Which 'ram' memory is best.......

isayoldchap

I have a Dimension 8300 800mhz,Intel 875P Chipset.Currently this has 2x256mb of Ram installed by Dell.
My questions are
1.Who's best,Crucial,Kingston or Corsair?
2.Will this particular system run properly if I mix brands and use different mb's?Will it run better with just a higher standalone say of 1mb using just one bank?
3.Corsair have the Value Select and Xtreme.Is paying the extra worth it?

I do play games and do some surfing,photos etc and will be looking to reach
1GB.

I have looked at the forum at https://www.houseofhelp.com but have as yet to post to them ,but I have read a couple of problems with this system using Corsair
especially with the type of games graphics a system has which seems to be
a deciding factor as to whether the Corsair does the job or not.I am using
NVIDIA Ge force FX 5200.

I have the system scanner report from Crucial.Also done a price search from them and the usual shopbot including visiting ebuyer ,ebayetc.Some other websiteswill be useful if you could post for reviews and purchasing.

Your responses will be very much appreciated.

penrhyn

Never had any problems with Crucial, run the wizard and follow their advise.

greyster

Haven't got time to look at each stick of RAM here but the manufactuers you mention are ALL good. Get the cheapest one unless one of them offers lifetime guarantee. If your RAM stick dies (happened to me a couple of times) its nice to get a free replacement.

You got to weigh up two things here, MHz (higher the better) and CL (lower the better).

MHZ is speed of ram and CL is number of clock cycles it takes the memory to respond to an operation request.

The value ram will probably have same speeds but higher CL. I wouldn't worry about this, in gaming terms its going to at the very most decrease your FPS by a frame or two.

Short answer - get the cheapest one of the manufactuers you mentioned above BUT if you buy multiple sticks (today or in the future for your PC), stick to the same model and brand. You really don't want to mix and match RAM.

greyster

oh and all the RAM i bought has come from ebuyer and komplett. Komplett likes to kick !!!!!! sometimes in RAM prices but not much else.

spurs1234

As a Rule Corsair are the best and always have been just for pure quality and reliabilty how ever this does come at a price dont go Cheap you get what you pay for !

regards ...

rsykes2000

All 3 manufacturers are much of a muchness. I have bought memory from all 3 in the past, I currently buy Corsair Value for work as it A: works and B: is cheap. Never had any RAM die, perhaps I have been lucky, but I look after a 350 PC department and am regularly upgrading / buying new so would probably have noticed if one were noticably worse than the rest.
If you aren't overclocking, the Corsair value will do you just fine, there is absolutely no need to spend the premium on the 'better' stuff.

MercilessKiller

I agree/disagree with Spurs.

Crucial ram that comes cheap (such as their DDR 512mb 3200) is actually pretty alright ram. For you're every day needs, internet, office applications, email, simple games, music then it does exactly what you need without a higher price.

If you are looking for something more demanding, then yes you need to go higher. For new games or multimedia applciations such as video editing you'd be looking at Corsair ram, minimum a gig.. top speed.. and then of course, if you're VERY serious, then getting dual ram! Maybe you're doing video editing while browsing the net and need 2 channels of ram, split between 2 application so its nice and equal? As long as you're motherboard supports it this is a good option. Has increased speed of multi tasking very well in deed for me, and goes well with Hyperthreading or dual core processors

At the end of the day.. for a home pc.. Crucial ram will do you fine. Just don't go with the lowest speed and you'll be fine. Price's vary a LOT, though with Ram, the only difference is the 3 speeds.

T4i

I got myself Kingston anfter using quite afew Corsair modules. Something I look at when buying new RAM is the warranty.

I've only ever had one stick of Kingston fail and it was replaced with brand new within 2 weeks for free.

Toxteth_OGrady

OCZ like this.

:cool:

TOG

mr_fishbulb

Whenever I buy RAM I go for Crucial - never had a problem with it.

The extreme versions are probably ones which will withstand a little overclocking - some come with heatspreaders, but you will probably not be doing any of that.

You can normally find Crucial RAM cheaper on ebuyer or overclockers.co.uk

-=Mr-J=-

When I built my machine, I used a 1 gig VS Corsair Stick and never had any problems. Later upgraded with another same 1 gig stick. No problems.

When I built my parents machine, same spec, I used Crucial (based on lower price) - again no problems since build.

Whilst there appears to be no difference, and the builds went well, I would point out that one of my deciding factors for using Corsair was for the support. You just cannot fault the Ram Guy Forums at Corsair in this respect.