Purchasing RAM for your PC or laptop can be an overwhelming task, especially if you’re new at this.
You need to consider multiple confusing factors when shopping for RAM, and the fear of poor quality makes the situation worse.
Therefore, it’s essential to go with a reliable brand to decrease your risk of failure in this process.
ADATA is one of the most popular brands in the gadget and gear community, and it specializes in manufacturing storage devices, especially RAMs.
However, fame in the tech world can’t be enough reason to trust a brand.
Read on to find out in detail if you should buy from ADATA and why.
Also, learn more about how you can find the perfect RAM for your computer.
Is ADATA RAM Good?
Yes, aside from ADATA’s popularity and dedicated fan base, the brand has gotten various good reviews on multiple online platforms.
Many people claim that they’ve been using ADATA’s products for years without a problem, referring to the longevity and performance of the devices.
All ADATA DRAM modules and XPG gaming memory modules are covered by a lifetime warranty commencing from the purchase date.
Combine this with excellent customer service, and you’ll get a high customer satisfaction rate for the brand.
The technical expertise and advanced manufacturing facilities have made ADATA popular.
Now, let’s find out about ADATA RAMs’ more specific and technical features that will help you decide if you want to purchase one or not.
1. Great Performance
Multiple factors can determine whether a RAM’s performance is good or not, including its speed, timing and latency, bandwidth, size, and so on.
You’ll find a section dedicated to explaining all these specs and helping you choose the suitable ones at the end of this article.
Until then, you should know that the higher the RAM speed and size and the lower the latency, the better the performance.
Many people, including gamers, video editors, and programmers, need capable RAM.
However, not everyone needs high-end RAM maxed out in features.
If you’re only going to use the RAM for light workloads like surfing the web, average specs will satisfy your needs.
The good thing is ADATA has various RAM models to suit every taste.
You can find RAM speeds as low as 800MHz and as high as 5000 when overclocked, all with great timing and bandwidth.
Each ADATA RAM model comes in multiple capacities that you can choose according to your needs.
The important thing is that customers have been satisfied with the performance of the different types of RAMs they got, showing us the quality of the products.
2. Capable Cooling System
If you’re planning to put a load on your RAM by doing intensive tasks and running heavy programs, you should know the importance of a capable cooling system.
If a high-speed RAM doesn’t have one, it’ll lead to overheating and therefore causing damage to the RAM itself and other computer components.
High-end ADATA RAMs that are made for handling heavy loads come with excellent cooling systems, such as enhanced air dissipation structures or hybrid liquid and air-based cooling systems.
You won’t have to worry about overheating with ADATA.
3. Overclocking Abilities
If you’re looking to overclock your RAM, it should be able to handle it, or else you’ll end up damaging your system.
Many of the capable ADATA RAMS have overclocking capabilities that allow them to operate at much higher rates.
You’ll be able to work at much higher speeds and durations without any issues.
4. Wide Price Range
ADATA isn’t an expensive brand compared to its competitors in the industry.
You’ll be able to find very affordable RAMs of high quality.
Some high-end RAMs sit on the pricy end of the spectrum, but they’re worth the price for the features they offer.
ADATA Brand
ADATA is a Taiwanese company that started to work back in 2001.
As you can see, ADATA hasn’t been around for more than 20 years, but in this short while, it’s gained the love and trust of many people.
The ADATA company specializes in manufacturing storage devices and technologies.
Its main product line consists of USB Flash drives, memory cards, hard disk drives, solid-state drives, and more importantly, DRAM modules.
The company is the second-largest DRAM product provider in the market.
It produces DRAM modules for desktops and laptops in its consumer product line.
ADATA owns the XPG (Xtreme Performance Gear) brand, through which it sells gaming PC hardware, including high-end RAMs.
Another manufacturing line is dedicated to industrial use, which also produces DRAM modules.
How To Choose The Right RAM For Your System
To choose the right ADATA RAM or any other RAM brand, you’ll have to know a bit about the features and go through certain steps.
First, let’s explain what exactly a RAM does.
RAM or Random Access Memory is a volatile storage device used in all phones and computers.
It stores data temporarily while you’re using the device, and everything stored on it disappears as soon as it’s disconnected from the power source—hence, the term “volatile”.
Its purpose is to let the CPU quickly access relevant data without delving into slower, long-term storage that could lead to a very slow system.
RAM’s presence in the PC is crucial for efficient multitasking, like keeping multiple programs open at once or running games smoothly by storing all the relevant assets it needs to access quickly.
The system continuously overwrites and refreshes the RAM, and it resets every time the system restarts.
Desktop and laptop RAMs are made up of one or more sticks that plug directly into the motherboard.
The simple-looking RAMs are like a printed circuit board with attached memory chips.
High-end RAMs usually look fancier with LED lighting and other aesthetic enhancements.
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s find out what sets RAMs apart.
1. RAM Compatibility
The first thing you should consider when buying RAM is whether or not it’s compatible with your motherboard and CPU.
It won’t matter what specs it has because, if it’s not compatible, it simply will not work.
A. Form Factor
RAM modules are available in two primary and standard form factors, meaning the size and the connector pins’ configuration.
DIMM or Dual In-Line Memory Module is the RAM form factor for desktop computers, and it refers to the physical size of the RAM module.
