[Dougie Fresh]

for a little bit more money you get a little bit more power 25,6 vs 34 gb/s. both is usable. everyone has to decide this for themselves.

Higher RAM bandwidth means virtually nothing in real-world applications. If you're buying the RAM to perform well in benchmarks, then go for it.

It's true that everyone has to decide for themselves.

At the end of a day, most everyday users would realize the greatest improvement in real-world performance by reallocating every dollar they can to get an SSD. Anand called SSDs the single most impactful upgrade a user can make.

This coming from a user (me!) who runs 32GB of quad-channel RAM in my gaming rig and noticed zero real-world difference in performance.

+1. I'd only add for 1333 vs. 1600 w.r.t Intel I decide by whichever is cheaper. Usually it's 1333 but every once in a while there's a sale.

For AMD Llano, the RAM speed does make a difference for the GPU for gaming framerates but even there, the most benefit is seen at 1600 over 1333. 1866 is marginal over 1600 and 2133 even less so. Remember, there is a lot of marketing going on here .

I also tend to run 1 x 4GB for mini-ITX builds since, again, there is very little performance difference -- none noticeable for HTPC -- between 2 x 2GB and 1 x 4GB. However, there's an open slot for another 1 x 4GB stick for a future upgrade that won't require replacing any RAM.

YMMV. My $0.02. My experience.