KingMax Ram, Good/Bad - General RAM Opinions

[ToXiCRaGE]

Hi,
I am in the in the process of buying new ram for my computer. I found the KingMax 256MB PC2700 SuperRam CAS 2.5 (Red Edition) and would like for it to run on my computer for a long time without any problems. The reason I have chosen this ram is because of the price... when it comes to KingMax's reputation and reliability, I am not sure about that and I need your help.

I am actually buying (want to) 2 sticks for my K7S5A. The reason I want to get better ram is so that I do not have to upgrade it anytime soon in the future when I buy a new mobo.

I would like to listen to your guys' recommendations about this ram and other brands.
Thanks.

 

[jacktesterson]

Kingston, Mushkin, Corsair, OCZ....I try to stick to those four

Buffalo seems to be being praised by some though.

 

[Cerb]

Nice stuff, but not your overclocker's RAM.

 

[ToXiCRaGE]

What if you compare KingMax to Samsung..........both ok companies but which one would be better of the 2?

 

[Lyfer]

Get some crucial if you need to run stock.

 

[Actaeon]

I used to run some of that stuff. PC3200 256mb... ran fine @ 182 FSB, wouldn't know the max speed of the stuff, my cpu couldn't go any higher.

Runs just fine. I would try and get some other brand memorys though.

 

[Corporate Thug]

i got some kingmax pc3200, it couldnt run at 200 mhz

 

[ToXiCRaGE]

The thing that attracts me to this ram is really just the price. The stick are guaranteed for life and quaranteed to OC. The thing that gets me though is that if that ram is so good (or just good) why is it so inexpensive. Could it be that KingMax is trying to get some attention and attract some people to try their (good) products?

 

[apac]

Trust me inexpensive != good. I opted to buy a Chaintech gf4 Ti4200 instead of a Gainward and I ended up RMAing it twice and a refund on the 3rd broken one.

Don't pinch pennies when it comes to crucial stuff like memory (no pun intended).

 

[Sheriff]

The SDRAM Tiny BGA's PC150 worked like a dream for me back when.

 

[ToXiCRaGE]

Don't pinch pennies when it comes to crucial stuff like memory (no pun intended).

So Crucial is also a medioker memory? I was thinking of getting some DDR400 Crucial
What would be the top 3 pics for memory then

Kingston
Mushkin
Corsair (???) any others?

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: ToXiCRaGE

Don't pinch pennies when it comes to crucial stuff like memory (no pun intended).

So Crucial is also a medioker memory? I was thinking of getting some DDR400 Crucial
What would be the top 3 pics for memory then

Kingston
Mushkin
Corsair (???) any others?

That was a bad pun. Crucial is good stuff, it has just lost its overclocker's crown of glory.
Also, I'd gte Centon again, myself. My year-old PC2100 256MB stick runs 166MHZ @ 2-2-2-7-1T all day long.

Edit: 2-5-5-7-1T was a number pad fat-fingering error.

 

[ToXiCRaGE]

I am not that much for O/Cing. I just want ram that runs solid stable. Not like the micron I have which one day decides to freeze my comp for no reason. See, in this case, lifetime warranty would come handy because I would just take this "broken" stick of ram back and hopefully get a new one.

Buttom line for me is quality of silicon and reliability. Lifetime warranty is nice too. If it o/c well or not, that is not my priority.

PS: I am not a big ram expert, but can someone explain to me briefly the whole CAS 2.5, 3 etc? eg CL 2-2-2, CL 2-3-3

 

[Actaeon]

The memory is fine. I bought the stuff when I was on a budget, and it ran well for 8 months before I sold it.

If you have the money, go for something else with a bigger brand name. If you are on a budget, the Kingmax stuff works fine.

 

[ToXiCRaGE]

Can someone explein the diff between these 2 ram sticks from OCZ. I am interested in getting one or the other, but do not know the benefits.

http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/OCZ+DDR+PC-3200+Premier

and

http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/OCZ+DDR+PC-3200+Rev+2

I am interested especially in the timings:
CL 2.5-3-3-7T
and
CL 2-3-3 2T

could someone translate this into english for me plz? to me both sticks have the same amount of memory and they work at the same speed - 400mhz. What is this timing for then? Sorry to be a pain, but legit answears and/or links would be greatly appreciated.

 

[modestninja]

Those timings are the latencies. In general, higher latencies mean slower performance. They are basically how many clock cycles it takes the RAM to respond to certain things. So lower number = faster (although usually raising speed can offset raising the latencies.) If you want a good explanation of what each of those (TRAS, CAS, etc...) mean technically you'll need to get someone else to explain those (although if I remember correctly Mushkin had a good article about timings on their site.)

 

[ToXiCRaGE]

I found a simple explenation to my question;

CAS Latency
"CAS" is short for "Column Address Strobe". CAS (CL2, CL2.5 and CL3) refers to latency, or the amount of time it takes for the memory to respond to a command. Latency is measured in terms of clock cycles, therefore CL2 modules complete the initial data access one cycle faster than CL3 modules.

I guess there should not be that much of a difference regarding time response (really not notable by humans) between the 2 OCZ rams above. I mean 2 or 2.5 - small fraction. (I'm assuming the time is messured in 1/1000s).

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: ToXiCRaGE
The thing that attracts me to this ram is really just the price. The stick are guaranteed for life and quaranteed to OC. The thing that gets me though is that if that ram is so good (or just good) why is it so inexpensive. Could it be that KingMax is trying to get some attention and attract some people to try their (good) products?

just look at buffalo. $89 for 512 stick of pc3200 w/ winbond modules

 

[Kavau]

Originally posted by: modestninja
Those timings are the latencies. In general, higher latencies mean slower performance. They are basically how many clock cycles it takes the RAM to respond to certain things. So lower number = faster (although usually raising speed can offset raising the latencies.) If you want a good explanation of what each of those (TRAS, CAS, etc...) mean technically you'll need to get someone else to explain those (although if I remember correctly Mushkin had a good article about timings on their site.)

How much of a difference do those latencies really make for the end-user? Let's say I'm running a Pentium 4C at 2.4 MHz on a 800MHz board. How much faster, percentage-wise, would the system typically run with CAS2 ram, than with CAS3 ram? How much do the other latency numbers matter?