RAM questions

[FunkyMoron]

Hey, I haven't been really looking into RAM since I built my computer back in the day of SD-RAM, and am now confused with all the choices of DDR. I'm reading about all this DDR333 or DDR2700 and what not, and have no idea what is going on. Quite frankly, I'm planning on getting an Asus P4PE mobo, and want to know what kind of RAM I should buy. I'm not going to be overclocking or anything, but something high performance would be nice cause of the modelling/animation. Should I go with what crucial.com tells me (PC2700) or buy some random Corsair stick? Thx for any help...

 

[lssanjose]

DDR 333 and 2700 (I think) are the same. But if anything , I don't think it would hurt because you can run more aggressive timings. Samsung and Crucial are good brands along w/ kingston and Mushkin

 

[Ilmater]

The best RAM is IMHO:

Samsung (on authentic Samsung PCB)
Crucial
Corsair
Mushkin
Kingston
Geil
OCZ
TwinMOS (I really don't know about them)

I'd get any PC2700 (yes, it's the same thing as DDR333) from any of the top 5 or 6 companies. Personally, as long as it isn't Generic RAM, I have no problem buying it. I just got two sticks of Geil's 256MB PC3500 Ultra Platinum. They're great, and they're extremely cheap for the speeds they run at. Be very careful with Samsung because since many resellers know that Samsung has such a great reputation, they'll advertise RAM as being "genuine" Samsung, when actually, it's only Samsung chips on a generic PCB, and that's no better than any other generic stick of RAM. Most of the time, there isn't a problem with putting x RAM into y motherboard, but every once in awhile, there are irreconcilable differences (sounds like a divorce, don't it?) that prevent x RAM from working in y motherboard. I've never had this happen and don't know anyone that this has happened to, I just know that it's a ridiculously small possibility. That's why the REALLY good manufacturers (a.k.a. Crucial and Corsair) post compatibility charts on their websites. It lists what modules have been tested with different motherboards and verifies that they work together. For Crucial, just go to the left side of their main site here to get their list of approved boards, and for Corsair, go to their compatibility lab here.