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What are the main criteria for selecting "good" RAM? Obviously, everyone wants quantity with RAM, 16GB is better than 8GB, but what about quality? What are the main factors involved? When I see two RAM sticks, each with the same quantity of RAM, at two different price points, how should I determine what to get?

Is there such a thing as RAM speed, and does it make a significant difference which makes a disparity in price justifiable?

Naftuli Kay
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Priority one: Clock speed. Higher numbers are better.

Priority two: Latency. Lower numbers are better.

Priority three: Voltage. Lower numbers are better.

Priority four: Heat sink. Cooler looking is better.

David Schwartz
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  • Thanks for the answer. Could you elaborate a bit esp. on points one and two? I understand three and four: less heat and less power are usually always a better option. So RAM has a clock speed; is this variable, like on a CPU? Does RAM always run at the clock specified? – Naftuli Kay Nov 28 '11 at 20:14
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    Modern RAM has a maximum clock speed. It will happily run at a lower clock speed. One of the reasons clock speed is important is that when you run RAM at a lower clock speed, generally the latency (measured in clock cycles) decreases. – David Schwartz Nov 28 '11 at 20:38
  • Most importantly, make sure the RAM is of the right type. If it will not fit with your motherboard, or if you want ECC etc – soandos Nov 28 '11 at 20:42
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    One of the priority is **brand**. Don't ever go for cheap brands, you will be disappointed. – Sachin Divekar Nov 28 '11 at 22:01
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    Basically, any brand you've heard of is fine. But if no brand is mentioned or it's a brand you've never heard of, watch out -- you may get whatever junk is lying around. – David Schwartz Nov 28 '11 at 22:05
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    @TKKocheran For points one and two see: [How does RAM frequency and latency differ? How does it affect performance?](http://superuser.com/questions/238083/how-does-ram-frequency-and-latency-differ-how-does-it-affect-performance), and also check out [Memory timings and RAM?](http://superuser.com/questions/12395/memory-timings-and-ram) – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Nov 29 '11 at 00:53
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    @SachinDivekar "Value RAM" by quality brands is the best choice (IMO); unless you want to over-clock and/or enjoy screwing around with finicky "enthusiast" RAM, you're just burning money on shiny/blinky bells and whistles you'll never see. ;) – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Nov 29 '11 at 00:58