Best Gaming Ram 2012 - DDR3 Memory Reviews

When it comes to ram gamers look for stability, reliability, speed, and the best overall value for their money. This top ten list will be listed in order of customer feedback, ratings, and personal experience and not solely on which ram has the lowest timing/highest speed available; however, all of the ram below is designed for high performance and gaming.

If you need to know whether this ram is compatible with your motherboard, then check out our learning guide section below and your motherboard's specifications. If you are building a PC, then make sure to buy your dual, triple, quad, or hexa channel ram altogether so that you can take advantage of the double data throughput.

Corsair's Vengeance ram is the most popular among gamers today. It's fast, reliable, and inexpensive when compared to other brands. Most are gravitating towards 4x4 GB sticks for a total of 16GB. While you certainly could upgrade to 32GB, 16GB is more than you need right now, and by the time you really need more than that you'll probably want to build a new rig anyway.

Specifications for the featured model include 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3 SDRAM, 1600 speed, timing 9-9-9-24, includes quad channel kit, 1.5V, and includes Corsair's lifetime limited warranty.


Corsair Vengeance Blue 16 GB DDR3 SDRAM Dual Channel Memory Kit CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B

Amazon Price: $80.00

Kingston is another trusted name for memory in the gaming industry and is the world's overall PC leader in memory sales. This model utilizes the HyperX module with faster latency timing for higher performance and speed.

Kingston also has faster models in the Genesis and XMP T1 Series (fastest) if you're willing to spend a little bit more.

Technical details: Cas Latency 9 DDR3 1600, 1.65V, dual channel kit included (also available in additional sizes), and includes a lifetime limited warranty from Kingston.

Kingston Technology HyperX 8 GB (2x4 GB Modules) 1600 MHz DDR3 Dual Channel Kit (PC3 12800) 240-Pin SDRAM KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX
Amazon Price: $44.99

Corsair's XMS3 is another really good option for your rig. It's available in all capacities but I suggest you purchase all the ram you need at the same time to take advantage of the multiple channel architecture in order to take advantage of the better data throughput. Again, my opinion right now is that this amount is at least 16GB.


Corsair XMS3 8 GB (2 x 4GB) 1333 MHz PC3-10666 240-Pin DDR3 Memory Kit CMX8GX3M2A1333C9

Amazon Price: Too Low to Display

The Ripjaws Series from G.Skill is available in a wide variety of packages, speeds, and timings.  It's a super durable and high-performance customer award winner that comes with a lifetime manufacturer's warranty. The model number I'd recommend from this series is the F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL.

The Corsair Dominator is an extreme performance and overclocking stabile memory that uses Dual-path Heat Xchange cooling technology and comes with removable heat sinks. A Lifetime Warranty is Included.

Technical details for the featured model (CMP8GX3M2A1600C9) include 8GB (2 x 4GB) of DDR3 1600 Ram with 9-9-9-24 timing (Cas - 9) and used as dual channel kit.

If you're looking to upgrade an already existing PC but don't know what type of RAM you need, whether you can upgrade, and how much ram you need now, then make sure to go the Crucial Website. All you need is the brand name and the model number of your PC.

Buying ram is more than just grabbing the ram with the highest speed you can find and throwing it into your computer. Here are some terms you should know before buying it online.

DDR/DDR2/DDR3 Ram

DDR or "Double Data Rate" specifications were released in June of 2000 and since then has been superseded by DDR2 in Quarter 2 of 2003 and DDR3 in 2007. Faster speed and lower latency versions are generally released of each specification after the initial release.

Speed

The speed of the ram you purchase is really all about the numbers that you find in the title of most headings when doing your research. There are really two numbers that can tell you about the speed of your ram. Here's an example: DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800). The first number "1600" represents the speed of the ram. The second number indicates how fast in MB/s that the data transfers. Be sure to check your motherboard's "memory standard" to make sure that it will run the memory you purchase at it's highest speed. If your motherboard can't, then it will simply default down to a lower speed.

Timing

Timing can be a confusing subject when it comes to ram, but remember that the lower the timing the better. Since ram is somewhat restricted by timing it's definitely important to consider worrying about the timing of your ram rather than just going out and purchasing the DIMM with the most speed. For timing you'll see numbers like 9-9-9-24.

Right now for DDR3 anything where the first number (which represents Cas Latency) is 9 or lower is pretty good. At this point in time you wont' find DDR 3 with timing much lower than a 7 simply because it's not available. In time, timing numbers should come down; however, it's somewhat misleading to compare DDR3 with DDR2 because measured clock cycles are shorter for DDR3 and thus numbers appear to be higher.

Cas Latency

This is the first number that appears in the sequence of timing numbers and in basic terms is the time it takes for the CPU to ask for data from the memory and then get it in return.

Single/Dual/Multi-Channel/Triple Channel/Quad Channel/Hexa Channel Ram

For the most part you'll want to buy your ram altogether in Dual, triple, Quad, or Hexa channel DIMM sticks. Dual Channel architecture doubles the data throughput to your memory controller and is thus very important. Check your motherboard's specifications to make sure it supports dual channel etc... In your computer these are usually color coordinated but make sure to look at your motherboard's instruction manual to make sure you put your DIMM sticks in the right slot.

Pins

Another way to see whether your RAM is DDR (184 pins), DDR2 (200 pins), or DDR3 (240 pins) is to check the amount of pins. When checking to see what amount of RAM will fit into each slot it's easiest to simply look at your motherboard's capacity. For example if you see 4×240pin but the upgrade capacity is 16GB, then you know that you can buy up to 4GB of DDR 3 DIMM sticks and if you see 4x240pin but the upgrade capacity is 32GB, then you know you can get 8GB DDR3 Dimm sticks.

Overclocking

You can overclock your RAM using your motherboard's settings. This is usually done by changing the "voltage" or "timing" associated with it.