RMA PQI-3200 and get a Raptor instead?

I recently ordered a 1 gig pair of the 2-2-2-5 TCCD pc3200 ram from PQI. Well I got it home and have had nothing but problems with it since. It's ID by SPD was 2.5-2-2-5 which I thought it was a plug-n-frag type too, where it would boot to the low speed..but that is really not the problem.

After I installed the 1 gb pair in my mobo I had errors in windows, and certain programs won't load like ZoneAlarm. All in all, I guess it is a fault pair. Now with my current ram I can run it at 2-3-3-6 at 220 fsb at the 1:1 ratio which is actually pretty good for PC2700 stuff. That is about 3.5 gig. I am not sure how much extra my CPU has left in it, but I would figure only about 200-300 mhz more max on the core.

So my question is what do you all think..I have an RMA # to send the ram back and to get a refund. Should I take another chance on getting some new ram, or should I just pick up a new 74gig WD Raptor drive. My current drivers are old IDE drives that are 40 gig a piece and probably 2mb buffers. I have had them for awhile and I know that a raptor would probably wake my system up.

What do you all think, what would you do if you were in my situation?

Sounds like you're leaning towards to Harddrive. And yes, the Raptor would definitely wake your system up a bit. If you're happy with your current memory (and it seems to be running just fine), I would say get the HD and you'll see an overall better performance boost for your system. Maybe pick up some other sticks of memory down the line when there is a sale or something?

Just my $0.02

Ya, kinda what I am thinking. I am sure a raptor would be sweet. I just hate to pay that lame a$$ restocking fee that they charge at newegg if you want to "refund" your puchase. I am not sure yet. I like having opinions on these sort of things to keep me from doing things hastily. I would prefer to have an overall system boost, and I don't know if this mem will give it to me or not....not knowing the actual fsb limits of my CPU.

Well the rams defective so you should beable to return it without any issuse. And just say you want to get this instead.

The ram doesn't run at rated speeds so its not good, request a refund and get the HDD.