Crucial Price Drop On 256Mb Chips

[Davegod75]

wow..just got me some for $142

 

[AU Tiger]

And I thought my hot deal addiction was broken... Thanks for the post. I am sure I will enjoy running at 512MB. At least until the wife kills me.

 

[In_Ur_Face]

ordered more! this is insane!!!!!!

 

[vroom1018]

hi...my stepdad is building me a computer and i need to get some memory. i have a MSI K7T Pro2a mb and 800 amd duron. Is there any andvantage to get the 256 with the ECC for $135? I thought my stepdad said this mb supports it, but he didn't say i sould get it and he didn't seem to know much about it (i know it's called error correction or something...but not sure what good it is really). I'm not a gamer, but do lots of music stuff on the computer. Would i be just as well-off getting the 256 that's listed for $127? I don't think the cl 2 is important to me..thanks, vroom

 

[mulder]

My ram will be installed in a dual cpu setup for my home. I know in the past that it has been said not to spend the extra money for the ECC ram. However, in this case do I need to go for the ECC or not. I already ordered the regular CAS2 last night, but I can change the order to ECC if you think it's better suited for the dual processor computer. Thank you.

 

[Phil21]

go for the normal RAM, no need to throw money at ECC, unless your doing somethings that are extremely, extremely, mission critical. The idea was that back in the day, ECC RAM would lock the computer up if it detected an error, say a bit changed around. It's a nice idea for banks and such, as I'd have to have my 9 turn into a zero.. But, RAM has gotten so much more reliable, and I run servers. Both dual processor and single, and have never used ECC. No problems that I know of!

-Phil

 

[elSmoko]

ECC is used primarily in server configs were reliabilty is a larger concern then a little bit more speed. For the average user, don't worry about getting it. Cas 2 is 5 to 10% faster than cas3, so I'd say its worth the premium. Now I just have to debate whether I should sell the old computer so I can afford 512 megs of this junk to put in the new kt7a hahahaha.

- ElSmoko

 

[mulder]

Well, I went ahead and changed mine to the ECC CAS2 anyway. This is going on my dual machine which needs to be reliable. I understand for a normal machine and maybe even servers, that ECC may not be needed, but I would rather be safe than sorry. Besides at CAS2 and 512MB, the 1-2% drop in speed really isn't going to be noticed.

BTW, I just got off the phone with the Crucial Customer Service and they changed the order with no problem. In fact, the lady was one of the nicest customer reps I have ever talked to. Thanks again for the deal.

 

[Spuffin]

I always heard that windows9x didn't really utilize any more memory than 128MB. Anyone know differently?

 

[WiKKed]

Windows uses what ever you can give it.... Its actually quite a hog. I had 512 on my windows machine a few years ago, and yes .. it ran faster..

 

[randomlinh]

so damn tempting.. aaaahhhH!!!! i have no money to spend on computer crap!!!! I need a job...

 

[Tacoma99]

Can't afford to buy the Crucial deal right now. But I did find the Kingston Value Ram : 128MB 16MX64 PC133 SDRAM 133Mhz Non ECC DIMM CL3 for $69.95 with a $20 MIR with free overnight shipping at Outpost.com. Got one of these back in Nov. under a different promo. offer and now their doing another one that is good till 1/31.

 

[maxcom]

Theunixguru, that's basically what I did. Crucial is a good company imho

 

[Wangel]

Just ordered me two sticks of the 256MB CL 2. I'll be putting this into the Epox 7KXA+ motherboard w/Athlon 950 I got from Tiger Direct.

 

[spycatcher old]

All the benchmarking I've seen shows a leveling off of performance gains once you reach 256MB in Win98/2000. Even with serious gaming and Photoshop.

Running a server would benefit from more though

 

[cepler]

You're going to see more and more RAM price drops now that DDR is on
it's way into the market.. Perpetual upgrades, WEEE!

 

[elSmoko]

Uhm, I'd assume that video editing on the pc will just love this much ram. I do it on a g4 right now but i'm tired of that piece of junk so I'm building a pc box on the cheap for it.

- ElSmoko

 

[mrEvil]

Cheap RAM does not compare. I had some in my KT7-Raid and saw about a 30% increase in the Sisoft test when I was able to max out everything with my Crucial 256MB PC133 Cas2 RAM. Minor increase, I don't think so, at least not in memory bandwidth.
If you want the best performance, buy the best RAM. I'm not saying that Crucial is any better than Memory Man (I have some) or Mushkin. I have some Memory Man PC100 Cas2 stuff that rocks also, but it won't do the PC133 @ CAS2 for me - thus it's relegated to my BX board.
Heck, I just might have to get another stick of this stuff at this price. I think my wife will smack me, but I still might have to do it.

 

[Str8UpKiller]

BAH this sucks... they charge Washinton state sales tax!!! I thought they were based in CA?

 

[Str8UpKiller]

N/m... Idaho. Right next door dammit. I'm not paying $157.00 for 256 cas 2. $130's was ok

 

[Kikaider01]

Wow! Thanks for the tip! Got 2 sticks of 256MB for my Abit KT7.

 

[Wangel]

There are ways around the sales tax at crucial. Sales tax is charged when they ship to one of their listed states. As for me, I live in Kansas and am having it shipped to Missouri. No tax in Missouri! Home of John Ashcroft!

Find a state that you have a friend in and have them mail it to you for a few dollars. Still cheaper than sales tax, and you also have the benefit of knowing that you are not helping the government!

 

[HKS]

Hey... does more than 256Mb ram make a difference in Win ME?

 

[Str8UpKiller]

Some guy in another thread said there was a 20% increase in performance going from 128 to 256 and only a 7% increase from 256 to 512. This was in win 9x systems. I think I've read that you kinda plateu out at 256

 

[Wangel]

Crucial has a great FAQ section which discusses your memory requirement. Basically, if you are not a power user, and use your computer for word processing, a few small games, and internet, then 64 to 128 would be fine. If you use Windows 2000, better jump to 256. If you multi task many programs while trying to play Quake in the background, better get 512. If you are into CAD programs, better get 1024 or more.

Basically if you don't have enough memory, your swap file will get more attention. We all know how slow a hard drive runs!