Memory blues

[Andreas Lilja]

Hi,

 

I'm looking to purchase a custom gaming PC from Xotic PC or Digital Storm (in b4 you should buy your own), however I'm sort of confused by the memory offerings.

 

Here's the default selection + the pricing differences: http://i.imgur.com/XXpmsQS.jpg 

 

Budget isn't an issue at all, but lesser money spent is always good. The motherboard is going to be a ASUS Rampage V. 

 

I want a relatively future proof machine, so 32GB seems the way to go. (and they seem to force it on you) However, when it comes to latency, I've seen benchmarks and there's barely any discernible difference between 3300 Mhz and the lesser ones. People are seriously shelling $900 more for bragging rights... or I'm missing something? I've seen 2-3 FPS changes. The Corsair Vengance/Dominator is also marketing, right? 

 

Thanks. 

[OfficialJsP]

btw most things dont even need over 8GB yet but if you really want to get 32GB to "future proof" your rig you could just get 16GB and add more further down the line if needed that will save a bit of money that you could spend on a better GPU and ram speed doesn't change in game performance much at all if you have a dedicated GPU and the reason that i think the 16GB costs more is because dominator ram has always cost a lot compare to other models i am sure

[samcool55]

It's odd the 16GB options are more expensive, it's not the speed that matters... Just take the cheapest option, 16gb is more than enough for now and the future.

[TheKleen]

Usually with RAM, the cheapest option is the best one. They all work just fine and you'll never notice a difference in speeds. 16gb is plenty of RAM, usually 8gb is enough.

[Guest]

DRAM is glacially slow compared to the CPU. What's more, the CPU-memory performance gap is growing because DRAM is still about as fast as it has ever been, while CPUs are steadily improving.

 

What this means is that the difference between the best and worst binned DRAM chips in terms of performance is negligible, overclocking included.

 

Your main goal should be to get a reliable, matched set from a good manufacturer that runs at a normal voltage.

[Andreas Lilja]

I'm as are that extra sticks can be added in the future, but isn't it recommended to get them in manufacturer suggested pairs? Big performance/reliability difference?

For example, 4x8 GB instead of 8x2 GB?