Basic memory questions

[NuclearNed]

I'm looking to upgrade my system, but I'm not sure what type of memory I already have in the system. My guess is that I have pc100; I'm not sure if it is ECC. I would like to buy 256mb of pc133 and mix it with whatever I already have. Here are some basic memory questions I have:

1. How important is it to get ECC memory? How do I tell if my current memory is ECC? Can you mix ECC and non-ECC?

2. Is generic memory total crap? What are some good non-generic companies?

3. <keep in mind I don't know what I'm talking about> I noticed that a lot of manufacturers list the speed of the DIMMs in nanoseconds. What speed should I be looking for?

4. Where can you get the best prices?

5. Is there any advantage to getting 1 256mb strip, or 2 128's?

Thanks in advance,
Ned

 

[aUt0eXebat]

well you dont really need ECC unless your running a server.
generic stuff isnt always the best, go for more of a name brand, like mushkin. Be carefull mixing ram, they can cause BSOD, atleast they did for me. also try pricewatch.com for good prices.
im not quit sure what the advantage is from 2 128s to 1 256, just that you will be saving one slot, and probably saving the extra time for the cpu or whatever accessing the memory to hop over ot the next stick of ram?

 

[AndyHui]

1. What is ECC SDRAM? Should I buy this instead of normal SDRAM? ECC SDRAM has an odd number of chips on each side of the DIMM.

2. Generic Memory is not total crap, but for peace of mind, you should buy Mushkin or Crucial.

3. PC133 is rated at 7.5ns. You should be looking for this figure, or lower....ie 7.5ns, 7ns, etc...

4. Check PriceWatch

5. No real advantage....1 256MB DIMM uses only 1 DIMM slot....but when it goes bad, you lose the whole 256MB.

 

[thorin]

&quot;No real advantage....1 256MB DIMM uses only 1 DIMM slot....but when it goes bad, you lose the whole 256MB. &quot;

I don't think I've ever seen RAM go bad. I have had RAM arrive bad but unless you do something dumb/silly to it then it should never go bad like a HD might.

Also to the question, there ie no real advantage to 1 256 vs 2 128, only space savings and perhaps a little cost savings ($3 or 4). Some people claim that a single 256 provides better performance but I have never seen actual numbers to back this up.

Thorin

 

[NuclearNed]

Thanks, guys. Looks like I'll be buying some Crucial memory.

 

[serialb]

Would be nice if you will buy from the link in my sig, help out Team AnandTech Distributed computing.

 

[NelsonMuntz]

I would advise getting a 256 Mb stick of the non-ECC Crucial memory. As regards to mixing. I have a 128 MB PC100 generic stick and 128 MB PC133 Centon stick in the same computer right now running at 100 MHz FSB with no problems at all. I can't overclock it as much with the generic 100 MHz stick in, but since it is running at stock FSB, there is no problem.