How to choose RAM

[somik]

So here you can but motherboard and CPU together and in most cases, they are compatible. However the question I face every time is how do I know which RAM is compatible with my system?

What are the parameters I should look at (other then memory size) when buying RAM to ensure they're compatible with my motherboard?

How to know which bus speed RAM to get?

Latency? Should I worry about it as long as I get a good quality name brand RAM?

Why some RAMs have heat sink on them while others don't?

What's that C9 thing on my RAM model number?

Note that my PC specs are listed in my signature.

[riawoias]

C9 may be the CAS latency or number of clock cycles to do stuff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAS_latency

 

High frequency ram tends to need more CAS latency to work while lower frequency can have lower CAS latencies. It is all splitting hairs really and any decent ram from a reputable mfg should work provided you pick the right type DDR3, DDR4, low voltage DDR3, (desktop dimm or laptop sodimm). Just find something that is well priced as ram performance tends not to have as much of an impact as say buying a better GPU. High end memory tends to allow for more overclocking or just looks cooler or has fancy lighting and stuff like that.

 

Some motherboards will have a qualified vendor list but most memory should work out of the box. If you pick a memory that has a speed rating way above the motherboard then it will just run slower and if you pick a slow ram then the motherboard should detect this and run at that speed. If you want to overclock then it can get more complicated. 

 

RAM actually doesn't need heat sinking typically unless your over clocking it but the heat spreaders look cool.

 

A lot of new DDR3 chips will fail the new hammer test in memtest and it is up to you if you want to ignore it or fix it with a loss of performance. DDR4 should fix that issue. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Row_hammer  For consumers it probably isn't something to be too worried about and memory mfgs may not accept it as a reason as it is just a design fail in DDR3. (it is a very recent discovery from security researchers) But of course if you have a DDR3 only MB you stuck with it. You should still test anyway to make sure it passes the other tests.

[JebKerman]

you have shittonnes of good quality ram. you almost certainly don't need any more, is that 3x8GB? if you need any more, for whatever reason, just add a final stick of the same ram.

 

rest of the questions explained by the person above me.

[AresKrieger]

The spec of the motherboard will say what ram its compatible with, other than that ram is ram get it fom a good company g.skill, kingston or something, unless you use an apu ram frequency and cas don't matter.

[kingdomtim]

I think you are stressing this WAY too much. Just get 2 x 4gb Ripjaws, Kingston, or Ballistix   and then call it a day. 

 

It's just Ram. As long as you have 8 Gb, it really serves almost no purpose after that.

[somik]

C9 may be the CAS latency or number of clock cycles to do stuff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAS_latency

 

High frequency ram tends to need more CAS latency to work while lower frequency can have lower CAS latencies. It is all splitting hairs really and any decent ram from a reputable mfg should work provided you pick the right type DDR3, DDR4, low voltage DDR3, (desktop dimm or laptop sodimm). Just find something that is well priced as ram performance tends not to have as much of an impact as say buying a better GPU. High end memory tends to allow for more overclocking or just looks cooler or has fancy lighting and stuff like that.

 

Some motherboards will have a qualified vendor list but most memory should work out of the box. If you pick a memory that has a speed rating way above the motherboard then it will just run slower and if you pick a slow ram then the motherboard should detect this and run at that speed. If you want to overclock then it can get more complicated. 

 

RAM actually doesn't need heat sinking typically unless your over clocking it but the heat spreaders look cool.

 

A lot of new DDR3 chips will fail the new hammer test in memtest and it is up to you if you want to ignore it or fix it with a loss of performance. DDR4 should fix that issue. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Row_hammer  For consumers it probably isn't something to be too worried about and memory mfgs may not accept it as a reason as it is just a design fail in DDR3. (it is a very recent discovery from security researchers) But of course if you have a DDR3 only MB you stuck with it. You should still test anyway to make sure it passes the other tests.

 

Any software recommendations for the test? I usually test using MemTest.

 

you have shittonnes of good quality ram. you almost certainly don't need any more, is that 3x8GB? if you need any more, for whatever reason, just add a final stick of the same ram.

 

rest of the questions explained by the person above me.

Mine is actually 2x4 (1600MHz) + 2x8GB (1866MHz).

This question is for my next upgrade. Last time I got a friends help with choosing components.

  

The spec of the motherboard will say what ram its compatible with, other than that ram is ram get it fom a good company g.skill, kingston or something, unless you use an apu ram frequency and cas don't matter.

That's what I did last time. Good to know I didn't miss anything

[JebKerman]

Mine is actually 2x4 (1600MHz) + 2x8GB (1866MHz).

This question is for my next upgrade. Last time I got a friends help with choosing components.

Kinda re-quoting what i said earlier 24GB is an unnecessarily large amount of ram unless the computer is almost entirely devoted to content creation. We're just getting to the point where 8GB is being fully utilized by a few games (with background programs). I'm still nowhere near utilizing all my 16GB of ram.

 

Your next upgrade should either be your Graphics Card or CPU(which will require new DDR4 ram if X99 or Skylake). but even then both of them are still really good.

 

But, if you must upgrade your ram, get another pair of your 8GB sticks.

[somik]

Kinda re-quoting what i said earlier 24GB is an unnecessarily large amount of ram unless the computer is almost entirely devoted to content creation. We're just getting to the point where 8GB is being fully utilized by a few games (with background programs). I'm still nowhere near utilizing all my 16GB of ram.

Your next upgrade should either be your Graphics Card or CPU(which will require new DDR4 ram if X99 or Skylake). but even then both of them are still really good.

But, if you must upgrade your ram, get another pair of your 8GB sticks.

Actually my PC had 8GB of RAM before, but since the newer games were hitting 8GB limit very quickly, I bought 16GB RAM. After that, I thought "why should I take out my old RAM"and kept all 4 sticks plugged.

If I upgrade my PC, I'll need to change my motherboard, CPU and (unfortunately) RAM since my current RAM are all DDR3.

I saw the video on linus tech tips that said DDR3 and 4 speeds are similar, and since you said my CPU don't need a upgrade, I guess I'll stick with my config a while longer.

Btw, I use the RAM to run virtual OS but I'm hitting possessor limits there... Only 4 cores are not enough to run multiple OS. Gaming performance is good enough though.

[Nena Trinity]

I made a guide! Here: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/449865-basic-ddr3-ram-guide-3/