ramcultists

RAM Buying Guide – December 2021

Introduction

RAM is one of the lesser cared about parts in a PC. However, they are incredibly important to the functioning of your PC. Simply put, RAM stores data from every open program to quickly access it, because RAM is several orders of magnitude faster to access than any normal storage device. We don’t use DRAM for general purpose storage just because it is very expensive and volatile, which means that when your PC turns off everything is wiped off it.

Buying RAM can actually be very simple for most people. Get the capacity you want, speed you want and looks nice to you. However, if you want to overclock it, you need to research the kits for what RAM die they’re based on, so you know how it overclocks, how well binned the die is so you have an idea how far you can push it and if it has a built in temp sensor which is a godsend for temperature sensitive kits like Samsung B-die.

To help out with picking the RAM we have split them into several categories for each capacity:

  1. Budget – which just works
  2. Value overclocking – which gets you good overclocking without breaking the bank
  3. High end – which gives you great overclocking if you are willing to pay for it.

Our Picks:

8gb16gb32gb

- Budget RAM

Patriot Viper Steels

For 43$, you can't go that wrong with 2x4 of 3200 viper steels. Nice and cheap for office PCs, HTPCs and the like, just when gaming and productivity don't expect much from the low capacity.

Buy Viper Steels
Pros:
  • Dirt cheap
Cons:
  • Suffers in gaming and productivity due to low capacity.
  • Expect terrible overclocking out of it
Specs:
  • Capacity: 2x4gb
  • Frequency: 3200MT/s
  • Timings: 16-18-18-38
  • Voltage: 1.35V

- Budget RAM

Silicon Power XPOWER Gaming

Cheap and works, just don't expect great OC out of it. Fine for almost any current game on the market and low RAM usage productivity load.

Buy XPOWER Gaming
Pros:
  • Cheap
  • Just works
Cons:
  • Expect terrible overclocking
Specs:
  • Capacity: 2x8gb
  • Frequency: 3200MT/s
  • Timings: 16-18-18-38
  • Voltage: 1.35V

KLEVV CRAS X RGB

Just like the XPOWER Gaming but with RGB, nothing else to really say.

Buy CRAS X RGB
Pros:
  • Cheap
  • Just works
  • RGB
Cons:
  • Expect terrible overclocking
Specs:
  • Capacity: 2x8gb
  • Frequency: 3200MT/s
  • Timings: 16-18-18-38
  • Voltage: 1.35V

- Value Overclocking RAM

Crucial Ballistix 3200/MAX 4000

When you hit this point you get the RAM kits that can OC very well. the 3200 kit should do 3600 no problem and the 4000 can do some stupid numbers.

Buy Ballistix 3200 Buy Ballistix MAX 4000
Pros:
  • Guaranteed decent bins of Micron Rev E so expect some good overclocking potential
  • Temp sensor on the max
Cons:
  • Not recommended to run the max 4000 kit at XMP on any ryzen CPU but 4000/5000g with FCLK tuning
Specs:
  • Capacity: 2x8gb
  • Frequency: 3200MT/s
  • non MAX timings: 16-18-18-38
  • MAX timings: 18-19-19-39
  • Voltage: 1.35V

Crucial Ballistix RGB 3200/MAX RGB 4000

Same as above but with RGB.

Buy Ballistix RGB 3200 Buy Ballistix MAX RGB 4000
Pros:
  • Guaranteed decent bins of Micron Rev E so expect some good overclocking potential
  • RGB
  • Temp sensor on the max and possibly non max
Cons:
  • Not recommended to run the max 4000 kit at XMP on any ryzen CPU but 4000/5000g with FCLK tuning
Specs:
  • Capacity: 2x8gb
  • Frequency: 3200MT/s
  • non MAX timings: 16-18-18-38
  • MAX timings: 18-19-19-39
  • Voltage: 1.35V

- High End Overclocking RAM

Patriot Viper Steels

Look at this if you want a cheap B-die. Overclocking them is a breeze and you get free performance.

