Fibbles
15th May 2005, 13:52
Since I plan to keep my current computer for as long as possible, I've decided to buy a whole 2 gigs of RAM (and because I just want to). I currently have 1GB of Mushkin LVL1 PC3500/DDR433 and, although I bought it for some light OC'ing, I didn't really bother with it.
With little possibility of OC'ing, I've narrowed down my choices to a few brands with low latencies (except one). All RAM is running @ DDR400
1st up is a 2-3-3-6 1GB stick from Corsair, available with either black or silver heatspreaders. This is my #1 choice @ $139 per stick. The only downside, and it is a slight downside, is that the specs claim it runs @ 2.5-3-3-6 with an AMD system.
The second runner up is from a brand called PDP/Patriot systems. I've noticed their ultra low latency series and red heatspreaders when browsing Newegg. Although I have never used them, quite a few friends reccomended them. The stick I'm looking at is 2-3-2-5 @ $126 per stick (at Monarch, $148 @ Newegg). The specs claim it works with and has been tested with my chipset (nForce 3 250). Most reports claim this particular series uses Samsung TCCD chips.
My last choice is value RAM from Geil. It runs 3-4-4-8 @ 200, but is $80 per stick. The only reason I'm even considering it is for the price, I could buy both sticks at once, and not one a month like I'll need to do with the other 2. The latencies are rather high, considering that most of my RAM has never been over 3-3-3-6 before (I even bought 2 256mb sticks of LVL2 PC133 Mushkin a long time ago, when 256 was almost overkill).
I'm the sort of person that usually only buys certain brands (Corsair, Crucial, Infineon, Micron, Mushkin) and would keep it that way (with the Corsair stick), but the Patriot stuff is really appealing, especially since it's lower latency at $13 less than the Corsair. Does anyone have experience with the company? They all have lifetime warranties, so I doubt there's really much of a difference between brands with respect to support (I've never returned RAM before though). Just recently I jumped off my favorite mobo maker bandwagon (Abit and Asus) for a Soltek board and it was very worth it.
With little possibility of OC'ing, I've narrowed down my choices to a few brands with low latencies (except one). All RAM is running @ DDR400
1st up is a 2-3-3-6 1GB stick from Corsair, available with either black or silver heatspreaders. This is my #1 choice @ $139 per stick. The only downside, and it is a slight downside, is that the specs claim it runs @ 2.5-3-3-6 with an AMD system.
The second runner up is from a brand called PDP/Patriot systems. I've noticed their ultra low latency series and red heatspreaders when browsing Newegg. Although I have never used them, quite a few friends reccomended them. The stick I'm looking at is 2-3-2-5 @ $126 per stick (at Monarch, $148 @ Newegg). The specs claim it works with and has been tested with my chipset (nForce 3 250). Most reports claim this particular series uses Samsung TCCD chips.
My last choice is value RAM from Geil. It runs 3-4-4-8 @ 200, but is $80 per stick. The only reason I'm even considering it is for the price, I could buy both sticks at once, and not one a month like I'll need to do with the other 2. The latencies are rather high, considering that most of my RAM has never been over 3-3-3-6 before (I even bought 2 256mb sticks of LVL2 PC133 Mushkin a long time ago, when 256 was almost overkill).
I'm the sort of person that usually only buys certain brands (Corsair, Crucial, Infineon, Micron, Mushkin) and would keep it that way (with the Corsair stick), but the Patriot stuff is really appealing, especially since it's lower latency at $13 less than the Corsair. Does anyone have experience with the company? They all have lifetime warranties, so I doubt there's really much of a difference between brands with respect to support (I've never returned RAM before though). Just recently I jumped off my favorite mobo maker bandwagon (Abit and Asus) for a Soltek board and it was very worth it.