finally fixed comp....RAM question?

[alphalanos]

i finally got this computer working....it was a peice of crap RAM stick that was either bad or not otherwise working with the other one i had. so im back down to 256mb (ewwww) heres the question...since my other ram stick wouldnt work with this one, should i just buy a new one and see if it works? or should i replace ALL my ram? i def want 512+.

probably just buy a new 512 then later another one... whats a good brand? i had some cheap RAM before so thats probably why it messed up.

[Oz]

Always buy name brand (corsair etc) RAM is the lesson!! Same with power supplies!!

Is your motherboard dual channel? In that case, just add as much RAM as you can afford. If not, replace with a single larger chip.

[alphalanos]

yeah ill stick with good stuff now. yes its a dual channel

[alphalanos]

i was looking at the manual for the motherboard and it says this:

4 DDR DIMM slots: DDR1,2,3,4
2 slots support PC3200, max 2 GB
4 slots support PC2700, max 3.5 GB

so does that mean i can use either:
2 sticks of 3200
4 sticks of 2700

in that case i would probably get 2x512MB 3200.

[Neutrino]

As far as good brands go there a quite a few out there: OCZ, Muskin, Corsair, Geil etc...


Right now you can buy their value series for about 80-100 USD. Newegg has corsair value on sale for 78 now (http://www.newegg.com/Index.asp?page=1).


If you want more serious performance OCZ gold series are the best bargain since they are BH5 based great both as stock settings (22251T) and as far as overclocking goes. They are the current fav in the DFI comunity.


Mushkin black level II are also a great choice since they are TCCDs on brainpower PCBs an excellent combination.

For serious ovecloking you can also go with the VX series from OCZ or its equivlent Redline from Muskin. They both offer full warranties even with hight voltages and increased clock speeds but they do require active cooling and are very expensive.


Btw after you buy the new mem make sure to DL memtest 86 burn the iso to a cd, boot off it and let it run a few cycles to make sure you have 0 errors.