RAM hunters unite!

[AmirMC]

I need 32GB of DDR4 RAM for my Asus Rampage V Extreme X99 motherboard and i would really appreciate some help in selecting some from the wealth of knowledge that exists within this community. It will be complementing an intel i7 5930K, an EVGA 1000W power supply & (hopefully) a GTX 980TI.

Things you need to know:

- I'd rather not pay over $800 AUD, (Around $600 US). However, my budget would allow for an additional $50 US if it meant a noticeable increase in value, over another 32GB set. But the quality would need to justify the price.

 

- I already understand MHz rating, CAS Latency and the role that they play in performance. I'm also willing to alter them so it's not a big deal what they come set at, however i would appreciate not being reccomended anything higher than CL16 or below 2400MHz from the factory. This may exclude certain sticks and cut close to ones such as the Adata XPG Z1's, but it's important because the lower they come the easier my job of overclocking will be. With that said...

 

- I'm intending to overclock, so you don't need to reccomend 3200MHz RAM either, if the 2400MHz version is typically known to reach around 3000MHz speeds anyway. The quality of RAM is more important to me than price. A bargain on 3000MHz means nothing to me if the item has a history of problems. Because trust me, this memory is going to cop it and i need it to be good quality.

 

- XMP profiles are preffered. I know some decent RAM sticks such as some Crucial that don't support XMP. This lengthens the process of overclocking significantly for me, because it gives me no quick point of reference in regards to what the RAM is (considered) capable of. I probably won't use the profiles anyway, but i would appreciate the option to have them nevertheless.

 

- There MAY be a height limit, so RAM such as the Kingston HyperX Predator, or possibly even Corsair Dominator Platinums MAY be too high for my motherboard. However, similar to my first point, i will make sacrifices in the area over my DIMM slots in regards to cable management if it meant that the taller stick was typically better for overclocking and heat dissipation. Etc... (i have an all in one cooler that runs a single annoying cable from the CPU over the DIMM slot to the back of the case. I can re-route it, but it would cause some hassle).

 

- I would prefer if the RAM came from this website in Australia: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=indexI have a good track record with them and they handle warrenty claims like absolute legends. I would be willing to purchase internationally from Amazon or something, but only if the deal justified the effort. Places such as NewEgg are kind of dicks to international sellers offering no assitance to items 14 days after purchase. But again, it's a risk i'm willing to take if the juice is worth the squeeze.

 

- I have a negative predispotion towards G.Skill, i don't know why. To me it sounds like RAM developed in a frat house, so i'm ignorantly biased against it. I am willing to have this bias overcome, however i also think sticks like the Ripjaw just typically look really bad if that can be factored into anything.

 

- Last and definately the least important, it would be nice if the sticks matched the red and/or black theme of the ROG motherboard (probably black, as it's hard to find the right red). Things like the Dominator Platinums would seem out of place being silver, but i could paint them if necessary. Again, this is of little significance. My first objective is performance, i would drive a piece of shit looking Hyundai if it performed like a Ferrari, i'm sure you all would.

 

Here is some of the RAM i have been looking at:

 

- http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_1673&products_id=31555

 

- http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-DOMINATOR%C2%AE-Platinum-PC4-21300-CMD32GX4M4A2666C15/dp/B00NP68UJE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1430826086&sr=8-1&keywords=ddr4+corsair+dominator+32GB

 

- http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_1673&products_id=31074

 

- http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=31072

 

- http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=31478

 

I really appreciate the assitance here, people. I know that it seems like i may be being overly picky and difficult. But i just wan't it to be perfect. Feel free to add any reccomendations or criticisms. I'm sorry that i made this so long, thank you for your time.

[Queek]

This is an awfully long post about choosing RAM.  It generally doesn't require too much thought.  Although it sounds pretty cynical, I don't think anyone is going to go hunting through every available DDR4 ram kit for you.  I think you may be on your own here 

Pick something from a reputable vendor.  Personally I'm partial to Kingston or Corsair (as I've used those), but I think most manufacturers are pretty reliable these days.  You seem to have the core concepts down: low latency, high frequency.  Aside from that it mostly comes down to aesthetic, as whichever kit you pick with likely be indistinguishable in performance to the next kit.  

[NumLock21]

Official support for ram is DDR4 2133, anything higher is consider as a overclock. Will there be any difference in performance if you grab a DDR4 2133 vs a DDR4 2666? Probably there is, but you won't notice it in the real world. So instead of worry about ram speed, just grab the cheapest one you can get within your price range. If both 32GB sets are the same price one runs at 2133 and the other runs at 2400, then just grab the 2400.

[AmirMC]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it. I know it's a long post, I'm just hella' anxious about getting the wrong kind.

[runit3]

- I'm intending to overclock, so you don't need to reccomend 3200MHz RAM either, if the 2400MHz version is typically known to reach around 3000MHz speeds anyway. The quality of RAM is more important to me than price. A bargain on 3000MHz means nothing to me if the item has a history of problems. Because trust me, this memory is going to cop it and i need it to be good quality.

