PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

i think i will not change my P3 866 very soon, but probably this autumn or after the summer.
i will buy a asus P4B with P4 2.4 GhZ.
my question is: which kind of RAM should i buy? i know that there are a lot of differences between variuos models...
what is the best?

Autumn? Hey, this is a lot of water going down the river till then. I also wait, but for a nice i875 mobo with 512 MB DDR400 pieces (a pair, to have the full bandwidth of the chipset). Till then my P3/1000 will do it.

Hi, I'm getting fine with P4B and Kingston DDR333

I would recomend you Crucial buying it fromthe online shop. It's cheap! It's as good as other BIG names and it's extremely reliable, with a lifetime guaranty!

Go to their web page, and follow the instructions choosing first, from the pop-up window, what you are looking for. You have to chose the maker,let's say "Asus", then go for "motherboards", then go for your specific Motherboard, lets' say "P4PE", and then all the possible RAM to be used will show. All you have to do now is to follow the steps to buy online, and you'll get the best RAM available at the very best price.

Please, consider it, I know what I'm talking about, I have done a very deep research and this is the BEST quality-price balance in the entire market.

Be well...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Nestor on 2003-05-22 12:09 ]</font>

This is what you can use from Crucial RAM:

Upgrades for the Asus P4B Motherboard

512MB SDRAM, PC133 SDRAM, PC133 • CL=2 • Unbuffered • Non-parity • 7.5ns • 3.3V • 64Meg x 64

512MB SDRAM, PC133 SDRAM, PC133 • CL=3 • Unbuffered • Non-parity • 7.5ns • 3.3V • 64Meg x 64

512MB SDRAM, PC133 SDRAM, PC133 • CL=3 • Unbuffered • ECC • 7.5ns • 3.3V • 64Meg x 72

512MB SDRAM, PC133 SDRAM, PC133 • CL=2 • Unbuffered • ECC • 7.5ns • 3.3V • 64Meg x 72

256MB SDRAM, PC133 SDRAM, PC133 • CL=2 • Unbuffered • Non-parity • 7.5ns • 3.3V • 32Meg x 64

256MB SDRAM, PC133 SDRAM, PC133 • CL=2 • Unbuffered • ECC • 7.5ns • 3.3V • 32Meg x 72

128MB SDRAM, PC133 SDRAM, PC133 • CL=2 • Unbuffered • Non-parity • 7.5ns • 3.3V • 16Meg x 64

What's the Truth about Memory Manufacturers?

A lot of memory companies claim to be memory manufacturers even though they're just memory module assemblers. By putting two pre-manufactured memory parts together to build a memory module, they feel they've manufactured memory.

Truth is, there is only one company in America that actually manufactures the DRAM chips, the memory printed circuit board, and then assembles them into memory modules — Micron and its memory upgrade division, Crucial Technology.

Memory modules are made of two pieces — the DRAM semiconductor chips that store data and the printed circuit board (PCB) connecting the chips to the rest of the computer. There are only a handful of semiconductor manufacturers with the engineering expertise to make DRAM chips. They include Micron, Samsung, Hitachi, and Hyundai.

Micron has over 2,000 engineers and a 1.8 million-square-foot manufacturing facility with state- of-the-art clean rooms, memory testers, and exacting quality control. Crucial memory is recognized worldwide for its power and performance. Our memory is used by Apple, Gateway, HP, IBM, Micronpc and more — for good reason. Crucial offers over 95,000 upgrades for more than 19,000 different computers, notebooks, servers and printers. And we guarantee that the high-quality memory you buy is 100% compatible with your system or your money back.

Comparing DRAM...why not buy the cheapest?

For good reason. Not all memory is created equal.
There are many fast food chains that sell cheeseburgers. Even though it's just a cheeseburger everyone makes it a little differently.

Manufacturing DRAM is similar. An 8Mb x 8 chip from Micron or any other DRAM manufacturer will give you the same amount of memory, but each manufacturer's parts will have slight differences in some critical parameters. In other words, there are differences between "identical" DRAMs.

Still not convinced? Why do you think major PC manufacturers qualify DRAM suppliers rather than purchase generic memory modules? It's because memory plays a critical role in the overall performance of the systems they build.

Let's face it. It doesn't matter if you're using a computer to surf at home or to work in the Space Shuttle. You're not going to tolerate failures. Shouldn't you expect the same level of performance from your memory supplier?

So which memory supplier is right for you? To answer that question, there are two things to consider:

Who made the chips?
Who assembled the module?

