Hello, I'm another newbie (long post, also need advice as well)

[DarcMetal]

Hello, I am new to these boards. I've been reading these boards for about 4 months now, and I finally decided to actually join. I normally don't join forums, mainly because there is too much bashing on them, but this and one other forum (wrestling) is all I post on nowadays. OK, enough about that, to the point.

(Please excuse me as this may be long)

I know just enough about computers to get by in life, and a little more. I'm not an expert on them, and I'm always willing to learn more. I have bought computers from stores a couple of times, and even had a custom computer made for me (whole other story). About 6 months ago, I bought an eMachines computer. Here are the specs if anyone is interested:

eMachines model T3065:
Athlon XP 3000+
Stock Samsung 512MB DDR333
Stock WD 160GB 7200rpm
Stock Samsung DVD-Rom
Stock Samsung CD-RW
Stock Card Reader

I have added things on and off, and I figured to myself, "I might have to buy a whole new computer in less than a year." Since I took apart my original custom computer to sell off the parts, I decided to put one together myself saving as much money as I can, using the same case I got over 2 1/2 years ago.

So, I went to Newegg.com and bought some stuff from there. I only spent under $400, and got a great system. Specs if anyone is interested:

Gigabyte GA-K8NS
Athlon 64 3000+ Socket 754
Same Samsung memory from other computer + 512MB DDR333 Kingston ValueRAM
80GB Maxtor 7200rpm Drive (already owned)
20GB Maxtor 5400rpm(?) Drive (already owned)
TDK VeloCD 40X CD-RW (already owned)
TDK IndiDVD Model 420N DVD+RW (already owned)
3 1/2" floppy (already owned)
Generic Card Reader
Chaintech AV-710 Sound Card
PowerColor ATI Radeon 9250

For a first custom build, I think I got some great components for someone who is mainly doing music production on it, as well as some video editing for home DVD's and experement productions. No, I am not a huge gamer. The games I mostly play are on consoles. The only game I have on PC right now is SimCity 3000.

So, when I got them in, I put them together really quickly. I knew exactly where to put everything, and put it together in less than an hour. I was thinking it was gonna take me longer. Although, the installation of all my programs and stuff DID take me about 4 or 5 hours (I have a lot of programs and files). But all in all, it was worth it. Works like a charm, nothing wrong with it.

OK, I hope I didn't bore you guys with the history of my computer (by the way I named it "Ultrima 630 XMC"), but I DO have a question to ask:

What brand of memory is the best to use?
I'm looking for something that is not more than DDR333, and also good on my budget. I'm going for either a stick of 256MB or 512MB. I'm getting it to 1.3 - 1.5GB of total memory.

Thanks for reading.

 

[ts3433]

Corsair, Crucial, Mushkin, etc are generally regarded as the best brands. You really should pair DDR400 (PC3200) memory with an A64 though for maximum performance at stock. It's usually about a buck or two more for value CL2.5 stuff.

(Oh right.... certain S754 boards are picky about what kind of memory goes in them--they'll accept some brands and reject others. Before you make a memory purchase, go to Gigabyte's website and see if they have a list of memory tested in that board to make sure it works. The brands I listed should have few, if any, problems, but it's still a good idea to check.)

 

[Anubis]

agree with TS3433

i use crucial myself, the price is always fair, they always seem to have it in stock and their LIFETIME warrenty is great, i had a 512 meg stick die about 6 months ago, called them up gave them the number off the ram and they got me a RMA number in less then 20min, shipped it off and had the replacement in less then a week - and that is just amazing

 

[Sonic587]

Originally posted by: ts3433
Corsair, Crucial, Mushkin, etc are generally regarded as the best brands. You really should pair DDR400 (PC3200) memory with an A64 though for maximum performance at stock. It's usually about a buck or two more for value CL2.5 stuff.

Definitely agree on those brands. :thumbsup:

And yes, spring for the DDR400 memory. There is no reason not to get it. In most instances it's the same price or cheaper than DDR333 memory.

EDIT: Welcome to AT!

 

[DarcMetal]

I didn't seem to find any info on the Gigabyte website. I did also look in the manual, but no info about any particular brands.

I was thinking of going with Corsair or Kingston anyway, but I wanted to be totally sure if it was a good brand to use (reliability, efficiency, etc.).