Top of the line ram for 9900k / 2080ti / MSI godlike?

[OG_Mega]

8 hours ago, TahoeDust said:

Everyone will respond with what a terrible value that kit is, and they are right.  But, if you want highend ram for whatever reason, that is a nice kit.

 

I own the exact same kit.

It most definitely is, but I remember on my current machine (980ti / 5820k) I was a brick and decided not to check the compatibility list, bought the fastest ram I could, and couldn't even boot it... had to drive an hour to return them and get new sticks. 

 

Definitely trying to avoid that again where I can.

 

I'm only really familiar with Corsair and G.Skill to be honest, but if you have suggestions on a high quality set that checks off on that list I'd be really appreciative ! Otherwise, if you have other suggestions I'm definitely open 

[ch3w2oy]

10 hours ago, OG_Mega said:

Found these off the MEG MSI Z390 compatibility list: https://www.amazon.com/G-Skill-TridentZ-4400Mhz-PC4-35200-Channel/dp/B07GPK2P8D

 

I think those might be my best bet? I was looking for something with RGB, trying to stay under $400 total (was trying to squeeze out 32GB, but maybe high speed 16gb is good enough?) 

 

It's a PITA going down that list and copy/pasting codes to see if they're the chips I'm looking for, but I really don't want to deal with the headache of trying to overclock something not compatible that could maybe give me an issue

That's a nice kit like @TahoeDust@ said. A little too expensive for my taste, though.. 

 

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about the QVL list with your motherboard to much. Most of the kits mentioned in this thread will have no problem running at full potential.. Seriously.. Don't pay extra just to get something on the official list.. 

[OG_Mega]

1 hour ago, ch3w2oy said:

That's a nice kit like @TahoeDust@ said. A little too expensive for my taste, though.. 

 

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about the QVL list with your motherboard to much. Most of the kits mentioned in this thread will have no problem running at full potential.. Seriously.. Don't pay extra just to get something on the official list.. 

If that's the case then, out of these 2 models, which would you suggest? (Like I said, trying to hit around $400-ish for 32gb. That's why I was asking about the faster 16gb kit that was around that price range because someone suggested getting higher power 16gb over slower 32gb):

1. DDR4 3600 C16
2. DDR4 3866 C18

 

 

[nick name]

12 hours ago, TahoeDust said:

You can disagree.  Dig into that thread you posted.  Plenty of people running 1.5v or higher for years.

A person who's opinion I trust indicated 1.5V was as high as you wanna go for safe daily usage so I never run daily higher than that, but I will explore for other opinions.  If I can get more out of my RAM then that would be nice.  What's the highest you've seen on someone's daily setup for their b-die?

[nick name]

9 minutes ago, OG_Mega said:

If that's the case then, out of these 2 models, which would you suggest? (Like I said, trying to hit around $400-ish for 32gb. That's why I was asking about the faster 16gb kit that was around that price range because someone suggested getting higher power 16gb over slower 32gb):

1. DDR4 3600 C16
2. DDR4 3866 C18

 

 

I know G.SKILL has a kit that is around 3700MHz ~3900MHz CL17, but everyone appears to be sold out.  And I know it won't help you, but I've seen the 3600CL15 kit sold in the 32GB capacity by a European seller.  I mention it because G.SKILL does make slightly better than 3600CL16.  I use their 3600CL15, but it's only sold with the red plastic trim and in 2x8GB capacity in the states.  

[OG_Mega]

1 hour ago, nick name said:

I know G.SKILL has a kit that is around 3700MHz ~3900MHz CL17, but everyone appears to be sold out.  And I know it won't help you, but I've seen the 3600CL15 kit sold in the 32GB capacity by a European seller.  I mention it because G.SKILL does make slightly better than 3600CL16.  I use their 3600CL15, but it's only sold with the red plastic trim and in 2x8GB capacity in the states.  

 

Would you be able to explain to me the difference between C18 vs C19? Specifically, I was looking at these 2:

1. DDR4 4266 C19
2. DDR4 4400 C18

The price difference is pretty significant, as the C18 is $100 more expensive

 

@ch3w2oy

[ch3w2oy]

49 minutes ago, OG_Mega said:

If that's the case then, out of these 2 models, which would you suggest? (Like I said, trying to hit around $400-ish for 32gb. That's why I was asking about the faster 16gb kit that was around that price range because someone suggested getting higher power 16gb over slower 32gb):

1. DDR4 3600 C16
2. DDR4 3866 C18

 

 

The 3600 c16 kit is better, out of those 2. The 3600 c16 kit can most likely run at the same speed the  3866 c18 kit does. I haven't plugged mine in yet as they just came in today but I'm pretty sure they can get over 4000mhz. Like nick said, though, one of the best b die kits is the 3600 c15.. The better the kit, the better they should overclock.. If you want RGB, I think the 3600 c16 are the best value option.. 

