Rant: Why is RDRAM so much more expensive?

[pyonir]

So I bought a Dell Dimension 8100 last June. didn't really know all that much about memory or anything (the last PC i owned was a 286 and i had a Mac for like 5 years). Why the HELL does Dell make these PC's with RDRAM instead of SDRAM?? RD is harder to find at a decent price, and that REALLY pisses me off. stoopid Intel....stoopid me for not getting a PC with SD. :|

EDIT: so i changed it from stoopid Dell to stoopid Intel.

 

[bcterps]

Because RDRAM is a lot better than SDRAM. For all the gripes people have about Rambus and RDRAM, it is your best choice for a P4 machine, especially since DDR is not the bargain it once was. You dont want your P4 running SDRAM, it would be a waste.

--Ben

 

[punkrawket]

they're in a conspiracy with Intel to charge outrageous prices for hardware

 

[DanJ]

Well you clearly have a Pentium 4 so its not stooopid Dell...its that you should have done more research. Dell doesn't make the chipsets don't you know.

 

[pyonir]

so if it is better are more PC's going to have RD? cause Crucial doesn't even carry RD...from the Crucial site:


<< At Crucial Technology we work hard to provide high quality, low-cost memory solutions. Crucial makes every effort to stay at the forefront of the memory industry while providing our customers with what they want and need. We do not currently offer Rambus upgrades because a relatively small number of our customers have expressed interest in it, and we believe that long-term demand for Rambus product will not be great enough for us to maintain the low-cost pricing our customers have come to expect >>

 

[ToBeMe]

Your "rant" is kind of meaningless...............RD HAS come down to less than half of what it was a year ago and some of it is nearly in line with DDR at this time! If you think RAM prices are high now..........you should've had to buy it when it was about a dollar a mb!:Q RD will probably stay about where it is now, with a few bucks per stick increase when PC1066 hits the market later this Spring (according to Ingram Micro)...........

Easiest way to solve this dilema........don't buy systems with RD if you don't like the price, but, like I said, you'll pay nearly as much for the same amount of mb's but RD has to be purchased in pairs!

 

[Electrode]

My theory:

1. It's patented
2. It requires heat spreaders

 

[dullard]

1) For memory intensive programs, a P4 with RDRAM is about 30% faster than an equivalent P4 with SDRAM. For email and web-browsing they are the same speed, but who needs a fast computer for email?
2) Last June there weren't any P4 computers with SDRAM.
3) Dell no longer sells its Dimension P4 computers with SDRAM since it is so slow. I didn't bother to check if it sold any Optiplex P4 with SDRAM.
4) Suppose you wanted to buy 512 MB of PC800 RDRAM: it would cost you $138. If you wanted to buy 512 MB of PC100 SDRAM: it would cost you $70. Thus if you spend $68 more you get a 30% speed boost in many programs.
5) Micron and Rambus are in legal battles. Micron owns Crucial. That is why Crucial won't sell RDRAM. Projections of next years memory sales show that RDRAM will surpass SDRAM, yet Crucial sells SDRAM then cites lack of demand for RDRAM.

 

[burnedout]

Rant: Why is RDRAM so much more expensive?

Pssst: Hint: one company owns the design patent by the name of RAMBUS. Another hint: sounds the same as SCAMBUS.

 

[pyonir]

but RD is still more expensive. and that is what i mean, you have to buy in pairs...so it is twice as much in theory. you never see deals or sales on RD either. regular prices might be only 20-30 difference but when you figure in all the sales and deals on SD, it makes SD a lot cheaper. i do remember the days when ram was a dollar a meg. doesn't mean it doesn't suck to pay more and you have to buy in pairs.

 

[dullard]

<< but RD is still more expensive. and that is what i mean, you have to buy in pairs...so it is twice as much in theory. >>



Why complain about spending $68 more for a 30% speed boost? If you only wanted 256MB then the 30% speed boost is only $34. How much would you have to spend to get a 30% speed boost from the processor? Lets see a 2.0 GHz P4 is roughly 30% faster than a 1.7 GHz P4 - the price difference is currently $156. The speed boost from memory is much cheaper than buying a faster processor.

Remember most RDRAM computers have 4 slots. Most SDRAM computers have 2. Thus you need two sticks of 256MB SDRAM, but you can buy four sticks of 128 MB. Since you can buy the cheaper, smaller sized memory, that negates the problem from buying pairs.

