Which ram should you buy? Your questions answered. [DDR1]

It is for the common question “Which ram should I buy” that this thread will exist. I will seek to answer this question before it gets asked many times, over and over, in the memory section. In this guide, I will try to provide basic information on what and where to buy the best ram to fit your needs. It will be broken up into three groups and in each I will provide a high and low voltage option for you. I hope this can help novice users try to find the best ram. These will all be one gigabyte kits unless otherwise noted.

A quick voltage explanation. I will be providing a high and low voltage option in ram choices. If you are on a board that cannot supply at least 3 volts, please consider the low voltage option. If you can provide over 3 volts, then you can look at the high voltage option. If you use a booster, same thing…high voltage. Of course there are exceptions, as always, but once again…this is a basic guide to help you choose the ram that will fit your needs best.

*Special thanks to: JoT, CCUABIDExORxDIE, Gautam, {PMS}fishy, reefa_madness, ShaftedTwice, houserat and rseven.

*This thread will require constant updating, so if anyone comes across a dead link, a wrong price, or anything of that nature, please PM me and I will fix it accordingly. If you disagree with my choices, let me know and I’d be happy to consider opinions. After all, this thread is here to help. Thanks for everyone’s help!

*CJ4 brought up a good point. I am a mod at the Mushkin forums and some Mushkin ram happens to appear at the top of my recommendations. I do not work for Mushkin, I just help with support on their site. I am not biased towards them, but I have used just about every module they have to offer. So, please do not thing I am simply trying to sell Mushkin ram. Thanks.

Budget Ram ($50-$125)

Low Voltage Option – Low voltage and budget ram are hard to come by. A commonly known low voltage ram such as TCCD or TCC5 is not available at this price, so we must look at micron -5B C or -5B G ram. This can be found in Crucial PC3200 and other various value ram offerings. This ram is capable of hitting 250mhz usually, and requires up to around 3 volts to operate at its best performance. Timings are usually respectable. Some can hit 250mhz at 2.5-2-2 and some can do 2.5-3-3. It really depends on the set you get.

This ram can be purchased from Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146532
*single 512mb module

Review for this ram:
http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/reviews/memory/Crucial_PC3200_1.html

Edit - Another Low Voltage Option - G.Skill Value PC3200. This ram is capable of overclocking to around DDR500 with semi-relaxed timings. It is inexpensive and is a good alternative to the Micron based ram.

G.Skill Value can be purchased here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231012

Review for this ram:
http://bozcorptech.com.au/gskill-pc3200-f13200phu21gbzx-ram-1gb-2x512mb-p-4689.html

High Voltage Option – There are many offerings of the Winbond UTT based ram in this price range. This ram operates best at 3.2-3.5 volts, or even higher if you are willing. This ram is capable of running VERY tight timings (1.5-2-2-3) at pretty high speeds (250mhz or so). As far as which brands tend to overclock best, I have found the Mushkin Blue series, TwinMos Speed Premiums and OCZ Value VX to overclock very well. I have personally used the Mushkin Blue memory and was able to reach 263mhz at 2-2-2-5. Quite impressive for ram costing $120.

*EDIT: Looks like the Centon PC4000 is the new budget UTT. It can be found at the link below.

Centon UTT:
http://www.centon.com/centon_store/product.php?productid=16461&cat=314&page=1

Review:
http://www.insanetek.com/review.php?id=110&page=3

Middle-Range ($125-170)

Next we have the middle range section. Options here are quite extensive, so I will include the ram I feel fits the best to users’ needs. In this section, TCC5 and UTT will be the main choices. Winbond UTT for the high voltage and Samsung TCC5/TCCD based ram for the low voltage.

Low Voltage Option – In this price range, I would highly suggest the Patriot XBL pc3200 containing TCCD. No one knows how long the TCCD will last in this ram, as TCCD is discontinued. When stock runs out, it will contain TCC5 most likely. These perform similar, so don’t think you have to immediately go out and purchase it. Other than the Patriot TCCD, there is the OCZ PC3200 Platinum revision 2. This ram is based on the Samsung TCC5 chips and clocks very well with added voltage. 2.9v is usually where this ram hits its sweet spot. If you only have 2.7-2.8v, I would still recommend the Patriot TCCD over this kit. Both kits can run 2-2-2-5 at 200mhz and scale very high with relaxed timings.

Patriot XBL:
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=140601

Review:
http://www.cluboc.net/reviews/memory/pdp/patriot/index.htm

OCZ Platinum Rev2:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146890

Review:
http://www.insanetek.com/index.php?page=oczplatpc3200

High Voltage Option – There are three or four options in this price range, but I will list the two I have found to be the best. My first choice in this price range goes to the Mushkin Redline XP3500 UTT based ram. These are capable of blistering speeds with timings as low as 1.5-2-2-3 with increased voltage. These require about 3.5v to perform at their best. Mushkin warrants these for life and also recommends that you use active cooling. Do not skimp on the cooling with voltages this high. Next on the list would be the OCZ pc3200 VX series. These are rated at 200mhz 2-2-2-8, while the Mushkin is rated at 216mhz. Both are good sets, but from my observations, the Mushkin clocks a little higher. It is also more expensive, however. If you want to save a few bucks, the OCZ is a good choice.

*EDIT: Mushkin no longer offers the PC3500, so stick with the OCZ!

OCZ PC3200GOLD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227062

Review:
http://techgage.com/review.php?id=3599

High End (Sky’s the limit!)

In this range, price is not an issue. Users who want the fastest ram available and have cash to blow will be in this section. While I don’t recommend spending all your money, I’ll show you the options as far as the ultimate speed, whether high or low voltage.

