Best RAM for 990FX-GD80

Question

I need to buy 8GB low-profile DDR3 for my new 990FXA-GD80 and was wondering if anyone could advise which will work and overclock (i.e. give the best speeds) with this board.
There's some 1.35v Mushkin Blackline for £36
or 1.65v Corsair XMS3 for £30
or 1.5v Corsair XMS3 for £41.76
I've also seen some 1.5v Crucial Rendition, which would be the cheapest at £26 for 8GB, but I think I'd prefer something with some sort of cover/heat spreader http://www.ebuyer.com/291000-crucial-4gb-ddr3-1333mhz-rendition-memory-module-cl9-1-5v-rm51264ba1339-rm51264ba1339
All of these are 9-9-9-24 sticks
I realise the Rendition is 1333Mhz whilst the rest are 1600Mhz, but the tests I've seen don't seem to show much benefit and there's no guarantee anything would run at 1600Mhz with a Phenom II X4 (which only officially supports 1333Mhz) anyway. If I recall correctly, running 1333Mhz with tighter timings (i.e. tighter than 9-9-9-24) gives more of a boost, so if anyone knows if any of the above (or something else) will run at tighter timings, that would be useful information as well.

Answer 1

Yeah, Corsair 1.5V LP and Vengeance LP are compatible, so they're options, although I'm not sure there's any reason to believe they'll be any better than Mushkin, which seems to be well regarded, particularly because every stick is hand-tested. If I understand you both correctly, you've had good experience with the Corsair but never tried it on the 990FX-GD80?
Bernhard, no doubt you're right that the size and shape of some heat spreaders is just a marketing gimmick, but I don't see any harm in people buying parts they like the look of, as long as they also work well and it's not generally any more expensive with heatspreaders. As you suggest that heatspreaders may be needed at 1.65v (and above), even if I'm buying 1.5v 1600Mhz I may want to overclock that, which may involve bumping the voltage to 1.65v+, so it seems sensible to get something with heatspreaders unless you're SURE that you're never going to want to run it any faster than 1.5v (and even then, it can't hurt to have something helping to conduct the heat away from the chips).
One of the reasons I'm attracted to the Mushkin 1600Mhz 1.35v 996988 is because I'd imagine that gives me more room to overclock/overvolt it, compared to 1.5v 1600Mhz RAM. I'm a bit confused though, as I've been told on the Mushkin forum that I'd get better overclocking potential with the 996995, which seems to be the same specs except it's 1.5v!