Expecting a +600MHz stable OC on RAM is a fairly lofty goal, even 1-200MHz on most kits (DDR3 included) is considered fairly impressive above 1800MHz. I realize you're providing an example, but the metrics for OCing any kit of RAM past XMP are disappointing. Tightening down your timings as opposed to increasing the clock are going to be where some RAM kits really prove their worth, and where I would focus your OCing efforts.

 

That being said, DDR4 is one finicky bitch when it comes to OCing. I would say go for the cheapest highest XMP clocked kit you can find, and then tighten down timings. I've been able to pull off 14-14-14-33 on my G.Skill 3000 kit, with stable dividers @2666, 2500, and 2133 -with corresponding decreased timings -which is about all you can hope for with RAM OCing netting you any appreciable results.

 

From the site you provided these would be my top picks:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_1673&products_id=28794 G.Skill

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_1673&products_id=31072 Kingston

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_1673&products_id=31478 ADATA

 

Out of the 3, only the G.Skill's are on your boards QVL-> http://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/RAMPAGE_V_EXTREME/HelpDesk_QVL/which is something to consider. RAM on the QVL are the only kits to have been tested for functionality by ASUS, not saying that other kits won't work, but there is a distinct possibility that they will not be compatible past JEDEC, or at all (I've had this happen on a couple boards now).

 

As for your disposition towards G.Skill, I do agree their kits leave something to be desired in the looks department (I hate the stupid stickers), but every kit I've used from them has performed exceptionally, and for the one kit I had to RMA it was a painless experience and their tech support team is by far the best I've ever dealt with. G.Skill also tends to have the best relative price:performance ratio of any manufacturer.

 

IMO you can't go wrong with ADATA, Kingston, or G.Skill, and ADATA's XPG kits have come a long way from their old bargain basement DIMM's that I wouldn't touch with a 10ft pole. Corsair works just fine, but you're going to be paying out the ass for something that isn't objectively better than any other kit, as almost all RAM will carry the same warranty period and perform equally.

[AmirMC]

IMO you can't go wrong with ADATA, Kingston, or G.Skill, and ADATA's XPG kits have come a long way from their old bargain basement DIMM's that I wouldn't touch with a 10ft pole. Corsair works just fine, but you're going to be paying out the ass for something that isn't objectively better than any other kit, as almost all RAM will carry the same warranty period and perform equally.

Thank you. That was perhaps the most in depth and considerate response I could have received on a post like this. I will consider the G.Skills, but I'm pretty keen for the kingstons atm. Your help has been invaluable, thanks again.

[runit3]

Thank you. That was perhaps the most in depth and considerate response I could have received on a post like this. I will consider the G.Skills, but I'm pretty keen for the kingstons atm. Your help has been invaluable, thanks again.

NP. I'd do just about anything to have someone avoid what I dealt with during my first DDR4 adventure. Kit was bad when I received it (first batch of 3000MHz to hit Newegg here in the states -sold out in 3 minutes :lol:) and I spent the better part of 2 months contacting both ASUS and G.Skill to try and remedy my randomized boot failures and incorrect XMP timings. ASUS was worthless for troubleshooting while the G.Skill reps had responses back to me in under 1 business day and continually provided me with tweaking software and tips for how to get it working, which inevitably ended up in me getting an RMA # from them. The new kit has been working perfectly and I've finally had a chance to do some DDR4 testing at various speeds/timings (ongoing effort that I haven't had much time for lately).

 

The Kingston's are definitely a nice kit but it may be worth shooting ASUS an email with the kit # to confirm compatibility, they have yet to release a QVL update for most of their X99 boards, and the 16GB Predators are the only kits listed for Kingston (the 32GB Fury's are newer). I've seen that stupid "MemOK!" light enough for 5 lifetimes, and spending $600 on an incompatible kit is not a fun experience.

[AmirMC]

The Kingston's are definitely a nice kit but it may be worth shooting ASUS an email with the kit # to confirm compatibility, they have yet to release a QVL update for most of their X99 boards, and the 16GB Predators are the only kits listed for Kingston (the 32GB Fury's are newer). I've seen that stupid "MemOK!" light enough for 5 lifetimes, and spending $600 on an incompatible kit is not a fun experience.

 

Yeah, that's cool. Thanks dude. Tbh this is actually the second ddr4 kit i will be purchasing. I ordered first without researching properly and couldn't O/C it at all!

 

Yeah, those Kingston kits are ok. I'm kinda turned off them now though, cause i just saw on the products page that their JEDEC AND XMP top CL is 15-17-17 at 2666MHz...

I feel like i'm overcomplicating this a bit now.

[AmirMC]

Got a sweet deal on 32GB 3000Mhz Predators running at 15CL, for only $700 Australian dollars. Thanks for the help man.