Buy Viper Steels Buy Viper Steels
Pros:
  • Guaranteed Samsung B-die so expect some good overclocking
Cons:
  • May struggle at XMP without any tuning on most systems
  • Not recommended to run at XMP on any ryzen CPU but 4000/5000g with FCLK tuning
Specs:
  • Capacity: 2x8gb
  • Frequency: 4000MT/s or 4400MT/s
  • Timings: 19-19-19-39
  • Voltage for 4000 kit: 1.35V
  • Voltage for 4400 kit: 1.45V

Corsair Vengeance LPX

Corsair kits are usually inconsistent and not that great but we have an exception here. Great performance and XMP and easily get much more out of overclocking.

Buy LPX
Pros:
  • Good bin of Samsung B-die so can OC much further than XMP
Cons:
  • Expensive
Specs:
  • Capacity: 2x8gb
  • Frequency: 3600MT/s
  • Timings: 14-16-16-36
  • Voltage: 1.45V

Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO

Same as the LPX above but slightly worse and has RGB.

Buy RGB PRO
Pros:
  • Good bin of Samsung B-die so can OC much further than XMP
  • RGB
Cons:
  • Expensive
  • The RGB hurts overclocking when on
Specs:
  • Capacity: 2x8gb
  • Frequency: 3200MT/s
  • Timings: 14-14-14-34
  • Voltage: 1.35V

- Budget RAM

Silicon Power Gaming

Just like with the XPOWER Gaming 2x8 below, it's a cheap 2x16 kit that is fine for gaming and less intensive editing.

Buy Gaming
Pros:
  • Cheap
  • Just works
Cons:
  • Expect garbage overclocking
Specs:
  • Capacity: 2x8gb
  • Frequency: 3200MT/s
  • Timings: 16-18-18-38
  • Voltage: 1.35V

KLEVV CRAS X RGB

Same as the Silicon Power Gaming above but very slightly faster and with RGB.

Buy CRAS X RGB
Pros:
  • Cheap
  • Just works
  • RGB
Cons:
  • Expect garbage overclocking
Specs:
  • Capacity: 2x16gb
  • Frequency: 3600MT/s
  • Timings: 18-22-22-42
  • Voltage: 1.35V

- Value Overclocking RAM

Crucial Ballistix 3200

For the 2x16 overclocking option we are back to Ballistix. This time it can be dual rank Micron Rev E or single rank Micron Rev B. Decent XMP profile, expect it to be able to do at least 3600 cl16 with overclocking.

Buy Ballistix 3200
Pros:
  • Guaranteed to be a decent bin of single rank Micron Rev B or dual rank Micron Rev E so expect decent overclocking potential
Cons:
  • Mixing 2 kits of these might cause problems due to 2 different possible dies
Specs:
  • Capacity: 2x16gb
  • Frequency: 3200MT/s
  • Timings: 16-18-18-38
  • Voltage: 1.35V

Crucial Ballistix RGB 3200

Same as above but with RGB.

Buy Ballistix RGB 3200
Pros:
  • Guaranteed to be a decent bin of single rank Micron Rev B or dual rank Micron Rev E so expect decent overclocking potential
  • RGB
Cons:
  • Mixing 2 kits of these might cause problems due to 2 different possible dies
Specs:
  • Capacity: 2x16gb
  • Frequency: 3200MT/s
  • Timings: 16-18-18-38
  • Voltage: 1.35V

- High End Overclocking RAM

G.skill Flare X

For the 2x16 high end we get dual rank Samsung B-die. Great XMP profile and excellent overclocking.

Buy Flare X
Pros:
  • Good bin of Samsung B-die so can OC much further than XMP
  • Might have temp sensors but that is an unknown
Cons:
  • Expensive
Specs:
  • Capacity: 2x16gb
  • Frequency: 3200MT/s
  • Timings: 14-14-14-34
  • Voltage: 1.35V

G.skill Trident Z RGB

Just like above but with RGB.

Buy Trident Z
Pros:
  • Good bin of Samsung B-die so can OC much further than XMP
  • Built in Tempreture sensor helps with the very temp sensitive Samsung B-die
  • RGB
Cons:
  • Expensive
  • RGB hurts overclocking
Specs:
  • Capacity: 2x16gb
  • Frequency: 3200MT/s
  • Timings: 14-14-14-34
  • Voltage: 1.35V
,

Related Posts

ramcultists

DDR4 RAM Buying Guide – November 2022

Grave Mistake
ramcultists

RAM Buying Guide – July 2022

Grave Mistake