Upgrading - Can I get a differant brand of RAM, or should I stick with my current?

[bamhm182]

Right now I have these x2 512 MB sticks of RAM. I am going to upgrade my RAM, can I get a different brand of RAM, or should I get the same type?

I was thinking about getting one of these:

GeIL 2 GB (2 x1GB)(Most likely because it had a Latency of 4 and a $30 rebate)

Transcend(100% Positive rating, but there's only 2 people that put in their opinion...)

G.Skill (Maybe, but it's got a Cas Latency of 5)

EDIT: Also, I do plan on getting 4 gigs in this computer at one time or another. So that's why I was wanting to get the 2 1GB sticks. I heard somewhere that when upgrading RAM, I should always use the same type of RAM. If that's the case, should I still buy the 2 x 1GB sticks and than just take my current RAM out, giving me 2 gigs instead of 3 gigs?

 

[Cromewell]

You can mix RAM if you want, it's almost always fine.

You can't always judge things by customer ratings. I would go with the GEIL or Transcend, the GSkill costs more for worse specd RAM. Even though it's not a well known brand Transcend is probably fine.

 

[chupacabra]

I've use g.skill a lot and that one is bad ass just don't expect to overclock it, the transcend is meh and the geil is k but most of the time is a pain in the ass to get a mail in rebate

 

[PC eye]

I wouldn't go with GEIL for the life of day there. G.Skill or the other brand would be the better alternative. Many for G.Skill. The main thing is matching timings and type as well as compatibility. GEIL hears too many complaints.

Alternative brands besides the Corsair you already have are Kingston, OCZ, Crucial, Patriot is a more recent name to add. Going for a good matched pair of 1gb Corsair wouldn't be such a bad idea there since you seem to have had good results with the board you have.

4gb of memory would see problems with the 32bit versions of Windows as far as mapping to hardwares reducing the total available. 3gb of Corsair xms should work out for you.

 

[bamhm182]

Okay, so from the sounds of what you're all saying, I should stay away from GeIL and get one of the others or maybe even get 2 1GB sticks of Corsair.

If I go with Corsair, I'll probably have to wait a little bit because it's more expensive, but Corsair's good. How does this ram look:

Corsair xms2 2gb (2 x 1GB)

Tomorrow I'll have about $65, but in about a week or so I'll be trading in a PSP and have roughly $185, I was than planning on paying off Guitar Hero III and getting something else, possibly some ram, with the rest. This being the first time that I really felt the need for more ram since I got the computer about 2 or 3 months ago.

Also, I'm not even 100% sure they it was me not having enough RAM that caused Bioshock to lag. I bet I could probably hold over till Christmas and than ask for some RAM than. Than with the extra money, I could get something I'd probably use more, like Xbox Live, I'm not a REAL big PC gamer.

 

[PC eye]

Having 2gb of a good brand of memory is almost a necessity if you game at all. For Vista the new features built into it take more ram at startup then any default XP installation where going up from 512 or 1gb even to 2gb will see a general improvement in performance and even stabilty in games and apps. If you plan to keep the current build for some time investing in a few basics like having enough memory goes well.

 

[bamhm182]

Having 2gb of a good brand of memory is almost a necessity if you game at all. For Vista the new features built into it take more ram at startup then any default XP installation where going up from 512 or 1gb even to 2gb will see a general improvement in performance and even stabilty in games and apps. If you plan to keep the current build for some time investing in a few basics like having enough memory goes well.

I don't plan on building a new one any time soon, so around Christmas I'm going to ask for the RAM I linked in my last post. That'll put me at 3 gigs, 2 512 Cosair sticks and 2 1 gig Cosair sticks.

 

[PC eye]

The most often seen recommendation when enabling the dual channel mode on any board is just one thing. Use matched sized as well as identical type of dimms to see the best results. I know that you will still see 3gb on a working board. But this advice is quite sound and always works out here as well as for others.

As far as Windows you generally never will see any gain going over 2gb anyways unless you plan to work with CAD or some memory hungry engineering program the added expense doesn't pay out for itself with no performance gain seen. Most games still run on 512mb of ram.

Here I looked at having a pair of 2gb dimms for a new build but have no plans to rush into any 64bit OS. When you have the extra go for a 3rd 1gb dimm and see better results that way and save on cost at the same time. You will notice a big improvement overall simply going with a good pair of 1gb dimms and leave the 512s behind. Thing in Windows even games fare better with the gain there.

 

[Shane]

PNY Memory is good also

 

[PC eye]

PNY Memory is good also

PNY memory is a budget name while seeing problems like the complaints heard on GEIL by various techs and repair shops. For a performance build you would look some of the better names like Corsair, Kingston, OCZ, Crucial, Mushkin, and even the more recent Patriot over PNY. That brand suits budget cases only.

 

[bamhm182]

I've got a couple of options:

1. I could buy the Corsair ram with some money I'll be getting from a PSP I'm selling and have like $15 left over.

2. I could wait till Christmas, and pay of guitar hero III with that PSP.

I think I'll probably go w/ #2.

 

[PC eye]

Corsair's xms series memory is well known for gaming builds. But even reviews seen on their value memory is favorable for cost saving. You should look at the type of memory and keep an eye out for specials in order to get the best deal on the right memory since you are just little strapped on resources at this time.

The best builds are those were time was spent in planning not rushing at things too quickly. I know that feeling having to replace a build when that old one failed prematurely and no deals where seen then on better hardwares like a faster dual core model cpu over the single core 3500+ on the current build along with a better video card.

And then there was the Antec 900 case that came along "just after" having already put the new stuff into the AeroCool model case still in use. The new build now has the Antec 900 caught on a sale. Don't rush and shop wisely!