Low Voltage Option – This one is tough. There are lots of great choices for the fastest ram in this section. I will only show two, as I think they are what really counts. First on the list is the G.Skill LE ram. This has been proven to be the highest clocking TCCD and retaining the best timings out there. It is also, however, very hard to find and will not last much longer. I may be updating this in a week because it may be gone by then. I will include it for now though. Also, the OCZ PC4800 Platinum is very good ram as well. The G.Skill LE kit is rated for 275mhz at 2.5-3-3-7 while the OCZ is rated for 300mhz at 2.5-4-4-10. They perform similarly, however. The G.Skill is still based on the discontinued TCCD while the OCZ uses Samsung TCC5 or TCCD ram. It could be either one depending on the date in which it was manufactured. Both are very, very good choices.

*EDIT* OCZ PC4800 Platinum Elite edition ram is rated at DDR600 and has Samsung TCCD chips. This is pretty much the same as the PC4800 which uses TCC5, but results have shown this ram to clock higher. It is OCZ's flagship model and will require a premium price. This ram usually overclocks to around DDR640 at decent timings of 2.5-4-3-7. It is a great choice of ram from a great company!

G.Skill PC4400 LE:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231006

Review:
http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews/review_print.php?dXJsX3Jldmlld19JRD0xMDEw

OCZ PC4800 Platinum:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227208

Review:
http://www.insanetek.com/index.php?page=oczplatinumpc4800_1

OCZ PC4800 Platinum Elite Edition:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227208

Review:
http://www.insanetek.com/index.php?page=oczplatinumpc4800ee_1

High Voltage Option – In this section, there are two modules I would recommend. This was a hard decision to make. Regardless of what some modules can and cannot do, I tried to choose two modules that will CONSISTENTLY give great results. Some cases show other less expensive ram to perform similarly, but there is no guarantee of such. The top choice on my list is the Mushkin Redline XP4000. This is regarded as the HIGHEST clocking UTT based ram. It is rated for DDR500 at 3.3 volts and can sometimes clock past 270mhz while retaining VERY tight timings. Next is the OCZ PC4000 VX. While rated the same, the Redline seems to edge out the OCZ slightly in terms of maximum frequency. There is no bad choice here. The Mushkin is slightly more epensive, as well.

Mushkin Redline XP4000:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146392

Review:
http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2416

OCZ PC4000 VX:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227206

Review:
http://www.insanetek.com/index.php?page=oczgoldpc4000vx_1

Very nice, now how about 2 gig options? 2gigs of ram is starting to become a hot topic around here.

Very very nice guide...wheres the sticky?

Drec said:

Very very nice guide...wheres the sticky?

Click to expand...

I wish it was my decision

As far as 2gb kits, I haven't really looked into it yet. Maybe I will research those too. The reason I did 1gb kits was because I have had my hands on experience with just about every one of them. For 2gb, I don't have much experience.

-Collin-

not many choices for 2gb kits as far as OCing goes, this thread http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=395335 pretty much covers it.

combine that thead into 1 post and there ya go

Very informative. Vote sticky.

very nice job collin. that value gskills had enticed me before. the price is the moneymaker right there.

Hmmmm ram thread............wonder who posted it...........

Good job collin. I vote sticky too...........most people never do a search for threads so a sticky like this would be a good idea.

Great job colin, alot of hard work there. Stick...Stick

enduro said:

Good job collin. I vote sticky too...........most people never do a search for threads so a sticky like this would be a good idea.

Click to expand...

most people never read the stickies either

Drec said:

Very very nice guide...wheres the sticky?

Click to expand...

God dang guys, at least give me time to get home from work!

JoT said:

God dang guys, at least give me time to get home from work!

Click to expand...

no time for work...there are moderator duties that need to be done!!

next time you'd better speed home from work, if the cop asks why you where speeding tell him you need to get home to make sure the OCforums are OK.

JoT said:

God dang guys, at least give me time to get home from work!

Click to expand...

the mods need laptops with like Sprint PCS internet, where you connect anywhere, so when something needs to be stickied, stickied it shall be!

CCUABIDExORxDIE said:

the mods need laptops with like Sprint PCS internet, where you connect anywhere, so when something needs to be stickied, stickied it shall be!

Click to expand...

If you'd buy it, I'd use it

CCUABIDExORxDIE said:

the mods need laptops with like Sprint PCS internet, where you connect anywhere, so when something needs to be stickied, stickied it shall be!

Click to expand...

I'm sure Jot will thank you if you send him one.

/edit: Got beat again.^

Is that refurb TwinMos safe to buy? Good lord, $40! I sort of don't trust it with a price that low.

Excellent thread Ninja (Subscribed)!....... Here is some stuff you might want to play around with if you haven't already. Some people are having very good success with it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231013

Skeen said:

I'm sure Jot will thank you if you send him one.

/edit: Got beat again.^

Is that refurb TwinMos safe to buy? Good lord, $40! I sort of don't trust it with a price that low.

Click to expand...

could be ch-die or bh-die..... a bit too risky for my taste.

HousERaT said:

Excellent thread Ninja (Subscribed)!....... Here is some stuff you might want to play around with if you haven't already. Some people are having very good success with it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231013

Click to expand...

Houserat, good to see you here. Still working on that aquamark score! Hehe. I was an inch away from buying the g.skill, but I went patriot instead simply for the warranty policy. Don't worry, it is my goal to personally test EVERY MEMORY MODULE IN THE WORLD!!!! *evil laugh*

-Collin-