[Gibbo3771]

I know this sounds like a stupid Q's, Im more into GPU's than RAM but put it this way, the now i have 4GB OCZ DDR2 800mhz i payed about £50 a stick

I have a smaller computer in my Girlfriends house which has 4GB DDR2 800mhz but its a make called Memory talent, £13 a stick, can anyone tell me the advantages that I have actualy gained from spending 4x the money

kinda annoying me lol

[NewbieOneKenobi]

You get more reliable RAM with better cooling that responds better to overclocking and to extreme temperatures.

Getting cheap RAM will subject you to a number of random errors, especially under heavy load - say, you've been playing games all day long or some such. If you have quality sticks with heatsinks, your computer won't go rogue on you. This said, I've been quite fine with value RAM (Kingston DDR1) on a computer that has rarely been turned off for a longer time.

At any rate, you don't want dodgy noname sticks. If you want to go cheap, buy value.

[Blazing fire]

I agree. Only use reputable brand names like crucial, corsair, geil, supertalent, gskill and kingston etc.

I use Kingston value RAM and it has served me well. Running 1.95v 873mhz 5-5-5-15 (limited to my stupid E6750). Without CPU constrain, 2.05v 970mhz 5-5-5-15. That set of 2X1GB cost me only $25 usd.

[mepis]

There was a study done a while ago I think by Tom's hardware or Anandtech back in the days of the Athlon. There is no real difference in price and quality, only brands.

That being said the article was obviously much more in depth then that statement. The article found fault in generic brands suck as A Skill and Rainbow and such. All generics seem to cause major instability after some time and seem worthless. The difference in the brand itself though was so marginal it made buying the exotic models seem worthless. For example a stick of crucial low end memory could over clock and sustain about as much heat and stability as their ballistix line. This ran true for just about every company. The performance that the exotic lines offered where so marginal over their normal desktop counterparts it made buying the exotic stuff seem insane.

[corpsejockey]

The exotic lines do however guarantee better performance. You can not rma a value stick if it doesn't hit 1000mhz with tight timings if it's only rated for 800mhz. You're basically paying for the labor involved in the manufacturer's binning proccess. I always keep a couple sets of high performance ram around because I know it's going to clock. At the same time, I'll tinker with the cheap stuff to see what it can do. There is something satisfying about buying value ram and hitting the same speeds as the high dollar stuff.

[mepis]

I could never justify buying the exotic lines when the cheap stuff by the same manufacturer is more often then not less then half the price and in some cases 1/4 the price.

[Blazing fire]

Let me as you, 2 corsair dominator 8888 @ 1200mhz 4-4-4-12 which cost $500 or $88 1200mhz 6-6-6-18. Both 2X1GB. Which would you choose?

[mepis]

Originally Posted by Blazing fire

Let me as you, 2 corsair dominator 8888 @ 1200mhz 4-4-4-12 which cost $500 or $88 1200mhz 6-6-6-18. Both 2X1GB. Which would you choose?

I always go with cheaper, but then again Im in a constant state of broke.

At any rate personally I just stick with kingston value ram. Everytime Ive bought some its clocked decently for what it is and has always been rock solid for me. I still have a pair of ddr 333 mhz still kicken that are roughly 6 years old now and overclocked a good majority of those years. Best of all its always dirt cheap.

[NewbieOneKenobi]

I'm running two $112 sticks of 2 GB / 800 MHz each. They do run at 1066 Mhz on 5-5-5-15 timings and seem somewhat stable, but they eat 2.3V. I actually get a couple of points less in 3DMark06 than without any OC, although Windows Vista seems to run more smoothly (like it wasn't smooth already). All in all, if I were to know I would not be able to OC, I'd have taken a reliable GEIL set with standard timings. And that would probably actually OC anyway. I'm going to wait until I have more money, buy some native 1200 DDR2 and sell this junk. Or just stay with it and buy a game instead. Yeah. The differences are so minimal anyway. You're better off putting the RAM cash in the GFX cash just so long as your RAM doesn't BSoD you.

[corpsejockey]

Originally Posted by Blazing fire

Let me as you, 2 corsair dominator 8888 @ 1200mhz 4-4-4-12 which cost $500 or $88 1200mhz 6-6-6-18. Both 2X1GB. Which would you choose?

I was thinking more along the lines of something like my 2x1gb Ballistix pc8000 that were sub $50 after mir or the 2x2gb ocz pc8500 that were $60 after mir. I guess I considered that to be the good stuff.

[JamesXP]

Cheap ram is fine, if it failed at stock, it would not be on the market.

[larrymoencurly]

Most of my cheap Kingston PC3200 failed from the start at stock speeds, as did 2 out of 3 OCZ PC6400 Gold pairs, yet neither was ever withdrawn from the market.

[Mr.Guvernment]

Originally Posted by NewbieOneKenobi

You get more reliable RAM with better cooling that responds better to overclocking and to extreme temperatures.

Getting cheap RAM will subject you to a number of random errors, especially under heavy load - say, you've been playing games all day long or some such. If you have quality sticks with heatsinks, your computer won't go rogue on you. This said, I've been quite fine with value RAM (Kingston DDR1) on a computer that has rarely been turned off for a longer time.

At any rate, you don't want dodgy noname sticks. If you want to go cheap, buy value.

um proof of this? (for cheap no name brands sure, possibly)

But say Value ram will give you errors but good ram wont? so cheap ram is faulty..lol so Kingston value rma? or are you only referring to "cheap" companies like A-data


expensive ram tends to have things like tighter timings, can take high volts and such, , not always having heat sinks, how much they impact anything is questionable.