Any reason to stick with the Official QVL Ram List?

[Zak33]

I'm gonna be putting together an AM3 board with SeriousSam next weekend, so he/we would like to get the stuff sorted from Scan now.

It's an Asus M4A79T which we got at sensible money.. and we wondered, should we stick with the QVL list.. the Quality Vedor List?
http://uk.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID...VkW&templete=2

See downloadable PDF for the 1600 ram

We both like Corsair, mainly cos they have a good warranty and I had reason to use them recently and while a little.. slow.. I did get all my ram back replaced and tbh.. better (2x1gig in exchange for what I sent away: 2x512.. no longer stocked)

So.. they earn my money tbh.

Thing is.. the list of ram on Asus website is... restricted.

I THINK I know which one he needs. but is it that critical? Is it the voltages that made Asus put this one on the list?

reason I ask is cos I don't understand why they've tested 3 channel kits on the lower speed and what the right hand column means ref DIMM slots... cos if that's the ones that work, it'll not work on any but one slot!

On their PDf for the mobo, it states on one line...

CORSAIR
BoxP/N:TW3X4G1600C9DHXNV(CM3X2G1600C9DHXNV)
DDR3 1600
4096MB(Kit of 2)
DS
N/A
Heat-Sink Package
(1333-9-9--9-24)
1.80V

and on Scan's website I think it's this one....

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB-%...9-9-24-DHX-18V

So I'm pretty sure that's it...

but we're looking at 1600 ram cos it's the same price as 1333, give or take a quid and it might get a tickling in BIOS

But Corsair on Scan's site also does
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB-%...-9-24-XMP-165V

so a tad lower votage... for £13 less.

and
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB%2...HX-DF-BEMP165V
for simialr price but better timings....

If this were my build I'd just buy what I thought.. and sort it over time

But we have a set period of time to build the new beast... and I wondered what you lot thought ?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The G.Skill Ripjaw RAM sets should work fine AFAIK and they are cheaper than the Corsair equivalents:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...ort-price-asc/

You can also get cashback from Quidco and TopCashBack on Novatech purchases. The blue and red DIMMs have worked in a number of Asus AM3 motherboards.

[TAKTAK]

I've never even bothered with the QVL list TBH, if it doesn't want to play ball, then the DSR's are handy

[kalniel]

It's not critical IMHO, but it depends how easy your want your life to be Just because they verify some RAM as approved doesn't mean that other RAM won't work just as well, but the list gives you reassurance that it will, so you can just order them together and know they will work. Of course, if you were ultra concerned about that sort of thing you'd be buying a system from a vendor rather than building it yourself (I know - these things are a sliding scale)

Forums are your friend - if you want to consider non-QVL but still know it'll work then just look for people who have the same.

[jim]

I used to assume it was utter rubbish, but to my cost I discovered that Corsair RAM just does not work on my HTPC motherboard. Luckily I had Crucial RAM in my laptop, so I just swapped them over and everything was fine.

They're always pessimistic, those QVL lists - if you always stuck to them you'd probably struggle to get some RAM you actually want, especially if it's an older board. I would echo Kalniel... google the motherboard and you'll quickly find people's specs in signatures or whatever on various forums.

[GheeTsar]

I find QVL lists are too "brief" to be any use. However, a decent memory company often has a much more extensive compatability testing programme - so I would start there if your favoured brand does not appear on the QVL list.