[nick name]

8 minutes ago, OG_Mega said:

 

Would you be able to explain to me the difference between C18 vs C19? Specifically, I was looking at these 2:

1. DDR4 4266 C19
2. DDR4 4400 C18

The price difference is pretty significant, as the C18 is $100 cheaper and is higher 

 

@ch3w2oy

If you're shopping on Newegg then you should only buy from Newegg.  The prices for RAM by sellers that aren't Newegg are ridiculous.  

[ch3w2oy]

9 minutes ago, OG_Mega said:

 

Would you be able to explain to me the difference between C18 vs C19? Specifically, I was looking at these 2:

1. DDR4 4266 C19
2. DDR4 4400 C18

The price difference is pretty significant, as the C18 is $100 cheaper and is higher 

 

@ch3w2oy

The c18 kit just came up $100 more expensive for me.. 

 

C18/19/16 is the latency. You want higher speed RAM with the lowest latency possible. 

 

To calculate the speed you do 

19 divided by 4266 * 1000 = 4.454ms

18/4400*1000 = 4.091ms

 

The c18 kit is faster. Sometimes mhz is more important than latency and vise versa..

[nick name]

I would wait for this kit to become available again:

 

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232676&ignorebbr=1

 

Edit:

 

Wait, no.  This is the kit I was thinking of.  A touch slower, but also lower voltage and cheaper.

 

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232674

[OG_Mega]

37 minutes ago, ch3w2oy said:

The c18 kit just came up $100 more expensive for me.. 

 

C18/19/16 is the latency. You want higher speed RAM with the lowest latency possible. 

 

To calculate the speed you do 

19 divided by 4266 * 1000 = 4.454ms

18/4400*1000 = 4.091ms

 

The c18 kit is faster. Sometimes mhz is more important than latency and vise versa..

Sorry you're correct, it was $100 more expensive (whoops) – 

 

In terms of 16gb vs 32gb of memory, how much of a difference will it make? Is it best to go one over the other if overclocking, or does it not matter really? 

[ch3w2oy]

11 minutes ago, OG_Mega said:

Sorry you're correct, it was $100 more expensive (whoops) – 

 

In terms of 16gb vs 32gb of memory, how much of a difference will it make? Is it best to go one over the other if overclocking, or does it not matter really? 

Unless you're motherboard supports quad channel, like HEDT (4 out of 8 slots),  dual channel is the way to go (using 2 slots on motherboard instead of 4). You could get 2x16gb kits and they should technically perform better than 4x8gb, and they should also overclock better as well. Using 4x8gb, or all 4 slots on a dual channel board puts more stress on the memory controller. 

 

So I would get either 2x8gb or 2x16gb. Not 4x8gb..

 

I'm pretty sure this is the reason that @TahoeDust uses the Z390 Dark motherboard with only 2 slots for the RAM (not ITX), because it overclocks better.. And the fact it has crazy VRMs.. 

[OG_Mega]

5 minutes ago, ch3w2oy said:

Unless you're motherboard supports quad channel, like HEDT (4 out of 8 slots),  dual channel is the way to go (using 2 slots on motherboard instead of 4). You could get 2x16gb kits and they should technically perform better than 4x8gb, and they should also overclock better as well. Using 4x8gb, or all 4 slots in a dual channel board puts more stress on the memory controller. 

 

I'm pretty sure this is the reason that @TahoeDust uses the Z390 Dark motherboard with only 2 slots for the RAM (not ITX), because it overclocks better.. And the fact it has crazy VRMs.. 

^^ Supports Dual-Channel

 

Edit: If it supports dual-channel but also up to 64GB, how does that work? For instance, is Dual-Channel is the most optimized, but you CAN go up to 64GB if you want to? So if I buy 4 sticks, essentially it's less efficient that 2 sticks?

[ch3w2oy]

Just now, OG_Mega said:

^^ Supports Dual-Channel

Unless you need 32gb, I would just get 2x8gb since you're already spending a lot on the speed.. 2x16gb should overclock similar to 2x8gb.. Its up to you.. Just don't get 4x8gb and expect to reach the same overclock as a 2x8 or 2x16gb kit. 

[OG_Mega]

1 minute ago, ch3w2oy said:

Unless you need 32gb, I would just get 2x8gb since you're already spending a lot on the speed.. 2x16gb should overclock similar to 2x8gb.. Its up to you.. Just don't get 4x8gb and expect to reach the same overclock as a 2x8 or 2x16gb kit. 

