[RAM Options]
General advice: Density is the most important thing in servers, whether it’s hard drives, solid states, or RAM. Personally, I’d advise picking up the most dense RAM you can afford. You’ll thank yourself later when it’s time to upgrade.
Even if you only need 64GB, I’d probably still recommend 2x32GB sticks (which you can get for $80 OBO). Having multi-channel and higher speeds is nice, but it’s not important unless you are doing very specific workloads. Capacity and density, generally speaking are the most important factors.
Make sure your motherboard can support the speed, capacity, ranking, type, and voltage of the RAM you’ve selected.
- In most cases, you will be using DDR3 ECC RDIMM.
- Not that some DDR3 ECC RDIMM is labled “L”. This is typically reserved for higher capacity modules. Verify motherboard compatibility before selecting these modules.
- Some pre-builts require UDIMM (may be ECC or non-ECC).
- All X79 motherboards require non-ECC UDIMM.
DDR3 ECC RDIMM (REG)
| Brand | Model (link) | Capacity (GB) | Rank | Speed (MHz) | PC3 | Type | ECC | Voltage | Price/GB | Expected Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung | M393B2K70CM0-CF8Q5 | 16 | 4Rx4 | 1066 | PC3-8500R | REG | ECC | Normal | $1.06 | $17.00 |
| Samsung | M393B2K70DM0-YF8 | 16 | 4Rx4 | 1066 | PC3L-8500R | REG | ECC | Low | $1.38 | $22.00 |
| Micron | MT72KSZS4G72PZ | 32 | 4Rx4 | 1333 | PC3L-10600R | REG | ECC | Low | $1.34 | $43.00 |
| Hynix | HMT84GL7AMR4A-PB | 32 | 4Rx4 | 1600 | PC3L-12800L | REG LOAD RED. | ECC | Low | $1.56 | $50.00 |
| Hynix | HMT84GL7MMR4A-H9 | 32 | 4Rx4 | 1333 | PC3L-10600L | REG LOAD RED. | ECC | Low | $1.56 | $50.00 |
| Samsung | M386B4G70BM0-YH90Q | 32 | 4Rx4 | 1333 | PC3L-10600L | REG LOAD RED. | ECC | Normal | $1.56 | $50.00 |
| Samsung | M386B4G70DM0-CMA4 | 32 | 4Rx4 | 1866 | PC3-14900L | REG LOAD RED. | ECC | Normal | $1.56 | $50.00 |
| Samsung | M386B8G70DE0-YH93 | 64 | 8Rx4 | 1333 | PC3L-10600L | REG LOAD RED. | ECC | Low | $1.88 | $120.00 |
DDR3 ECC/non-ECC UDIMM
| Type | Model (link) | Speed | Capacity | Price/GB | Expected Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NON-ECC | PC3-10600U | 1333MHz | 2x4GB = 8GB | $2.38/GB | $19.00 |
| NON-ECC | PC3-12800U | 1600MHz | 2x4GB = 8GB | $2.13/GB | $17.00 |
| NON-ECC | PC3-12800U | 1600MHz | 2x8GB = 16GB | $2.50/GB | $40.00 |
| NON-ECC | PC3-12800U | 1600MHz | 4x4GB = 16GB | $2.13/GB | $34.00 |
| NON-ECC | PC3-12800U | 1600MHz | 4x8GB = 32GB | $3.28/GB | $105.00 |
| ECC UDIMM | PC3-10600E | 1333MHz | 2x4GB = 8GB | $4.00/GB | $32.00 |
| ECC UDIMM | PC3-12800E | 1600MHz | 2x4GB = 8GB | $3.50/GB | $28.00 |
| ECC UDIMM | PC3-10600E | 1333MHz | 2x8GB = 16GB | $4.88/GB | $78.00 |
| ECC UDIMM | PC3-12800E | 1600MHz | 2x8GB = 16GB | $4.38/GB | $70.00 |
| ECC UDIMM | PC3-10600E | 1333MHz | 4x4GB = 16GB | $4.06/GB | $65.00 |
| ECC UDIMM | PC3-12800E | 1600MHz | 4x4GB = 16GB | $3.06/GB | $49.00 |
| ECC UDIMM | PC3-10600E | 1333MHz | 4x8GB = 32GB | $5.00/GB | $160.00 |
| ECC UDIMM | PC3-12800E | 1600MHz | 4x8GB = 32GB | $4.38/GB | $140.00 |