As of late gskill has come out with outstanding ram modules at ridiculous rates.
other brand ram modules are equally good in quality are an insignificant amount costlier than gskill. But then again every cent counts.
Gskill sniper kit DDR3(1.5 volts) modules @1600mhz stock and 1866mhz stock are available at this point of time. Sure in the near future 2133mhz and 2400mhz shall be available --but beyond 2133 is the realm of ddr4. What is astounding about the sniper series is that they operate at 1.2 volts which belongs to ddr4(1.2 volts) domain. Surely you wont be over-clock these kits but can play with the timings and get very good stable results.
Another major factor is the TDP( thermal design power) of the Phenom II is relatively higher than intel chips, which translates to-- that if you upgrade to full ram capacity of your mobo the TDP further increases for the following reasons:
1> Tremendous stress on the processor's IMC(integrated memory controllers) further increasing TDP .
2> Higher voltage causes more heat and increases the ambient temperature. The RAM heat-sinks thereon radiate more heat.
3> Increasing the clock speed of your processor hilariously increases the temperature even more so a heavy duty after- market air cooler will suffice OR you will have to buy the corsair H80 liquid cooler.
I have both the ripjaws X (1.5 volts) and the sniper(1.2volts). The sniper kit shines. My cpu temp is a few centigrades lower and im saving on electricity costs.
ripjaws X 1.5 volts @1600 mhz 4gbx4 ---> 6volts + 5 degrees @44 C
Sniper 1.2 volts @1600 mhz 4gbx4 ---> 4.8 volts @39C
room temp--35- 36 C
Increasing the clock speeds on your ram @1600 mhz stock is pretty pointless and a profound performance can only be observed when DDR4 @ 2400 mhz 1.2 volts modules comeout.
With PCie 2.0's life coming to an end with MSI's PCie 3.0 z68 mobo, there is absolute no benefits to overclocking ram at this point of time so gskill sniper wins.