Does Brand matter for RAM, and SSDs?

[Hrechkaness]

I've tracked down some less Costly RAM and SSDs that are different brand names then the Buyers Guide recommendations. Will that be an issue? Or is the brand only important for the more core components like CPU, GPU and Mobo?

 

[nobodynose]

I've tracked down some less Costly RAM and SSDs that are different brand names then the Buyers Guide recommendations. Will that be an issue? Or is the brand only important for the more core components like CPU, GPU and Mobo?

It depends. Some lesser-known, less popular brands most certainly can be as good as the more well-known brands. Others, not so much. Especially for SSDs. Look for reviews and comparisons of the model you're thinking about buying vs. the popular brands.

Here are a few good, reputable review sites for SSDs:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-recommendation-benchmark,3269.html
http://www.anandtech.com/tag/ssd
http://www.storagereview.com/reviews/consumer/ssd

Cheap, off-brand memory, however, I would recommend staying away from. Quality control can be very poor. The sticks of the cheap stuff may even be made from chips that were rejected by the more reputable manufacturers. Personally, I would stick with brands like Corsair, Crucial, G.Skill, Team, PNY, Mushkin. Reviews of RAM are probably a little more difficult to find, since there are SO MANY manufacturers, each with a zillion different product lines.

 

[Hrechkaness]

Thank you for the info. I probably should've stated what brand I was looking into and it was Crucial. I will check out those review sites as well.

 

[nobodynose]

Thank you for the info. I probably should've stated what brand I was looking into and it was Crucial. I will check out those review sites as well.

Crucial RAM is good. Their M4 and M500 SSD lines (based on Marvell controllers) are good. The M500 line is better. Stay away from the V4 line (based on a Phison controller), they're incredibly slow as far as SSDs go and, I've heard, not that reliable.