Who really made my memory chips?

Tracing quality to the source.
Very few companies in the world actually make memory chips, but literally hundreds of companies sell memory modules.

Take a look at the markings on any chip in your computer. Each chip is covered with numbers. Believe it or not, all those little numbers mean something. They are used for traceability.

If you have a problem with a module and want to return it, one of the first things you will be asked is to read this information. By decoding these numbers, any of the more reputable chip manufacturers (not just DRAM manufacturers) can determine when the part was built, in which Fab, and they can often trace it back to the actual wafer the part came from. By building databases with this information, chip manufacturers are better able to pinpoint the cause of a problem, correct it, and make the next lot that much better.

In addition to the state-of-the-art wafer processing equipment used in DRAM manufacturing, part of what you pay for when purchasing top-tier memory is testing.

The most quality-conscious chip manufacturers, like Micron, will put every single chip through an extensive series of tests rather than just checking a sample of parts. They will test chips under normal operating conditions as well as under varying voltages, temperatures, and other "stressful" conditions.

Chips also go through a burn-in process at elevated temperatures to help identify any borderline parts. This process accelerates failure normally seen as "infant mortality." Chips that would fail early during actual usage will fail during burn-in. Chips that pass have a life expectancy much greater than that required for normal usage. Burn-in further helps to prevent failures from reaching you, the end user.

Top Tier and Generic Memory

How testing influences which name appears on your module.
Sure, testing is important. But does it really matter what will happen to your memory at 200° F when it's a comfortable 70° F in your house? Actually?it does.

Even though it's 70° F in your house, the chips inside your system get a lot hotter. One common cause is a spike in power that reaches your PC (a good reason to use a surge protector). Also, any normal computer use will cause the parts inside your PC to heat up. Basically, your computer may see conditions that are more extreme than what you see in front of the monitor. For this reason, major DRAM manufacturers use what's called guardbands in their testing.

It's a pretty simple concept really, kind of like insurance. A guardband helps to ensure that a chip will work properly, even under many abnormal operating conditions. For example, let's say a chip needs to meet a particular parameter between 10 and 20 to be acceptable. Rather than set the test to fail anything less than 10 or greater than 20, the test is set to fail anything less than 11 or greater than 19. Yes, more failures occur this way, but these additional failed parts are close enough to the limits to imply some sort of process variation. It's not worth the risk to the chip manufacturer to ship these parts to customers under their brand name.

Top Tier Memory
After going through this extensive series of tests, you can be confident that the passing parts will work for a long time.

Generic Memory
So what happens to the parts that failed testing? Some get thrown out, but many are re-tested and graded to lesser speeds and/or conditions (i.e. without guardbands). Others aren't even re-tested (even though they might not have gone through burn-in). Yes, these lower-grade modules will probably work today, but they're more prone to marginal performance and failures, especially over time. DRAM manufacturers often sell this memory to third party vendors who then re-label them with their own brand name. Third party vendors are often required to remove the original DRAM manufacturer's name from the chips. This memory is typically referred to as "generic memory."

Read this!

Symptoms of Bad Memory

How the quality of your module affects you.
So now you know the shortcuts some memory manufacturers will take to save money. Still, you're wondering, "How does this affect me?"

Unfortunately, substandard memory can affect you in more ways than you may realize. It can cause problems ranging from annoying error messages to a complete system crash. When these failures occur, critical data that's stored in memory is typically lost or overwritten. And it's not always obvious that memory is the cause of your problem.

Let's say you're building a system, you assemble it completely then turn on the power and nothing happens. You may not suspect the memory at first. Most people will double check all connections, maybe swap a power supply with a different machine and spend hours trying to solve the problem, when in fact it was a failure due to bad memory.

Or, your system may seem to work fine at first then mysteriously crashes later. Most of us have experienced a "blue screen" at one point in our computer lives and we all know how unreliable PCs can be. However, it's not always easy to tell what caused the blue screen. Was it a bad cell in the memory? Was it an intermittent failure in the memory? Was it something else?

Low-grade memory is also more prone to compatibility problems. For example, your computer might only recognize a portion of the memory, or even worse, it won't see the memory at all. Or maybe you upgrade your PC only to discover that the new generic module won't work with the existing memory, so you're stuck using just one module or the other.

Marginal memory is certainly not the only cause of computing problems. But it can contribute to them. Why do you think major memory manufacturers like Micron refuse to ship these lower grade parts? It's because they don't want their name on it.

UNLESS... you have the money to pay for Corsair, go Crucial! Tha's it.