Final Thoughts and Ratings
We set out to determine whether or not premium high-speed memory kits are worth the added expense in an Intel Sandy Bridge system.
Short answer? No, they're not. For the vast majority of users, a 4GB, 1,600MHz kit with moderate latencies will prove to be more than sufficient. The added capacity of an 8GB kit will prove its worth in certain scenarios - video editing or 3D modeling, for example - but those scenarios are rare and largely inapplicable to the home user or gamer.
And there's little reason to buy high-speed RAM for overclocking, either. With base-clock overclocking becoming a thing of the past, there's no need to install high-speed memory to keep up with tweaked frequencies.
Benchmark-setters can continue to seek out premium modules with high frequencies and low latencies - a combination likely to deliver impressive synthetic results - but in the real world, these extreme configurations will show little gain in performance. Even overclockers will find that a small upward flick of the CPU multiplier provides a far greater performance boost than quicker memory.
With capacity and speed doing little to separate the multitude of choices, other factors are coming into play; which modules are competitively priced, which look best with your motherboard, and which manufacturer offers the best warranty and support in your region?
Apply those metrics to our quartet of competitors and you get some surprising results.
Corsair's £85 Vengeance kit, despite finishing last in a couple of synthetic benchmarks, is our pick of the bunch due to economical pricing of just over £10-per-GB. Factor in the good performance, low-voltage operation, stylish heatsinks and Corsair's lifetime warranty, and you're left with a tidy 8GB package at a competitive price.
G.Skill's Ripjaws-X aren't far behind and are also covered by a lifetime warranty, but the kit's lower latencies offer little real-world benefit, leaving the 8GB pack struggling to warrant the lofty £110 asking fee.
It's price that hampers the two 4GB options, too. Kingston and Crucial, unsurprisingly, also offer lifetime warranties and free technical support, but at around £17- and £20-per-GB, respectively, their high-end offerings don't represent good value when compared to the various 1,600MHz 4GB kits that offer near-identical performance for under £40.
Our advice? If you aren't setting out to break benchmarks, the perfect match for your Sandy Bridge system is a low-cost, low-voltage memory kit that costs £10-per-GB or less.
HEXUS Ratings
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Corsair Vengeance 8GB (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9) |
G.Skill Ripjaws-X 8GB (F3-12800CL7D-8GBXH) |
Crucial Ballistix Tracer 4GB (BL2KIT25664ST1608RG) |
Kingston HyperX Genesis 4GB (KHX2133C9AD3X2K2/4GX) |
HEXUS Where2Buy
The 8GB Corsair Vengeance memory kit is available to purchase from SCAN Computers*.
The 8GB G.Skill Ripjaws-X memory kit is available to purchase from Micro Direct.
The 4GB Crucial Ballistic Tracer memory kit is available to purchase from Crucial.
The 4GB Kingston HyperX Genesis memory kit is available to purchase from Ebuyer.
HEXUS Right2Reply
At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.
*As always, UK-based HEXUS.community forum members will benefit from the SCAN2HEXUS Free Shipping initiative, which will save you a further few pounds plus also top-notch, priority customer service and technical support backed up by the SCANcare@HEXUS forum.
