I didn?t get the RAM I wanted for Christmas

[HomeAppraiser]

So it is off to NewEgg or ??? looking for a good RAM deal.

My PCs:
Compaq Presario S4000V 2.2 P4 currently has 1x512 PC2700 and No video card

Compaq Presario S6500NX XP 3000+ currently has 1x512 PC2700 and a Gigabyte FX5700 256mb AGP video card

HP Pavilion a850e AMD64 3000+ currently has 1x512 PC3200 and an MSI 6600GT 128mbDDR3 AGP video card

All have one free DIMM slot. Since my next comps will be AMD 64s or better I would like to get all PC3200 sticks for forward compatibility. I believe that the PC3200s can be used in the auto mode to run at 333 mhz on the older machines. I found out that when mixing RAM speeds I need to be sure and put the slower RAM in the first slot so the computer will detect it and run the second stick at the slower speed.

Thinking of getting three 1Gig sticks. The long term plan is for the old P4 comp to become a family room TIVO with a Personal Cinema card installed so that amount of ram won't matter in a year or so. I want at least two 1GB sticks of PC3200 to eventually max out the AMD64, if I still have it when WIN64 ever comes out I am going to need the extra ram, leaving 1.5G on the AMD XP comp and 1Gb on the old P4 TIVO comp. Or if my dad ever jumps in and lets me get him a cheap AMD64 computer ($299 special) I can use the 1x512mb of PC3200 in my current AMD64 to upgrade his store bought system and drop the P4 down to 512mb.

I know three 1Gb sticks is a lot to buy at once for home use, but I don?t want anyone in the family to feel shorted.

It has been forever since I bought any RAM so I am clueless about quality and prices. Value RAM should work along side the factory installed sticks, but I want a quality brand without spending more than $300. Also, what is the deal with "timings"?

Thanks in advance for any help.

PS: the wine seems to have a temporary effect on the computer speeds.

 

[Cadaver]

Originally posted by: HomeAppraiser
PS: the wine seems to have a temporary effect on the computer speeds.

Faster or slower?

 

[HomeAppraiser]

Is DDR2-533MHz SDRAM backward compatable with motherboards that use PC2700 or PC3200 RAM?

 

[mike3uz]

You cant use DDR2 on a DDR motherboard.

 

[pendulum79]

DDR2 won't work with any of your computers. It is currently only supported by the latest P4 boards and won't be supported by AMD until the second half of 2006 when they release their fangled new socket.

 

[HomeAppraiser]

OK, maybe I?ll just get a two pack of 1Gb PC3200 sticks for now. My nine year olds comp can stay at 512mb for now. I see a lot of dual channel kits that are less expensive that buying individual sticks.

Any economy brands to stay away from?

Is going from 512mb to 1.5Gb twice as ?good? as going from 512mb to 1.0Gb?

 

[zagood]

Corsiar and OCZ have great value dual kits out there, they'll probably give you the best bang for the buck.

Kingston value series has problems playing nice with stock memory.

PNY memory I've bought has been hit or miss. One set wouldn't work at all in my wife's HP Pavillion a230n but another set was perfect. Doesn't overclock very well but decent for stock settings.

Don't have much experience with Mushkin but my dad uses it all the time.

Don't limit yourself to 2x1gb kits. Newegg for instance has cheaper single 1gb sticks than dual kits. Look for about 75-80 bucks per gig.

EDIT: unless you're running extremely memory intensive programs like Photoshop or Illustrator, the difference between 1.0gb and 1.5gb wouldn't be worth the money. You're going to be bottlenecked by your GPUs in gaming.

-z

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

I hate post titles like this... Be grateful you got something, and quit whining about that. Anyway, I'll get over that--like the previous poster stated, unless you are doing memory extensive tasks, 1.0 - 1.5gb is fine.

Enjoy the wine. Good luck on the RAM.

 

[SuperSilicon]

Yep as others have stated DDR2 doesnt work on a DDR mobo, if your interested in good brands here is a few I have had experience and can reccomend:

#1 Corsair & XMS series
#2 Crucial
#3 Kingston

Heard good things about Patriot, OCZ

Never had one problem with any of that ram, so it comes down to pretty much how much you want to spend and what speeds you need. Try newegg.com, zipzoomfly.com, tigerdirect.com

 

[HomeAppraiser]

Thanks for the input. Any opinions on G.SKILL or GigaRam?

Back in November my wife asks me "You got picked by **** in the gift exchange and he wants to know what to get you?" I said since he is a computer builder/upgrader and knows our rigs, that a stick or two of RAM would be the thing I wanted the most. I was planning to upgrade before the end of the year, but put off any research since I figured that **** would know what to get better than I did.

I was quite surprised at the family gift exchange when I see this huge box with my name on it. I thought, little RAM package inside a big box, ha ha. Oh well.

 

[alevasseur14]

On a lighter note, I hear ya on the alcohol and computer performance. I had a few too many brandy Cokes the other night and tried to fire up Medal of Honor. Long story short, I just couldn't make it work like I wanted it to. I blame the computer.

Thank your in-law!