ADATA XPG V2 Final Thoughts

RAM is a tricky component. It is one of the fundamental components of a computer and the price of RAM is better than ever. With 64-bit operating systems really becoming the standard, most desktop and laptop systems now come with more than 4GBs of RAM. Newer chipsets are also supporting much faster RAM than ever before, which is why we’ve seen an influx of high-speed RAM kits hitting the markets. The price gaps between the speeds are becoming smaller and smaller, making it easier to justify getting those faster DIMMs.

In fact, with DDR4 being shown off at CES this year and potentially making a debut in mobile platforms by the end of the year, we should see speeds increasing even more while prices continue to drop. DDR4 memory will effectively double the speed of DDR3 memory from the get go and individual modules will also increase in size. In addition, DDR4 will significantly decrease power consumption. Don’t expect to see DDR4 modules in desktop systems until 2014, which significant market adoption a few years later. Intel’s roadmap has DDR4 being introduced with Haswell-E.

But that doesn’t happen until next year, at the soonest. The real question is, for now, does it make sense to spend a little extra on faster RAM? As we have seen in our tests, increased RAM speed, when paired with AMD’s latest APUs, does translate into slightly faster performance both in synthetic benchmarks and in games. The difference isn’t huge, but it could be worth it. I say that because the price differences between the slower and faster RAM modules is now lower than ever.

With the ADATA XPG V2 RAM kits, Around $10 will get you an increase to the next speed level up to 2400MHz. Above that, the price jumps a little more dramatically. Because the prices are so close at the lower speeds, I would certainly recommend going with the 2400MHz ADATA XPG V2 RAM and getting the increased performance, although not terribly dramatic, that comes along with it. Above that it might be hard to justify, but I’ll have to get my hands on some of the faster RAM to know for sure.

Of course, that recommendation only goes if you are in the market for an entirely new RAM kit. If you are upgrading the RAM you have to increase the amount, I’d stick with the speed you have, as long as it is DDR3-1066MHz or above. Also be sure to get the same timings as your existing RAM, preferably the same model for the best compatibility. If you are going for a completely new kit, go as fast as you can before the price differences start to makes it unjustifiable. For the ADATA XPG V2 kits, I’d call it at 2400MHz.