Corsair Vengeance 8GB (1x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory 1.5V

This is the best upgrade I have so far. I originally have 1 stick of 8GB of Vengeance (black on one slot CMZ8GX3M1A1600C10) and I had 2 Adata (2x4gb) and 1 kingston (1x8) filling up my slots just to get 24GB. And i wasn't minding about overclocking since I only wanted more memory before. I'm well aware that it is also not recommended to mix and match memory sticks unless you know what you are doing (I'm an IT tech) but I know full well that these (specific ones) work ok since I have played around with different sticks. So for years I've been running on this setup and it was time to upgrade...i Purchased 1 stick of the same exact Item model of Vengeance (CMZ8GX3M1A1600C10) to replace my 1 kingston to I can try to overclock a bit of my memory. When i did, i got rid of the kingston and replaced it. It was all good and dandy having more memory... but what I forgot was that my Adata only had 600mhz and i wanted to utilize the 800mhz XMP. Knowing this I had to remove the Adata memory sticks and voila!! I finally experience my 800mhz xmp profile!! I had to sacrifice my 8gb just to get the xmp speed. Because your pc will automatically pick the slower memory as its max which is my Adata was maxed out at 600mhz. Also another thing to point out.... PAY ATTENTION TO THE ITEM MODEL NUMBER!!! I know that Corsair has another vengeance that is color blue and another one that is exact same look but the item model number is CMZ4GX3M1A1600C9!! Make sure you pay attention to the model number and by the exact same one!!! You can try to mix it with the blue if you like but I cannot guarantee it would work. You will have to try it out since I've never tried it out myself. It is risky for you if you try it out, because if it doesn't work...then you will have to deal with returns and stuff. Same idea goes for the CMZ4GX3M1A1600C9 mixing it with CMZ8GX3M1A1600C10 since they look alike. You can try but I have not tested them yet. So to be safe...a good rule of thumb is if you get a specific model.... you upgrade and add memory with the SAME EXACT MODEL!!I'll be on my way to get another 2x8 of the same CMZ8GX3M1A1600C10 model so that I can get my 32GB of memory pretty soon:) I hope this helps everyone who are confused with memory stick installation as to why to some people it doesn't work and some do.

I rebuilt my computer using the components listed below. I built my previous system and several others. I used my existing Antec case and 430 watt power supply and miscellaneous 1Tb hard drives. I started from scratch and installed win 8.1 Pro rather than upgrading from Win 7. I am not a gamer, I do not overclock and I use Photoshop/Lightroom/MS Office but wanted a decent video card. I chose the I7-4771 because of the hyperthreading capability over the the I7-4770K and it was cheaper than the I7-4770 at the time. I also bought right over a 2 week period, I managed to get everything during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale except for the video card. Everything works on my case, speakers, lights, USB2, headphones, except the firewire since it is not supported by the motherboard. I have powered USB3 at the front of the case. I am very happy with the overall speed of the system and it boots up fast. My Kill A Watt says I am using about 85 watts as I am sitting here writing this. I have seen it get up as high as 150 watts. I had the CPU temp set at 60°C in the BIOS and it beeped at me while doing some heavy processing so I reset it to 70°C.My only nit is the USB3 connection to the motherboard does not lock, but that is minor. I chose the major components because I have used the brand before and had good luck (except my last video cards were EVGA, which were fine). I chose the Gigabyte card because it came configured how i wanted it and the price was right.Here is my Build:Gigabyte Z87 LGA 1150 2 Way SLI HDMI DVI ATX Motherboard (GA-Z87X-D3H)Intel I7-4771 3.5 3 LGA 1150 Processor BX80646I74771Gigabyte GeForce GTX 650 OC 2GB GDDR5 PCI-Express 3.0 2xDVI-D/HDMI/D-SUB Graphics Card GV-N650OC-2GI2x Corsair Vengeance 8GB (1x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory (CMZ8GX3M1A1600C10)Corsair Vengeance Red 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory (CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10R)Samsung Electronics 840 Pro Series 2.5-Inch 256 GB SATA 6GB/s Solid StateSyba 3.5-Inch Front Bay USB 3.0 Expansion Port and Card Reader (SY-HUB50044)Silverstone Tek Super Flexible 4-in-1 SATA Power Adapter Cable with Power Stabilizing Capacitors (CP06-E4)Logitech Wireless Combo MK270 with Keyboard and MouseArctic Silver 5, bought locally

This desktop memory performs to the highest standard. It's being used with a Core i7 4770 processor and a Z87 motherboard. For added safety and protection I added a Kingston Cooling Fan marketed for HyperX PC Memory KHX-FAN, but which fits and works just fine with these chips.Update. I'm a bit late in posting this but I felt better late than never. I began with 8gb of ram, went to 16gb within a couple of weeks and ultimately added another 16gb a couple of months later. I use my system for video editing and processing. The 32gb total ram memory showed me a marked improvement. Some have stated that any amount of ram over 16gb is wasted or superfluous. I disagree based on performance.CAVEAT: Initially, upon building this system, I installed Windows 7 home premium (Windows 7 is my preferred operating systems) It was only after I did a system scan (upon increasing to 32gb) that I noticed it was only showing 16gb. After researching the issue I was made aware that I'd need to upgrade the operating system to Windows 7 Professional in order to read and use 32gb. Gotta love Microsoft. Still, the extra hundred dollars to upgrade Windows was well worth it. My first major project, a 37 minute video was a rousing success. I'm no expert but I credit the use of 32gb of this ram memory for the ease, speed and efficiency in making thousands of edits.