DDR

[Muse]

I bought a stick of 512 MB PC2700 at a computer show and it was Samsung chips on a generic PCB. I had misgivings and asked the vendor if he could get me Samsung original or Crucial (he wouldn't refund me my money). He said he could get me Samsung Original or Micron on Micron for an extra $50, which I gave him. I had given him $143 for the original stick, including CA tax. I told him I'd prefer the Samsung Original. I called him a couple days later and said I'd changed my mind and would prefer Micron on Micron (which I figured would be equivalent to Crucial). He said "no problem", he would email me the tracking info in short order, which he did. The stick just arrived and here's what I got:

It's in an opened antistatic RAM sleeve with a sticker holding it shut that has the Crucial part number for 512 MB PC2700 for my MB, the MSI KT3 Ultra2: CT6464Z335. On the stick itself is a Crucial sticker with the same part number. Fine. But there's also a Samsung sticker on the stick (saying Samsung, 0238 KOREA PC2700U-25330-B2 M368L6423DTM-CB3 512 MB DDR PC2700 CL2.5) and every chip says SAMSUNG 238 K4H560838D-TCB3 and it also says Samsung on the stick. What's this???? Is this Micron on Micron, Crucial or Samsung Original or none of the above? I'm really confused here.

Thanks to any and all who can shed some light on this!

 

[mmesker]

Well, if it says Samsung on the chips and the PCB, its probably Samsung RAM with a Micron sticker on it.

You got hosed.

 

[dszd0g]

Crucial is part of Micron.

If that uses Samsung chips it definitely is not Micron on Micron. I thought all Crucial memory used Micron chips (I think the logo on the chips is an MT as I recall, someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

I thought that Crucial only used Micron chips. I would be a little confused if I saw something labeled both Crucial and Samsung too. I guess it is possible that Crucial could have made a PCB using Samsung chips, but I don't know why they would.

Here is Crucial's page for that part, but it doesn't show a pic for this particular part:
http://www.crucial.com/store/PartSpecs.asp?imodule=CT6464Z335&cat=

I'm not sure why you would pay that much and not go with a reputable dealer where you could get it for cheaper.

If you're lucky you got a stick of Samsung Original. If you are unlucky you got a generic PCB with Samsung chips. Either way if it works I would keep it (if you mail it back to this guy, you may never see anything back), and next time buy it for cheaper from a reputable dealer.

 

[Muse]

It certainly is a confusing situation. I got a post on the AMDMB forums saying that the guy seemed to recall that 3 - 5 months ago, Crucial for a short time used Samsung chips for DDR, so this would explain it, possibly. It clearly says "Samsung" in tiny letters on the end of the PCB so I have to think it's what would properly be called Samsung Original. The Crucial sticker on it looks quite authentic. Strange. I suppose I will call the vendor and ask him for an explanation but I wanted to see what other people said before I do that. Yes, I paid too much and I won't be doing business with them again. Even for Samsung generic RAM it was quite expensive at $143 with tax. At the time, I didn't realize. And then I paid $50 extra to get M on M or Samsung Original. Usually I'm a lot more careful.