Need a hand picking out RAM.

[Chaos Snake]

Please give me a hand in picking out some new RAM. I jsut got a DFI NFII Lanparty B. When I got the board I also decided to go from 512mb of RAM to 1gb, so I got ordered a gig of Mushkin basic green. Nothing I did would get the Mushkin to run stable (always failed at 98% of test 5 in Memtest 86). After talking to Mushkin they said that it would be best to RMA it back to newegg. So the RAM went back and I lost $20 in the deal. My old RAM runs fine (a 512bm stick of Bufalo pc3200 BH-5), but I still want to move up to a gig of RAM. Now would I be better off picking up 2x256 of BH-5 off someone on the forums (cause a single 512 stick of bh-5 is hard to come by). Or drop the cash for 2x512 of bh-5 from someone on tthe forums, and sell my single stick. Or should I pick up some Samsug TCCD, here is a list of what I've been looking at

Corsair XMS - http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-523&depa=1

Kingston Hyper-X - http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-144-137&depa=1

PQI Turbo - http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-141-148&depa=1

G.Skill - http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-231-004&depa=1

I just want something that I know will run without a hich in this motherboard, and have some headroom for OC'ing. Please give me a hand here, as I don't want to have to RMA again and loose more cash in teh process. Also If you have any other choices, that will fit the bill and cost a bit less please post them cause $250 is as much as I can possabily spend but I would love to spend less.

 

[nicspits]

I'd go with the top 3 in that order, kingston and corsair being basically tied. But that'd only be after trying to get a matching stick of your Buffalo 512mb stick, which would be the cheapest and hopefully save you some of that money back.

note, you may lose 10mhz FSB, but core speed is sooo much more important, so perhaps get a mobile barton with the savings and do it up 3-400mhz more.

 

[rseven]

Hi Chaos, this is Maxwell Smart Secret Agent 86. Sorry bad joke. I've been looking for ram the last couple of weeks so I'll pass on to you what I've found out. First, as a HyperX user (I have it on my nf2 abd nf3 boards) I can tell you, DON'T BUY THE HYPERX! It's not that it's bad. It's just not very good. The PQI is tccd and gets good write ups. The GSkill comes with faster timings in an LC and LD version. It seems to be the ram of choice around here right now. It is also tccd. Another thing to look for is Brainpower PCB as it is reportedly better for overclocking. You should also consider Patriot's low cost tccd as well as Corsair's pc4400. Here are some price and review links that should be helful. Good luck.
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=6&artpage=1115&articID=277
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=140980&AFFIL=pg&NR=1
http://www.anandtech.com/memory/
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merc...e=M&Product_Code=140601&Category_Code=DDR-PDP

 

[Chaos Snake]

Ok placed my order. Mushkin talked me into giving them another chance. Got a set of Mushkin Lvl II PC3200, and they promiced me TCCD chips. They gave me a bit of a discount for having one of there products not work right, and said if I'm not 100% satisifed they would take them back at no extra cost (no restocking fees, having to pay newegg to take back a product that didn't work just seems wrong to me). I couldn't pass that up, and I'll let you all know how it works out. Thanks for all the help everyone.

 

[Chaos Snake]

Whoops I thought I cancled my newegg order for PQI DUAL 1GB(2X512) DDR PC4000 and juess it went through, guess thats what I'm getting cause there is not enough in my account to cover the later Mushkin order. Hope it runns like everyone says it will .

 

[nicspits]

lol, good luck... watch those accounts man and i hope you don't get charged and then feed for the overdraft!