Kingston memory

[sorehead]

I am planning a major upgrade for my system, a nerw motherboard, processor, video card, and of course memory. I hve used Crucial in the past but just checking other vendors
and I see Kingston is having a sale on DDR 400MHZ memory. Your viewpoints on Kingston
and do I want one chip of 512mb or do I need 2 128mb dimms so that the double data
rate works properly? Your suggestions? I plan on using a gigabyte 8ipe1000pro with a P4
2.6C processor.

 

[crip11]

Kingston makes solid memory, very comparable to Crucial. I've used both Kingston and Crucial and have never had issues with either.

I would do 2 x 256 MB so you can run Dual Channel. Be sure to get PC3200 or higher.

Drew

 

[Breezie]

If you get hyperx from kingston- they'll run at dual channel even if you buy them seperately and not in a dual kit. Kingston's value ram on the other hand doesn't promise you dual channel if you buy them seperate. I got the PC3200 hyperX and think they're pretty good right now- I had to lower the timings for it to run well with my motherboard though because hyperX tends to use aggressive timing that many boards don't like.

If you get 1 512mb stick now- you leave yourself open to upgrade to another one later on for dual channel. If you don't plan on having 1gb of memory in the future, two 256mb sticks will give you dual channel right away- but regardless- you dont have to have dual channel for your mobo to work.

 

[fredtam]

What mobo?
In order to run dual channel you will need two sticks of ram of the same type and specs.
If you plan to have 512Mb total then get 2X256Mb.
Kingston HyperX is great but I would get mushkin black. (I have hyperx now)
Kingston Value ram is so so but I would go with crucial.
What is "on sale"? How much?

 

[sorehead]

Not sure where I found it but a link off the main page here for Kingston hyper x pc3200
@66.00 dollars. I just used their main page and configurator and found the motherboard
and it recommended pc3200 in dimm 3-4-4, whatever that means for 46.00. Thats 256mb.
Not sure if that is the value line or not. My main question is all state cl of 3. Is this what I want? I thought the lower the number the faster? I am thinking right on this?

 

[fredtam]

I don't want to be an ass but it sounds like you should go to the frontpage and read up on some things then pop back in with any questions. Memory should be a secondary concern. Decide what platform (amd or intel), which mobo and then look around to see what other people are using.

 

[sorehead]

No big deal! It plainly states in the last sentence of the post what I plan on using.

 

[fredtam]

I phrased that wrong. Sorry. I saw what you were going to use. I meant more that any brand like crucial, kingston, mushkin, samsung are good brands. That isn't a very popular board and while some people may suggest something that works great on their board there may be compatability issues with yours. Check out the 8IP1000 thread. to see what others are using and the problems they may have encountered.

 

[sorehead]

Thanks for the response! I kept looking for that link but could not find it. Good info.

 

[blazerazor]

muskin>ocz>Kingston>corsair>cruial
These are the memory company I would be looking at. In value order.
Please note: Kingston has quit using the good bh-5 chips as has Corair. The little boys like mushkin and ocz are still selling them. Ch-5 chips have replaced those and the company will not state ya or na to it. Unless you break the spreader off, you wont know. Or do some extensive testing and compare. Until bh-4 chips hit, stick to the whats tried and true, if your not going to push aggressive timings, you wont notice.
Value for dollar- Kingston has been considered up there with asus and ati for years. Always good!
Be sure its rated for @ least 400mhz. You can always underclock it and use tighter timings.

 

[sorehead]

Not in to overclocking anyway, just a good stable board.

 

[fredtam]

Then crucial or kingston is for you.

 

[Sunner]

I'd get Kingston value ram then, will run it's rated speeds just fine, is solid, and it's fairly cheap.

 

[mastertech01]

I have a pair of Hyperx PC3500 modules and they dont like my 4PEA that is rated to work with 800FSB processors at all. What boards work fine with this ram. Ive been trying for weeks to get a flipping P4 2.8GHZ processor to even work at default. Just forked out 100.00 for a 550W Antec and that didnt help.

 

[fredtam]

Have you increased the voltage on the ram. Some boards default to a voltage that is too low.

 

[mastertech01]

Hi fredtam, yes Ive bumped it as high as 2.7V.

 

[fredtam]

I'm sure you tried all this but.........
what mobo is it?
try 2.8 and relaxing the timings.
Use one stick.
What does it do exactly?
Tried memtest?

 

[mastertech01]

It only works at all with one stick, even running PC2100 speed. Either stick but only one at a time. The board is a 4pea+ Epox. With a dual redundant 420 PSU from my server it will only run PC2100. Once and only once after installing the 550W Antec with one stick it did post and run through the bios setup and posted thru to the OS bootup but I didnt have the drives connected to boot the OS yet. Was just trying the basic operability. When it did this I was also able to reboot and get the same. Then I shut down and removed all power from the board, and added the second stick. Then it would just do a continous beeping. Upon removing the second stick it would no longer boot with one stick at 2.8GHZ.

During the bootup when it did work that one time with one stick, it would post to the initial screen and stall for about 20 seconds, then continued on to the ram check and went on.

I havent tried memtest. I purchased the ram from someone on the board and want to be sure I dont have board incompatibiity before going further into the testing.

I have tried running the ram per default, and with manual timing set, but not below its rated specs. Ill give that a try next.

 

[fredtam]

Doesn't that mobo have an 845pe chipset. To my knowledge it won't support the 800FSB.

 

[mastertech01]

It does on this version. But it states specifically "by overclocking" BTW I had an ASUS 865 board for awhile too and had problems using Mushkin REV2 PC3500 and one of these same processors. Im even thinking I had two bum processors. Its killing me Ill tell ya. Both processors were Compaq pulls I got off the forums. Been agonizing with the 800 series processors for almost 3 months. I almost miss my dual athlon systems.

My Matrox Parhelia wouldnt be the culprit would it? Its about the only thing I havent tried swapping out.

 

[fredtam]

I just dropped a question in on the AOA forum that is supposed to be frequented by Epox techs. Maybe they can help. Didn't know the exact nature of the problem so I just asked about support for a cpu with a native 200Mhz FSB on the mobo.

 

[mastertech01]

OK thanks.. Any help is appreciated.

 

[GonzoDaGr8]

Originally posted by: Sunner
I'd get Kingston value ram then, will run it's rated speeds just fine, is solid, and it's fairly cheap.

Kingston value ram is what I prefer to run. Not saying that the other brands aren't better, I just have had great luck with the Kingston stuff. Good value too.