Best DDR RAM for the buck

[oufan]

I am working on my first build and am wondering what brand of ram to buy. All I have so far is the mobo (MSI K7N2 Delta-L) and going to go with AMD XP 2500+ on the CPU.

I have heard corsair is the best but my budget my not take it. Should I look for something cheaper or save the$$ and go for the corsair??

This is my first post ad hopefully its in the right section.

Thanks.

[i3OSS]

Kingston//Crucial both are great value brands

[Panama Red]

Welcome to PC Mech! Since most ram is guaranteed for life, "best" becomes a relative word. If you plan to overclock, check out the OC sites. Most OC'ers tend to go with the expensive stuff like Corsair, OCZ, Geil, etc. If you want to save a few bucks, look toward Kingston Value Ram or Crucial. The lower the CL rating, typically the faster the ram will run. IE: CL2 is faster than CL3

[not important]

Keep an eye on Newegg's prices. I got a good deal on some Geil RAM a few weeks ago.

[oufan]

thanks a bunch

[imbest123]

Any ram that says Value Ram is usually priced well and Geil has its good prices as well.

[Confused]

I'm entering this on a new system using Geil. Only been 24 hours but has worked fine so far. It was cheaper than Crucial, Kingston and several others at Newegg. I had always used Crucial but bought it after reading several postive posts here at PCMech.

[mystvearn]

kingston value ram. Any value ram :)

[Force Flow]

Kingston and Geil have had slightly lower prices for the past week or so.

[sakeo]

bh5 ram... winbond chips, will give you best performance for a good price.

[Joeberg]

I've never had problems with Crucial nor Kingston...

[oufan]

I've never heard of Geil ram until now. Lokked at newegg and looked resonable. Thanks

[oufan]

Should I look for any specifics in RAM if my mobo supports dual channel?

[Floppyman]

I'm using some Mushkin "Blue" pc3200 DDR ram in my system, which is their midrange line. HTH

[Panama Red]

oufan, you may want to check the motherboard maker's web site for accepted ram for your motherboard. I know Asus publishes the approved ram for each of their boards. Not sure about MSI. On the newer Asus dual channel boards, the real fast timing ram modules have sometimes caused problems. Always safer to buy the already tested/approved stuff.

[oufan]

Thanks Panama Red, I should have thought of checking manufacturers website.