Legit Reviews

32GB Corsair Vengeance Notebook 1600Mhz vs 1866Mhz?

I've recently ordered an Alienware M18XR2 with the following specs:
Intel Core-i7 3940XM
Dual NVIDIA GTX 680m SLI
Intel 520 120GB SSD (externally purchased)
2X2TB WD Green in RAID-0 (externally purchased)
the rest of specs aren't important for my question.

As for memory, I decided to go with 32GB Corsair Vengeance.

Now I have two options:
Corsair 32GB DDR3 1600MHz Vengeance Laptop Memory PC3-12800 10-10-10-27
Corsair 32GB DDR3 1866MHz Vengeance Laptop Memory PC3-14900 10-11-10-30

The 1866Mhz obviously has faster clocks but the 1600Mhz has tighter timings.

I am going to overclock the system to the ragged edge (always had!) and the extreme edition processor won't be bottlenecked by the memory.

In these circumstances, money no objection, which one of the two would you recommend and why?

How exactly are you going to overclock a laptop and do you think that's a good idea? To my knowledge the latest Ivy Bridge internal memory controller is setup for 1600MHz. I've also read reviews that going with faster memory gains minimal real world results. If this is the case too then I doubt Alienware/Dell will give you the option to use 1866MHz RAM in the BIOS. I'd pickup the 1600MHz RAM and call it a day. If you asked this question 6 months ago when RAM prices were at an all time low then I'd say get the faster of the two. But given prices today they don't justify the added cost.

Tighter timings anyday

And I would not overclock a laptop. ever.

32GB?! Will you be actually using all that or will it be just sitting there??
More RAM =/= necessary mean faster / more performance PC; the other components (CPU, GPU, HDD, play a majro role as well).

Overclocking a laptop is NOT a good idea. It's also an Alienware / DELL...I dont' think they have much support (or positive attitude) on overclocking.

Timings are a little loose for both kits, but it's okay as they are 8GB density sticks.

Apparently they're already factory overclocked (see attachment), but maybe you could push it a bit more, especially if used with a good laptop cooler. Sweet laptop, but at a very steep price.

defo go for tighter timings but as already said never overclock a laptop. cooling is an issue without the overclock. this is why i never want a gaming laptop however awesome they maybe.