Generic or Brand name RAM? Pls advise

[CyBOrz PaCe]

I searched the forum but did not really find a definitive answer.

I have two systems. An older PII 350 w/abit mb running 128 MB generic ram. The second is an AMDK7 750 on an abit KA-7 mb still only running 128MB of generic ram.

I have MemTurbo 2.0 running on both systems and it seems the free ram always hovers around 30 to 35 MB. I don't have too many tsr programs running and this is with only IE open.

If I open another program such as Corel Draw or even just Outlook Express it will take the ram right down to "alarm level" on MemTurbo which I have set at 15MB free. MemTurbo will run to "defrag" the ram but I still only free up 50 to 60 MB which quickly runs back down to 30 to 35MB.

I read alot in these forums about Muskin Ram and Other brand names. Will a switch to 128MB of good brand name ram help with my problems? or do I just need more ram in gerneral?

Is the Brand name enhanced ram such as Muskin really worth the extra cost?

Thanks for any input.

CyBOrz

 

[Souka]

What OS are you running?

The brand of RAM will NOT have any effect on "free ram" reported by MemTurbo. Period.

Far as "enhanced RAM"....well, I personally use the cheaper generic RAM modules...but I make sure the ns (nanosecond) and CAS are what I want...

But professionally, I go with major brands that my supplier can get...it's worth the extra %10-20 cost for greater reliabilty and longevity. Having a system go down, or have intermittent problems isn't worth the $20-50 savings per unit.

 

[urbantechie]

yea! What OS are you running? Memturbo is just a waste of space.

 

[CyBOrz PaCe]

I have Win98SE on both and the K7 sytem has a second HD and dual boots to Win 2000 server.

Is that the general concensus on MemTurbo? I have it on my system at work and I do alot of graphics work and scanning. Sometimes after a several scans, when attempting another scan, I get an out of memory message. If I run MemTurbo and defrag the ram, it clears the problem and I can scan again.

Back to the ram.

When is spending the extra for the ram I hear so much about like the Mushkin ram or others I hear about worth the money? Only under special situations?

I don't know too much about the settings in ram such as CAS2 or CAS3. Is there somewhere I can go to read about this?

Thanks for your help.

CyBOrz