Kingston HyperX 8GB 1866Mhz RAM

I'm hoping to buy the ram in the title, once I purchase my Alienware M17x, although, not knowing much about the inners of laptops, what am I looking for?

Which model am I looking for, and how many pins? Also, does anyone know of an Australian site which sells this? If not, which are some trusted sites?

Thanks.

 

You should be looking for 204pin. Here is what you want. Kingston HyperX 8GB 1866MHz

 

@Jas71
What is the difference between the blue and grey HyperX? I take it the grey is what I should be buying?

@Altuno
If you find a site, let me know. My M17x is on its way out here from the US as we speak, so I need to get some RAM asap. The only semi-decent place I've found to buy it from so far is eBay...

 

I would recommend the blue one because the only extra feature the grey one seems to have is plug and play, meaning you don't need to change any settings in the BIOS for it to be recognized as 1600MHz RAM. With the blue one all you have to do is change you memory profile to XMP Profile 1. If the extra money is worth making a change that takes about 15 seconds then go for the grey ones.

I'm pretty sure the 1600MHz ones come in blue and grey but the 1866MHz only come in grey.

 

why are you buying 1866 anyway? someone told you it was needed?

 

I don't think anyone who shops for an AW does it out of "need".

 

spurious argument.

you get something buying an alienware be it build quality, individuality or whatever.

with 1866 ram you get a higher price tag and nothing more (unless you benchmark all the time, which i guess this guy doesnt)

 

You just answered your own question.

You get heatspreaders, individuality or whatever.

 

uhuh, that noone will ever see.. and heatspreaders are on the 1600 version too.

 

Why get the 1600 over base 1333? You get a higher price tag and nothing more, unless you benchmark all the time.

 

i agree .

 

He gets satisfaction, that's why he's buying it. G.skill doesn't have the same ring as HyperX, does it?

Same reason people buy 2820QMs, which is terrible performance for price. At least 2920XM allows for OC-ing, 2720QM has many features enabled over the 2630QM, but why 2820QM? Seems pointless to me. But you get a mental victory over 2720QM users, and that alone seems enough justification for a lot of people. Oh well. I'd just get booze with that money. Just me though.

 

i also agree

but i originally said it as he seems not too conversant with this stuff and wouldnt want him spending more than he needs just because someone told him to.

 

Surely there is some performance boost between 1600 and 1866, even if it is close to negligible?

 

nope. unless in benchmarks (non gaming) by a couple of points

 

Does it future proof the laptop at all?
How come it doesn't effect games?

 

cpu doesnt need it.
have a look: Exploring the impact of memory speed on Sandy Bridge performance - The Tech Report - Page 1

 

Not really.

It does affect games. By quite a bit. If you game on IGP.

 

which you dont, with an r3

 

Granted I don't know much about these things, but I was under the impression that the 2720+ supports 1600MHz, whilst getting it for the 2630 is pointless because it only supports up to 1333 (out of the box, at least). I understand people saying that maybe 1866 is a touch too far but I would've thought 1600 would be a good option

 

2630 supports 1600 through a bios setting

and all cpus support 1866 as long as its plug n play

 

If you want it get it. I just see it as "optimizing/tweaking/fiddeling with/the system"

Hell..I dont even game.

 

The issue is thoroughly reviewed here: AnandTech - Sandy Bridge Memory Scaling: Choosing the Best DDR3. The short version -- if you're going to swap memory anyway, i.e., to go from 4GB to 8GB, then the relatively small increased cost of DDR3-1600 is probably justified, but the substantial additional cost of DDR3-1866 memory yields almost no marginal improvement in performance and should be avoided except for bragging purposes. Otherwise, DDR3-1333 will still serve you well.

 

If you are on the fence just get 1600 HyperX PnP, those are the grey modules. The mental victory is awesome and they are just better than stock. If you are upgrading from 4gb, stop asking why and start asking why not? It is a little bit more money, but they look awesome in your system! Even if you can't see them all the time you know they are there lol. You are getting an Alienware, get nice memory, too.

 

well said.lol

am getting hyperx too. the sweet spot though, that is, 1600mhz.

 

I recently received a M17xR3 as a replacement machine for a failed XPSM1730. Because it was sent to me as a replacement machine i was given no option for choosing my own specs. I have the 2630QM W/6870m, 4GB RAM-1333mhz. You said 2630 support 1600? In your opinion can tell me what manufactor of RAM i should purchase, specs, etc. Does my system have the ability to have 12gb through the 3rd slot under the keyboard? Can you give me the BIOS info for the 1600mhz?

 

You have 4 slots, up to 32GB with Windows pro. 16GB or less for Windows premium.

You should look for Kingston hyper X 1600Mhz sodimm.

 

What is the difference between their 1600 blue ones and the PnP ones?

 

For PnP you dont have to change a vallue in the bios.

I'm not sure if this is the case with the 2630QM.

 

Right so what is better in terms of value for money? The 1600 seems to have lower latency but the 1866Mhz offers more braggin but in all seriousness, is 1600Mhz good? I'm all for the benching so every little helps.

 

Even in benching, you will see very marginal gains from 1600 to 1866. In real-life applications, you'll see no difference. Given that the HyperX RAM is pricey to begin with, I see no need to drop a bunch more cash for no real performance improvent.

 

Thanks what about response? I know that the 1600 ones have a lower latency which is good. I'm looking to get a 580m 3D version so no IGP benefiting here I guess. Should I choose the 1600 over the 1866 because it might feel more responsive? I plan to upgrade to 8GB but should I get faster RAM at all?

 

Well for myself, I wanted higher quality RAM than what Dell gives you, and also 4 GB more (I don't buy RAM or hard drives from Dell, beyond the minimum specs which I can't change). So, since I was then committed to buying new RAM, I looked at what was available and chose the 1600 HyperX. For HyperX RAM at least, it's actually more expensive to buy the 1333 RAM since I only saw it in 2x 2 GB packages which cost more than half as much as the 2x 4 GB 1600.