The standard length is 133.35 mm for DIMMs.
If you’re planning on building a desktop PC or upgrading its existing RAM, you’ll have to get a DIMM RAM stick.
SO-DIMM or Small Outline DIMM modules are for laptops, Intel NUC mini-PCs, and compact computers in general.
They’re almost half the size of DIMMs, at 67.6 mm in length.
B. RAM Type Or Generation
RAM sticks have improved through the years, and every enhanced model came into the market as a new RAM type or generation.
There are five main generations for the DDR SDRAMs (Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic RAM):
- DDR1 SDRAM
- DDR2 SDRAM
- DDR3 SDRAM
- DDR4 SDRAM
- DDR5 SDRAM
Every motherboard is compatible with only one of these RAM types.
There’s no backward or forward compatibility between the RAM generations.
Therefore, you can’t fit one into a slot made for the other because of a difference in the number of pins.
Be sure to check out your motherboard’s RAM compatibility.
Motherboards in modern computers support either DDR4 or DDR5 RAMs.
You’ll have to search for your motherboard’s model on its manufacturer’s website to find the compatible RAM type.
C. Available Slots
Motherboards also have form factors that determine their physical size and the number of RAM slots available.
It usually goes like this with different form factors:
- Mini ITX Motherboards: Two RAM slots.
- ATX Motherboards: Four RAM slots.
- Micro ATX Motherboards: Four RAM slots.
- EATX Motherboards: Eight RAM slots.
Ensure you’re not getting more RAM sticks than your motherboard can hold.
You can determine the limit by visiting the official website of the motherboard brand or taking a look at the motherboard itself.
D. Max Memory Size
Both motherboards and CPUs have a RAM capacity limit.
If you’re confident that you have a newish motherboard with a 64-bit CPU, you won’t have to worry about it because they support up to 64 GB or 128 GB of RAM.
If you’re not sure, check it out before buying the RAM.
2. RAM Size
RAM size or capacity refers to the amount of temporary data each RAM stick can store.
RAM modules come in different sizes, varying from 2 GB to 32 GB.
Higher capacities allow more programs to run simultaneously and smoothly.
For instance, you can get two 4GB RAM sticks, so your computer has a total of 8 GB memory space.
How much RAM should you get?
The bare minimum for most modern PCs nowadays is 8 GB.
You can start with less if you’re planning on doing very light tasks with your PC, but it won’t leave plenty of room for multitasking.
Eight GB is also the baseline for AAA title games, so it’s suitable for a budget-friendly gaming computer.
If you want to play some modern games that require more RAM capacity at high resolutions or frame rates or do some video editing and graphics design, 16 GB is suitable.
The best option for those who’d like to live stream while gaming or have a group chat open in Discord would be 32 GB.
You’ll also future-proof your PC for the more demanding games that are just around the corner.
For extremely heavy tasks like rendering, 3D graphics design, or intensive video or photo editing, 64 GB or more is suitable.
Remember that it’s very easy to upgrade RAM.
As long as you have empty DIMM slots, you can add more RAM sticks.
3. RAM Speed
RAM speed, also known as frequency, is the number of cycles a memory module can perform every second.
The more the memory speed, the faster the response to read and write requests, and the smoother your computer will work.
RAM speed is measured in Megahertz.
For instance, if you see the number 2400MHz next to a RAM’s name, you’ll know that it can perform 2.4 billion cycles per second.
Once you’ve decided what capacity you’ll be getting, you’ll need to find the right balance between capacity and speed.
Installing 32 GB of slow RAM is a waste of size, and 4 GB of fast RAM won’t be sufficient either.
The minimum available speed is 1600 MHz for DDR4 RAMs, but that speed isn’t suitable for multitasking.
The average RAM speed nowadays seems to be 2400MHz.
Performance can be improved to an extent with 3600MHz.
However, the improvement varies from game to game and program to program.
Some may be barely impacted.
4. RAM Timing And Latency
Latency or timing is the amount of time it takes a RAM stick to respond to a call or command your system gives and execute it by accessing specific information it has stored.
The lower the latency, the faster the RAM.
You’ll see the letters “CL” next to a number in a RAM’s specifications, indicating its latency.
For instance, a CL16 RAM stick will take 16 cycles to respond to a command.
Latency goes hand in hand with speed.
For instance, DDR3 RAMs have lower latencies than DDR4 RAMs.
However, the overall performance of the DDR4 modules is better because of their faster frequency.
Latency usually doesn’t concern an average gamer, let alone a typical PC user.
Over-clockers usually take an interest in the latency of the RAMs they pick, so they can manually change it through the BIOS.
5. Installation
Be sure to check out the RAM slots before you purchase the RAMs and ensure their accessibility.
If you have installed a bulky CPU air cooler in your desktop computer, it might be hanging over and blocking the RAM slots.
You won’t be able to get RAM kits with tall heat spreaders.
Also, some laptop manufacturers solder the RAMs into the motherboard, so
you can’t remove them and swap them for new modules.
6. RAM Cooling
RAM cooling isn’t necessary for most setups unless you’re planning on overclocking your RAM to a great extent.
If so, invest in a RAM kit with a capable cooling unit.
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