RAM question.

[WeNeKappa]

Hello!
I recently got a 14600KF with a Gigabyte Z690-GAMING-X-DDR4 and now I need to buy some RAM. I want 32GB.
I don't know which to choose from the 1 milion models from diffrent brands.
I would like the TridentZ series or any from Corsair that has RGB.
1. 2 sticks or 4 sticks?
2. 3600MHz CL16 or 4000MHz CL18 or what other options are good?

 

[Dedayog]

5 minutes ago, WeNeKappa said:

Hello!
I recently got a 14600KF with a Gigabyte Z690-GAMING-X-DDR4 and now I need to buy some RAM. I want 32GB.
I don't know which to choose from the 1 milion models from diffrent brands.
I would like the TridentZ series or any from Corsair that has RGB.
1. 2 sticks or 4 sticks?
2. 3600MHz CL16 or 4000MHz CL18 or what other options are good?

 

2 sticks of 16GB.  Trident Z 3600CL16 is great.

[svenvb]

8 minutes ago, WeNeKappa said:

Hello!
I recently got a 14600KF with a Gigabyte Z690-GAMING-X-DDR4 and now I need to buy some RAM. I want 32GB.
I don't know which to choose from the 1 milion models from diffrent brands.
I would like the TridentZ series or any from Corsair that has RGB.
1. 2 sticks or 4 sticks?
2. 3600MHz CL16 or 4000MHz CL18 or what other options are good?

 

It depends on if you'll stick with this setup or not, generally 2 sticks should be fine, since most motherboard offer 4 slots (You can always sell them or give them to friends to free up space)
The corsair ones seem fine, but watch out with the MHz: Not every motherboards suppport every speed. 3600 should do well and 3200 is good enough too, 4000 = paying money for something you don't need (except for if you're an e-sporter)

[Dr. Will0hlep]

4 minutes ago, WeNeKappa said:

Hello!
I recently got a 14600KF with a Gigabyte Z690-GAMING-X-DDR4 and now I need to buy some RAM. I want 32GB.
I don't know which to choose from the 1 milion models from diffrent brands.
I would like the TridentZ series or any from Corsair that has RGB.
1. 2 sticks or 4 sticks?
2. 3600MHz CL16 or 4000MHz CL18 or what other options are good?

 

2 Sticks.

 

I usually recommend 3200MHz CL16 as the best value for money, but that is based on out of date information now I think about it.

[WeNeKappa]

2 minutes ago, svenvb said:

It depends on if you'll stick with this setup or not, generally 2 sticks should be fine, since most motherboard offer 4 slots (You can always sell them or give them to friends to free up space)
The corsair ones seem fine, but watch out with the MHz: Not every motherboards suppport every speed. 3600 should do well and 3200 is good enough too, 4000 = paying money for something you don't need (except for if you're an e-sporter)

I'll probably stick with it for at least 4-5years. And yes, i'm into e-sports playing at a high level.
As i can see, my motherboard supports up to 5k+ MHz with O.C. and 3200 without it (I suppose O.C. is with XMP, right?)

 

8 minutes ago, will0hlep said:

 

2 Sticks.

 

I usually recommend 3200MHz CL16 as the best value for money, but that is based on out of date information now I think about it.

 

10 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

2 sticks of 16GB.  Trident Z 3600CL16 is great.

I will probably go with 2 sticks of 16GB 3600CL16 then

[Somerandomtechyboi]

Cheapest 3200c16 or 3600c18 kit available, branding doesnt matter cause the ics are all random garbage unless you go crucial (micron) or klevv (hynix)

 

3600c18 > 3200c16, cl is useless so dont buy 3600c16 unless its bdie 16-16-16 and not garbage 16-19-19 or whatever horrid variants thatll still come with random crap ics and provide next to no performance benifit

 

 

If ram performance is a concern go buy a couple oem hynix hma82gu6djr8n and run at 4200-4500 gear 1, you cannot buy your way past manual tuning if you want that extra ram performance over xmp kits

[Guille.R]

2 minutes ago, WeNeKappa said:

I'll probably stick with it for at least 4-5years. And yes, i'm into e-sports playing at a high level.
As i can see, my motherboard supports up to 5k+ MHz with O.C. and 3200 without it (I suppose O.C. is with XMP, right?)

 

 

I will probably go with 2 sticks of 16GB 3600CL16 then

First of all, yes OC usually means XMP and I think that 3600 at cl16 is the best value right now, also check that they not interfere with your cooler (if air cooled)

[svenvb]

4 minutes ago, WeNeKappa said:

I'll probably stick with it for at least 4-5years. And yes, i'm into e-sports playing at a high level.
As i can see, my motherboard supports up to 5k+ MHz with O.C. and 3200 without it (I suppose O.C. is with XMP, right?)

