16GB 1600 DDR3 RAM which brand is cost/performance balanced?

New system will contain:
CPU: Intel i5 3.3GHz 2500k (4-4.5Ghz OC)
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3
GPU: Most likely either GTX550 or Radeon6850
RAM: 16GB of 1600 (4x4)
Storage: 1x SSD; 3x HDD
Optical: 1-2 DVD players
CPU Fan: Cooler Master Hyper 212+
Case Fans: 2x
Internal Fans 2-3x

I am planning for 4 sticks of 4GBs. I am limited to what brands I can buy here.

Apacer
Kingston
Adata


These are the three I am sure I can find, others I am no so sure. I exchanged 4GB of Adata for 8GB of Kingston last year, and what I found was the 4GB performed better than the 8 and that was really disappointing being that 8GB cost me over 100 bucks. The Adata memory was bought in 2007, the quality must have been better than the newer stuff bought in 2010. It was really disappointing, and I am hoping to avoid that this time. Memory here seems around 15-25 bucks for 4GB.

When you say the 4GB performed better, are you talking about real programs, or synthetics?

Really, on a SB system, any 2x4GB kit is enough for the vast majority of users. Any particular reason you want to go with 16GB?

Well.. Let me see.. I had 2x2GB chips that seemed to perform better in programs and other applications, even for watching videos. After I switched out the memory I started seeing problems, like Video that wouldn't play right, if I was running stuff on the system as before it would get slow and then the video would still play with only audio, but the video would cut out. Even now, if I am browing, if I save a bunch of tabs from IE wow, i can't do anything else. And I am not sure if this is a totally ram related problem, but..

Well.. 16GBs would probably better than 4 right? haha. I want to make sure I don't have any issues with RAM. Most of what I do is RAM related. When I browse the internet I sometimes have over 500 websites opened at one time, it slows things down. It is just my usage behavior, I could probably get away with 8, but figure why not get 16 while Ram is reasonablly priced... I want to get it all together so that in the future I dont have to buy more. I may even opt to be 5x chips so I have one extra if one fails on me during the course of the next few years, because I suspect the ram i buy now will be better quality than the ram i buy in a few years...

If you are limited to above 3 brands then I would pick Adata. I don't really like Apacer mainly because most their memory that I see in my country aren't best quality. I have nothing to kingston except that their cheaper 1600 kits have problems with overclocking or in some cases problems to run at standard spd settings.
I had some contact with Adata support in the past that was actually from Taiwan and I can say that it was quite good. I also have some Adata DDR2/DDR3 kits and I was testing some more in the past. It's maybe not highest quality RAM but much above average and quite cheap.

techiemon said:

When I browse the internet I sometimes have over 500 websites opened at one time,

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Uhh.. Was that a typo??

Don't forget G.SILL if you want to O.C

G.SKILL Tech said:

Don't forget G.SILL if you want to O.C

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G.SILL eh?

Woomack said:

If you are limited to above 3 brands then I would pick Adata. I don't really like Apacer mainly because most their memory that I see in my country aren't best quality. I have nothing to kingston except that their cheaper 1600 kits have problems with overclocking or in some cases problems to run at standard spd settings.
I had some contact with Adata support in the past that was actually from Taiwan and I can say that it was quite good. I also have some Adata DDR2/DDR3 kits and I was testing some more in the past. It's maybe not highest quality RAM but much above average and quite cheap.

Click to expand...

Well we have others, but the pricing is usually higher, you guys can make recommendations on other brands, but I am not sure I can get them here. I believe many I can, as most of that stuff is made here, but many of them in the US have been rebranded but are made by the same factories that make the branded stuff. Adata's support seems pretty good here yes, and they have English speaking staff, and they usaully replies to emails pretty quickly, they helped me with my old memory. Kingston, the 8gb i have in now, is not performing well at all.

ratbuddy said:

Uhh.. Was that a typo??

Click to expand...

Nope, it was not a typo. 500 is correct. Sometimes more. Mostly because of work issues. and sometimes I even have three browsers open at the same time with many other applications running at the same time. So...

G.SKILL Tech said:

Don't forget G.SILL if you want to O.C

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Yeah I know G Skill, but I am not much into Ocing the RAM, and I don't see the point of forking out more money for this stuff if I am not going to OC it.. You know...

About G.Skill, here you have my test ( maybe on AMD but it's designed for P67/Z68 etc ) http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7009689.
One of cheapest 8/16GB 1600 kits ( nearly the same as Adata or Kingston ) and no compatibility issues on at least 7 boards that I was testing ( both AMD and Intel ).

Heya Woomack, thanks for that, but I don't much understand abotu OCing of the RAM. But it seems like you are trying to persuade me to OC RAM? hahaha. Hmmmm, but your comments are interesting, same price for better memory, now I am interested! I will have to check out if I can still get it here, but usually they jack up the price. We'll see.

I just wanted to say that this RAM is good and it's really worth to buy it even if you aren't overclocking .

Well I see that you are on the benching team also, so you must know what you are talking about. hahah. Thanks for your advice, I will check to see if I can get it here. I have never used it, but have always heard it was good. I needed that little push, thanks!! haha

if you are buying very soon, this is the best value that I have seen recently. good speed and great price from a reputable company.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231456
$109 american out the door

Well.. I have to buy it here, I wouldn't want to have RAM shipped overseas, too risky and cannot get service if something happens. that price is really good, but... unfotuantely it won't work for me. I am hoping to buy the new machine in the next two weeks or so, but we'll see, still a few things I have to figure out. but almost there.