TheoViDen

Wait, really? When did G.Skill become such a respected name in the industry? Maybe I'm just a bit old-fashioned, but I thought that Corsair and Kingston were the only manufacturers to make high-quality RAM; but I suppose the industry could have moved on from that thought process? The only reason I was giving Thermaltake's kit the benefit of the doubt was because Thermaltake themselves have been around (and respected) for decades. How did you manage to find out about the Thermaltake's not being Samsung B-die? I couldn't find any information on their exact timings (other than being C19) on any site selling them - or even Thermaltake's own site/datasheets for that matter. It's a bit of a shock to me that there can be kits out there running at 4400Mhz without being B-die; I was under the impression that only B-die would even hit those speeds to begin with, so anything in that speed range would, by implication, be a B-die kit? Thank you again for the replies guys - it is all helping; and I'm learning more as well, which is always a plus.

Thank you for the replies guys, and I appreciate the feedback, but still no one has actually answered my question of is what I'm looking to do actually possible/feasible. I know there are cheaper kits out there by brands like G.Skill, but to be honest, I just don't trust their quality - it's always been a hard rule I follow to only buy from reputable brands with a proven track record of quality (such as Kingston, Corsair, etc.), and to the best of my knowledge, brands like G.Skill or Crucial are too focused on that 'gamer-look' to actually be of the same quality as brands that have been in the PC space for over a decade longer. Also, as I said in my original post, I'm looking to upgrade my RAM with the future in mind, and spending more on a 3rd gen Ryzen CPU when 4th gen is just around the corner doesn't make sense to me. I'm trying to squeeze a little more performance out of what I currently have, and then have good quality RAM that doesn't cripple the performance of my next CPU upgrade. If I could save $80-$100 AUD by just underclocking and tightening the timings on the 4400Mhz CL19 Thermaltake kit, then it would be something I'd want to do, as it frees up more money to be put towards the future upgrade to 4th gen Ryzen later in the year. I get that my logic doesn't make sense to people who live in places where component pricing makes sense, but in Australia, even the modest upgrade to a 3600X is still $395 AUD (almost $50 AUD more than the more expensive RAM choice I was considering), so the RAM is my goal at this point, then I'll be saving for an upgrade to 4th gen Ryzen when it is released.

So, I'm looking at upgrading my Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000Mhz CL17 2x8GB kit (OC'd to 3200Mhz CL16) with something that would squeeze a bit more performance out of my Ryzen 5 3600, and allow me to have a 1:1 fclk of 1800Mhz (currently at 1600Mhz 1:1). Now, I'm not a fan of RGB in my own builds, and unfortunately, the PC-part market in Australia is kind of broken, so I'm stuck with these as my best 2 non-rgb options: Corsair Vengeance LPX CMK16GX4M2Z3600C14 - a 2x8GB kit rated at 3600Mhz CL14 for $349 AUD or Thermaltake R017D408GX2-4400C19A - a 2x8GB kit rated at 4400Mhz CL19 for only $279 AUD (currently $249 AUD with umart premium pricing) Obviously, the 3600Mhz CL14 would be incredible for a 1:1 fclk of 1800Mhz, but with the increased rating (and cheaper price) of the 4400Mhz Thermaltake kit, would I be better off just underclocking that to 3600Mhz CL14 (or possibly even 3800Mhz CL14 and fclk of 1900Mhz if my CPU can do it) to get the same (or better) performance for about $80-$100 AUD less? Also, not sure how true this is, but I've heard that *apparently* the next gen of Ryzen should have a fclk of 2100Mhz? So... future-proofing with the Thermaltake kit, maybe? It seems logical to me that this would work, since the higher rated RAM probably has the headroom to do that latency at lower speeds, but is that actually feasible, or should I just bit the $80-$100 AUD bullet, and get the Corsair kit if I want a 1:1 fclk and a CL14 latency? Hopefully someone can help me with this, as I've done a fairly extensive Google, and LTT forum search, but can't seem to find any information relevant to my specific situation, since in almost all cases, the higher speed kit is more expensive, so it's a no-brainer for cost, but yea... it's a broken PC-part market here in Australia