I don't think they make 2x16GB sticks in the ones that I'm leaning toward unfortunately (https://www.amazon.com/G-Skill-TridentZ-4400Mhz-PC4-35200-Channel/dp/B07GPK2P8D) – only reason I thought about it was because if i want to upgrade what that looks like 

[ch3w2oy]

1 minute ago, OG_Mega said:

I don't think they make 2x16GB sticks in the ones that I'm leaning toward unfortunately (https://www.amazon.com/G-Skill-TridentZ-4400Mhz-PC4-35200-Channel/dp/B07GPK2P8D) – only reason I thought about it was because if i want to upgrade what that looks like 

I mean if you're not overclocking, your board should be able to run them at spec with 4x8gb.. So 4400mhz should work on all 4 slots if that's what they're rated for. I'm not an expert on the subject, just offering my advice from research I've done.. 

 

So as long as you just want to turn XMP on and run 4x8gb at rated spec, 4400mhz c18, you should be fine. That motherboard should be able to handle it just fine. I really don't see a problem with it.. But what do I know lol

[TahoeDust]

4 hours ago, nick name said:

A person who's opinion I trust indicated 1.5V was as high as you wanna go for safe daily usage so I never run daily higher than that, but I will explore for other opinions.  If I can get more out of my RAM then that would be nice.  What's the highest you've seen on someone's daily setup for their b-die?

The highest I personally have run 24/7 is ~1.5v...but that is all it needed.  I run mine currently at 1.45v commanded and 1.458 actual which keeps my 4200 17-17-17-37 100% stable.  If I had to go higher to get what I wanted, I would without concern of killing the ram.  Here are Vince Lucido's AKA "Kingpin"s response when asked on the EVGA forums...

 

https://forums.evga.com/FindPost/2914492

Quote

I have 4 sticks passively cooled on x299 DARK rig running at 4000 cl14 1.65v daily. Never changed the voltage from there and running nearly one year straight without much shutdowns at all and no issues yet. I also know some guys to literally use 2v on their daily testing rigs with no issues as well lol. Id's say 1.55-1.65v with moderate OC is np longterm.

 

[nick name]

16 minutes ago, TahoeDust said:

The highest I personally have run 24/7 is ~1.5v...but that is all it needed.  I run mine currently at 1.45v commanded and 1.458 actual which keeps my 4200 17-17-17-37 100% stable.  If I had to go higher to get what I wanted, I would without concern of killing the ram.  Here are Vince Lucido's AKA "Kingpin"s response when asked on the EVGA forums...

 

https://forums.evga.com/FindPost/2914492

 

Thank you for that.  I never would have found that and his opinion is most certainly respected.  

 

I can't get my IMC to run much more than 3600MHz with tightish timings and that requires around 1.47V.  I admit that makes me think my 3600CL15 kit is a bit of a dud.  For a while I was running tighter subs at 1.5V, but I think those tighter timings were causing some issues in games like CS:GO so I backed them off.  

[TahoeDust]

Just now, nick name said:

Thank you for that.  I never would have found that and his opinion is most certainly respected.  

 

I can't get my IMC to run much more than 3600MHz with tightish timings and that requires around 1.47V.  I admit that makes me think my 3600CL15 kit is a bit of a dud.  For a while I was running tighter subs at 1.5V, but I think those tighter timings were causing some issues in games like CS:GO so I backed them off.  

I really think that has more to do with AMD's IMC than the ram sticks.  Intel still has a nice lead there. 

 

Karhu Ram Test is a nice utility that makes checking ram stability easy.  It costs ~$10, but will save you a lot of time if you are going to be doing ram tuning.  If it does not produce errors there in the first hour or so, it should not give you an issues anywhere else...

 

https://www.karhusoftware.com/ramtest/

[nick name]

16 minutes ago, TahoeDust said:

I really think that has more to do with AMD's IMC than the ram sticks.  Intel still has a nice lead there. 

 

Karhu Ram Test is a nice utility that makes checking ram stability easy.  It costs ~$10, but will save you a lot of time if you are going to be doing ram tuning.  If it does not produce errors there in the first hour or so, it should not give you an issues anywhere else...

 

https://www.karhusoftware.com/ramtest/

Yeah there are some guys running better speeds or primary timings than I can, but not many.  I have a decent IMC and have my fingers crossed that Ryzen 2 will lead to even better overclocking.  

 

I bought a license for that as soon as I heard The Stilt prefers it.   It's great.