 

 

I will probably go with 2 sticks of 16GB 3600CL16 then

seems like a good choice (you can't really mess up picking your RAM if you have 3000MHz+ in my opinion)

[Eigenvektor]

10 minutes ago, WeNeKappa said:

As i can see, my motherboard supports up to 5k+ MHz with O.C. and 3200 without it (I suppose O.C. is with XMP, right?)

O.C. simply means overclocking. This includes automatic overclocking (i.e. XMP/DOCP/EXPO)

 

For 3200, it depends. The fastest JEDEC specified DDR4 is indeed 3200 MT/s, but CL 20 (which you're unlikely to find). So if your RAM is e.g. 3200 MT/s CL16, it will still require overclocking/XMP to get there.

[WeNeKappa]

19 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Cheapest 3200c16 or 3600c18 kit available, branding doesnt matter cause the ics are all random garbage unless you go crucial (micron) or klevv (hynix)

 

3600c18 > 3200c16, cl is useless so dont buy 3600c16 unless its bdie 16-16-16 and not garbage 16-19-19 or whatever horrid variants thatll still come with random crap ics and provide next to no performance benifit

 

 

If ram performance is a concern go buy a couple oem hynix hma82gu6djr8n and run at 4200-4500 gear 1, you cannot buy your way past manual tuning if you want that extra ram performance over xmp kits

 

6 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

O.C. simply means overclocking. This includes automatic overclocking (i.e. XMP/DOCP/EXPO)

 

For 3200, it depends. The fastest JEDEC specified DDR4 is indeed 3200 MT/s, but CL 20 (which you're unlikely to find). So if your RAM is e.g. 3200 MT/s CL16, it will still require overclocking/XMP to get there.

So i should go with 3600MHz cl18 and just enable xmp, right?

[Eigenvektor]

7 minutes ago, WeNeKappa said:

So i should go with 3600MHz cl18 and just enable xmp, right?

Correct, go with 3600 MHz CL18 or CL16 (if affordable). You shouldn't need to do anything other than enable XMP for the board to overclock the RAM based on the profile stored on the sticks themselves.

 

This can fail (in rare cases), and require manual overclocking but typically it shouldn't be needed. It becomes more likely with e.g. four sticks of memory or if you mix different brands, which is why two matched sticks is generally recommended.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

11 minutes ago, WeNeKappa said:

So i should go with 3600MHz cl18 and just enable xmp, right?

Yep

If you want to set and forget get a 3200c16 or 3600c18 kit, cheapest one available as branding doesnt matter cause the ram ics are all from the same few manufacturers (hynix samsung micron etc.), just keep in mind that you may have compatibility issues if you add more sticks due to random ics

 

 

If you are fine with doing abit of tuning just buy two hma82gu6djr8n oem hynix sticks and run at 4200-4500 gear 1, though do keep in mind that even with the help of oc profiles you can find on the internet itll still take hours to stability test, so i wouldnt reccomend this if you are looking for the set and forget experience of xmp where you click enable xmp and done

 

Spoiler

And if you find it odd that i reccomend oem sticks for overclocking heres an example albiet a rather extreme example

 

since i can cherry pick ram ics by part number i can guarantee good ram ics, side benifit of being able to add more sticks because you can order the same part number and itll always be the same ic so compatibility is guaranteed though you may hit imc and/or mobo limits if you are running quad rank 4 stick so you may need to detune your oc abit if you add more sticks

[WeNeKappa]

4 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

Correct, go with 3600 MHz CL18 or CL16 (if affordable). You shouldn't need to do anything other than enable XMP for the board to overclock the RAM based on the profile stored on the sticks themselves.

 

This can fail (in rare cases), and require manual overclocking but typically it shouldn't be needed. It becomes more likely with e.g. four sticks of memory or if you mix different brands, which is why two matched sticks is generally recommended.

Alright, also, what about 4000MHzcl18 ram, any worth since in my country i found them at nearly the same price with the 3600cl16

[Somerandomtechyboi]

5 hours ago, WeNeKappa said:

Alright, also, what about 4000MHzcl18 ram, any worth since in my country i found them at nearly the same price with the 3600cl16

3600c16 is a ripoff bin and you also wont find much benifit from 4000c18 cause its just the same random garbage ics except none of the really shit ones, still problably unbinned though so wouldnt bother

 

What particular 4000c18 kit? If its a ballistix max (crucial) or a klevv kit maybe youd see some use at the top end (5000+) but thats kinda useless

 

For the xmp itself also basically useless and next to no performance gain over 3600c18 due to loose subs

 

 

If you want both performance and the set and forget of xmp just buy a 3600c18 kit as normal but after you set xmp go into the ram timings submenu and set tfaw to 1 and trefi to 65535 or 99999