Ar ewe going to see RAM prices drop in the near future at all. I want to get a stick of 512MB PC3500 Mushkin Lvl1 but it;s $150 on Newegg. I personally think thats a little much. Just my opinion 
RAM Prices
- Thread starter Corey0808
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RussianSensation
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- Sep 5, 2003
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If you want to run at 2-2-2-5 timings, you can just get Kingmax Hardcore from newegg for $100 a piece for 512mb. I am sure you can pick up 2-2-2-5 PC3200 ram for much cheaper than $150, and you dont have to match the previous stick you have.
also in your case it might be a good idea to sacrifice the timings, pick up Corsair Value for $160 for 1 gig of ram, and sell the 256 you have perhaps, then dump the rest into a new videocard.
also in your case it might be a good idea to sacrifice the timings, pick up Corsair Value for $160 for 1 gig of ram, and sell the 256 you have perhaps, then dump the rest into a new videocard.
Can you get PC3500 for much cheaper though?
Are there any disadvantages to not having the same brand of memory in your PC?
Are there any disadvantages to not having the same brand of memory in your PC?
RussianSensation
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KingMax Hardcore is actually PC4000.
Here is a review: based off Tiny BGA chips
I suppose if you combine Double sided vs single sided memory DIMMS then you could have reduced performance and by buying different brands, and not knowing which is double sided vs single sided, you could reduce your performance slightly. But in the real world, this is negligible. In fact even latency timings are not so important. In the times of high or rising memory prices, it is better to buy larger amount of RAM.
Realistically speaking, if you had 512mb of RAM already, I'd just get 9700Pro for $160 or so. Imagine spending $150 on ram, and not getting the performance advantage you were looking for. The problem is that you only have 256. That's why I think if you sell your 256 stick for say 40-50 since it's mushkin level 1 and pick up some cheap 1 gig of ram, you are set. It might be even better to pick up 256 alone for say $45 and plunk the rest into a new videocard. I can see your fear of buying another 256 since you'd probably want to reuse the ram in a new system build in the future and 256 sticks are dead end.
This is a tough call. If you dont game a lot, go for more ram instead of latency, especially now with high prices.
EDIT: To tell you the truth, I'd sell your stick of 256 and get this 1 gig right here : Geil PC3200 Value for $139
You can be sure that 1 gig of 2.5-3-3-7 will outperform 512 or 768 mb of ram at 2-2-2-5 any day.
Actually I'm in the market for a new video card right now. But I'm gonna worry about that after Xmas (Going to get a 6600GT)... so you are saying sell my 2x256 sticks of mushkin and get cheap but a gig of PC3500... Is there anyway to measure the performance difference of the slightly higher timings before buying? Thanks!
Also is there a noticable difference between 512MB and 1GB of RAM? Thanks!
Also is there a noticable difference between 512MB and 1GB of RAM? Thanks!
Anubis
No Lifer
I was just reading an Anandtech article comparing amount of RAM in performance of doom3 and there was virtually no change from 512MB to 1GB. Do people notice a significant enough difference in load times and response time of the PC to warrant the purchase of another 512MB of RAM? Thanks!
Hey, I got some sh!t ram for $3.99 at Fry's today! I say it's sh!t because this has got to be the bottom of the barrel memory. It's PC2700 CAS 2.5, but I haven't tested it out yet. Hopefully it will run.
Let me know! This is what I was thinking of adding to my current setup of Mushking RAM,
Kingmax 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3500 - OEM
What do you guys think?
Kingmax 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3500 - OEM
What do you guys think?
Anubis
No Lifer
Anubis
No Lifer
Anubis
No Lifer
I was just reading some customer reviews on Newegg and quite a few people were having trouble getting the memory to operate at specs. Anybody here had any trouble with this RAM? Thanks!
I find that faster timings are seldom worth the extra dollars. Will you see a difference between a $180 GB of 2.5-4-4-8 RAM and a $350 GB of 2-2-2-4 RAM? Yeah, but I doubt it'll be worth double dollars.
RussianSensation
Elite Member
- Sep 5, 2003
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Listen, if you honestly want to balance timings and prices, just get this then:
Kingston 1GB PC3200 400MHz 2-64x64 HyperX DDR Memory - $170
333MHz (PC2700) 2-2-2-5-1 (CAS Latency 2)
370MHz (PC3000) 2-2-2-6-1 (CAS Latency 2)
400MHz (PC3200) 2-3-2-6-1 (CAS Latency 2)
434MHz (PC3500) 2-3-3-7-1 (CAS Latency 2)
466MHz (PC3700) 3-4-4-8-1 (CAS Latency 3)
500MHz (PC4000) 3-4-4-8-1 (CAS Latency 3)
Like i said before I'd go for cheap 1 gig but if you feel like timings are somewhat important, and you don't want to pay an arm and a leg, this is pretty much as good as it gets.
Sell the old stick to finance this purchase. So if you sell the old stick for say $50, this upgrade will only cost you $120.
Finally, if you dont want the hassle of selling your old stick. You can always pick up an extra 256 + 512mb of ram, which together with your old ram will give you 1 gig.
Obviously ram is going to provide MUCH less benefit after first 512mb compared to a videocard upgrade in the latest games. So depending on how much you want to spend:
1) keep the old stick, pick up an extra stick of 256 now for a total of 512, and 512 later
2) sell 256 you have and get 512 now and 512 later
3) sell 256 and get 2x512 now.
4) keep the old stick, pick up extra 256 + 512 for a total of 1 gig now
Kingston 1GB PC3200 400MHz 2-64x64 HyperX DDR Memory - $170
333MHz (PC2700) 2-2-2-5-1 (CAS Latency 2)
370MHz (PC3000) 2-2-2-6-1 (CAS Latency 2)
400MHz (PC3200) 2-3-2-6-1 (CAS Latency 2)
434MHz (PC3500) 2-3-3-7-1 (CAS Latency 2)
466MHz (PC3700) 3-4-4-8-1 (CAS Latency 3)
500MHz (PC4000) 3-4-4-8-1 (CAS Latency 3)
Like i said before I'd go for cheap 1 gig but if you feel like timings are somewhat important, and you don't want to pay an arm and a leg, this is pretty much as good as it gets.
Sell the old stick to finance this purchase. So if you sell the old stick for say $50, this upgrade will only cost you $120.
Finally, if you dont want the hassle of selling your old stick. You can always pick up an extra 256 + 512mb of ram, which together with your old ram will give you 1 gig.
Obviously ram is going to provide MUCH less benefit after first 512mb compared to a videocard upgrade in the latest games. So depending on how much you want to spend:
1) keep the old stick, pick up an extra stick of 256 now for a total of 512, and 512 later
2) sell 256 you have and get 512 now and 512 later
3) sell 256 and get 2x512 now.
4) keep the old stick, pick up extra 256 + 512 for a total of 1 gig now
i recently had to RMA a stick of 512mb kingmax ddr500 hardcore. i'm pissed cos that means my pc is down for 2 wks. i was able to use it at 250mhz, but it was never stable on prime95. in the end, it would even crap out immediately at 200mhz. and at the very end, it wouldnt even boot.
msi's d-bracket said that the bootup hung when it tried to init/test the memory. so i promptly rma'd it.
thats my experience ... i know my bro has no issues with the same ram for the last 2-3mths.
msi's d-bracket said that the bootup hung when it tried to init/test the memory. so i promptly rma'd it.
thats my experience ... i know my bro has no issues with the same ram for the last 2-3mths.
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