You can trust PC Guide: Our team of experts use a combination of independent consumer research, in-depth testing where appropriate - which will be flagged as such, and market analysis when recommending products, software and services. Find out how we test here.
With the system memory another key factor to your gaming PC build. Although it might not be one of the top considerations, it is a necessary feature to complement your best CPU with the speed and latency to keep your performance and capabilities up to scratch along with different capacities that allow your machine to achieve different workloads.
So if you’re looking for the best DDR5 RAM or DDR4 for now older systems, you want to find something that is worthy of your purchase. That’s why we have done RAM reviews to test out the available models to try and provide a good option to pick from the variety available in the markets. So we put the RAM through our testing lab to see how well it performs and the value it provides.
Box and design
Most of the time RAM comes in some standard boxes and nothing too exciting in or on there. But occasionally some might have something worthy of mentioning inside or on it. Such as the Corsair Dominator Titanium which contains a replacement top for personalization and changing things out. That makes it a bit more unique and special worthy of inclusion and being part of the review.
Otherwise, we evaluate the overall design and features of the RAM. Usually also not too grandiose or too exciting, the key to the sticks might be blending in or adding to the overall design of the machine. Looking at the design of cooling or any RGB that might impact the size of the memory which has an overall compatibility impact as well. Especially with the CPU cooler being right next to the slots, it can have an impact.
Combining all of these things together, we can evaluate the overall design and experience with the RAM seeing how good of a choice it is.
Specs and value
Next is what the RAM has to offer on the inside and how much it will cost. Since the overclocking potential varies with different model technologies, you may find different capabilities and needs from this. Along with if they can actually do this in the BIOS and check those sorts of things. Along with evaluating the latency as that can be key to delivering the best experience in general.
Then the cost of the RAM comes in, as even with the same specs of the hardware, the price may vary. Seeing if they bring anything else that is worth considering for the price, or the value of just something that matches it is a much bigger consideration. Finding what is the better value in general for you.
Benchmarking
Lastly we of course test the performance of the RAM to see how well it performs and if it achieves the specs it promises. Along with the ability to run well over time in both gaming and other tasks. Our testing bench used for our tests is as follows that we use to test and compare the variety of models
- Ryzen 9 7950X CPU
- ASUS ProArt X670E-CREATOR WIFI
- MSI Gaming X Trio RTX 3090
- Phanteks 1000W PSU
- ROG Ryujin II 360 AIO CPU cooler
Benchmark games and tools
- Cyberpunk 2077
- F1 23
- Handbrake
- Super Pi 2.1
- 3DMark
- Blender 4.2.0
- Cinebench r24
- Aida 64 Extreme
With this list of software, we can run a variety of tests on the RAM to see the performance and use it compared against different models. Starting off with a couple of games to see the impact on framerate and how things change with both capacity and speed.
Then the likes of SuperPi, Cinebench, Handbrake, Blender, and 3DMark allow us some productive work comparisons and tests. The kind of impact is more prominent in those scenarios making it a bit more important to the latency and speeds. Along with Aida 64 giving us a good benchmark tool to see the speeds and latency it can achieve straight up to see if it lives up to the specs.
Scoring
With the overall review and tests done, in the end, we get to the scoring and awards. Summarising the whole thing to give you one final decision and look at what we think of the whole thing and its potential of getting an award from PC Guide. With that, we provide you with a rough breakdown of how each feature impacts the final score.
Design (20%)
One of the minimal impacts is the look and design of the RAM. However, it still can have an impact as it needs to be well thought out with cooling and compatibility in mind so as to not be too standoffish amongst the rest of the build.
Value (30%)
You want to get the most for your money, as although RAM is important it’s not as big of an influence on performance as other parts. So it’s best to reserve some funds for your GPU or another part that can be more worth the money. As RAM has quite the range of pricing even for hardware on the same level.
Performance (50%)
The biggest influence is the performance and if the RAM lives up to the specs. One of the biggest factors is getting the job done up to its rated requirements and making sure it doesn’t detriment the rest of the build.
