking wise, they've been able to run pretty pretty close to mfg rating, despite my lower voltage.

Unless I'm buying top-tier sticks of memory, like the dominator GT line (of hte x58 days), I'm gonna stick to standard JDEC voltage for longevity. In my experience, there is only a minimal reduction in overclocking capacity in taking this approach.
 
DejaWiz said:
They aren't limited per se, as most decent MoBos will let the user OC the RAM above 1333/1600, but doing so will void the Intel CPU warranty.
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Sandy Bridge would actually underclock higher-spec RAM unless told (via the BIOS) otherwise - Ivy Bridge does not have this issue. Ivy Bridge will actually run DDR3-1600 at spec (Sandy Bridge will not unless you BIOS-override) due to a better FSB match. With current pricing, DDR3-1600 makes all sorts of sense to mate up with an IB CPU (any of then, K-series or not).

Now for the original Q I have that brought me here; I'm kinda torn between two 16GB (2x8GB) DIMM pairs - Crucial CL9 vs. Kingston HyperX Red CL10.

http://microcenter.com/product/3851...el_Desktop_Memory_Kit_(Two_8GB_Memory_Modules) (Crucial)
http://microcenter.com/product/4015...10_Desktop_Memory_Kit_(Two_8GB_Memory_Modules) (HyperX Red)

The Crucial is $5USD cheaper, and has (as I pointed out) the lower latency. Which is the better match for an i5-3570K that will be mildly (by comparison) overclocked? (I'm looking to overclock to - at most - 4.1 GHz; therefore, I'm not going to be really rusing or coming near that IB heatwall.
 
I have a G.Skill Sniper kit that is 4 x 8 GB DDR3 1866. I believe the CL is 10 and I got the kit for $159 on newegg (currently 189 I think). Good RAM.
 
PGHammer said:
Sandy Bridge would actually underclock higher-spec RAM unless told (via the BIOS) otherwise - Ivy Bridge does not have this issue. Ivy Bridge will actually run DDR3-1600 at spec (Sandy Bridge will not unless you BIOS-override) due to a better FSB match. With current pricing, DDR3-1600 makes all sorts of sense to mate up with an IB CPU (any of then, K-series or not).

Now for the original Q I have that brought me here; I'm kinda torn between two 16GB (2x8GB) DIMM pairs - Crucial CL9 vs. Kingston HyperX Red CL10.

http://microcenter.com/product/3851...el_Desktop_Memory_Kit_(Two_8GB_Memory_Modules) (Crucial)
http://microcenter.com/product/4015...10_Desktop_Memory_Kit_(Two_8GB_Memory_Modules) (HyperX Red)

The Crucial is $5USD cheaper, and has (as I pointed out) the lower latency. Which is the better match for an i5-3570K that will be mildly (by comparison) overclocked? (I'm looking to overclock to - at most - 4.1 GHz; therefore, I'm not going to be really rusing or coming near that IB heatwall.
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I personally would go with the Crucial Ballistix Sport 1600 in either 1.5V or 1.35V flavor.
 
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