Update: Yes Dell does sell business P4 Optiplex machines with SDRAM.

 

[pyonir]

<<
4) Suppose you wanted to buy 512 MB of PC800 RDRAM: it would cost you $138. If you wanted to buy 512 MB of PC100 SDRAM: it would cost you $70. Thus if you spend $68 more you get a 30% speed boost in many programs. >>


where did you find 512 of PC800 RD for 138? Mushkin has 512 RDRAM for 359!!! from the mishkin web site:

<< 512 MB 800MHZ ECC RAMBUS $ 359 (Buy Now) >>

 

[ToBeMe]

<< but RD is still more expensive. and that is what i mean, you have to buy in pairs...so it is twice as much in theory. you never see deals or sales on RD either. regular prices might be only 20-30 difference but when you figure in all the sales and deals on SD, it makes SD a lot cheaper. i do remember the days when ram was a dollar a meg. doesn't mean it doesn't suck to pay more and you have to buy in pairs. >>


Huh????? Yeah.....you have to buy in pairs, but, you're trying to tell me a pair of 32mb sticks of RD are twice as much as one 64mb stick of DDR??????

You never see deals, but, you can buy Samsung for $66 for a 256mb stick...............that's $132 for 512mb's..........I just ordered 512mb's of PC2700 XMS Corsair.................wanna' know how much that was??????? and that's what most people will be buying soon with all the 333 boards coming out!
LOL! Ok...........I hadn't ordered RD for a few weeks.......looks like it went up a few bucks but I can still get PC800 Samsung for $70 a stick or 512 for $140!

 

[dullard]

<< where did you find 512 of PC800 RD for 138? Mushkin has 512 RDRAM for 359!!! from the mishkin web site: 512 MB 800MHZ ECC RAMBUS $ 359 (Buy Now) >>



1) That is one extremely expensive stick of memory. 512 MB RDRAM ECC sticks can be found for $245 (Samsung brand).
2) Since most P4 computers have four slots, the only reason to buy that particular stick is if you needed between 1.5 GB and 4.0 GB of memory. The vast majority of computer users don't need that much memory. Heck I only have one gigabyte of memory...
3) I quoted prices for 512MB total memory. If you need prices for a larger total memory, you will pay more for RDRAM and for SDRAM.
4) Do you really need ECC memory?
5) The prices I quoted were from pricewatch.

 

[pyonir]

<<

<< where did you find 512 of PC800 RD for 138? Mushkin has 512 RDRAM for 359!!! from the mishkin web site: 512 MB 800MHZ ECC RAMBUS $ 359 (Buy Now) >>



1) That is one extremely expensive stick of memory. 512 MB RDRAM ECC sticks can be found for $245 (Samsung brand).
2) Since most P4 computers have four slots, the only reason to buy that particular stick is if you needed between 1.5 GB and 4.0 GB of memory. The vast majority of computer users don't need that much memory. Heck I only have one gigabyte of memory...
3) I quoted prices for 512MB total memory. If you need prices for a larger total memory, you will pay more for RDRAM and for SDRAM.
4) Do you really need ECC memory?
5) The prices I quoted were from pricewatch. >>


nope...don't need that much and don't need ECC either. i just wanted to know if we were looking at the same thing. Thanks for the help for making me undersand my frustration though. is Samsung quality memory? or would you recommend something better?

 

[dullard]

<< is Samsung quality memory? or would you recommend something better? >>



I don't think I've ever seen a reliable review of different memory brands. The only information you can usually find is from some user who has only tried one brand and then says how great that brand is. But how does he/she know since only one brand was tried?

I personally use Kingston since it was the cheapest at the time. I've had no problems. However I will not even attempt to say it is better or worse than other brands since Kingston is the only brand I've used.

Rambus has pretty stringent requirements for the RDRAM modules. Thus most manufactuers produce very similar products. Some may overclock slightly better - but not by much. If you really wanted a good overclock, you should wait until PC1066 RDRAM is available in a month or two.

 

[pyonir]

<----doesn't over clock. but i will wait until the PC1066 comes out, because i won't be buying the memory until i get my tax refund anyway. Thanks for the help

 

[golfreak]

What in the world are you talking about ??
Have you been looking at the net lately ??

So rambus has to run in pair.
A 256 dram is about $70 x 2 = ~$140 for 512mb.
A 512 DDR runs about $125.

How is it that Rdram much more xpensive ??