Giovanni said:
hi,
I was trying to buy some memory from Crucial see
www.crucial.com
and I am shocked by their selling "strategy" they change the price
incredibly from one day to the other. I completed an order for a memory
kit for 379USD and the day after they were offering it for 200USD!!!
and then now the 4GB kit (2x2GB) costs 359.99USD whereas a
single 2GB of the same type costs 99USD ??? where is the catch?
do they have a random price generator or what? I know the market
is volatile lately but to influence crucial that much??? smells to ripoff
...
http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=Precision WorkStation 670
regards,
Giovanni
First, start with Memory Overview on this page. 470 and 670 models are addressed.
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ws470/en/ug_en/before.htm#wp1131665
The computer comes with six DIMM slots. The following
fill patterns would be supported, where "2R" equals double
rank, and "1R" equals single rank.
DIMM1 DIMM2 DIMM3 DIMM4 DIMM5 DIMM6
2R 2R 2R 2R --- ---
2R 2R 1R 1R 1R 1R
When buying memory from Crucial or Kingston, there are part
numbers specifically created for the computer in question.
If possible, read the description of the parts offered, to
understand the important parameters.
You can also look for memory in a more generic, non system
specific way. Then, you can better see what products they
offer. This is what Crucial offers for registered PC2-4200.
("Registered • ECC • CL=4 • 1.8V" applies to all lines)
8GB Kit (4GBx2) US $759.99
CT2KIT51272AB53E DDR2 PC2-4200 • DDR2-533 • 512Meg x 72
4GB US $379.99
CT51272AB53E DDR2 PC2-4200 • DDR2-533 • 512Meg x 72
4GB kit (2GBx2) US $359.99
CT2KIT25672AB53ES DDR2 PC2-4200 • Single Ranked • DDR2-533 • 256Meg x 72
2GB US $99.99
CT25672AB53E DDR2 PC2-4200 • DDR2-533 • 256Meg x 72
2GB US $179.99
CT25672AB53ES DDR2 PC2-4200 • Single Ranked • DDR2-533 • 256Meg x 72
2GB kit (1GBx2) US $123.99
CT2KIT12872AB53ES DDR2 PC2-4200 • Single Ranked • DDR2-533 • 128Meg x 72
1GB US $61.99
CT12872AB53ES DDR2 PC2-4200 • Single Ranked • DDR2-533 • 128Meg x 72
1GB kit (512MBx2) US $69.99
CT2KIT6472AB53E DDR2 PC2-4200 • DDR2-533 • 64Meg x 72
512MB US $34.99
CT6472AB53E DDR2 PC2-4200 • DDR2-533 • 64Meg x 72
So the difference in price is quite substantial between CT25672AB53E and CT25672AB53ES.
They don't seem to offer a kit of two CT25672AB53E sticks.
You can use four CT25672AB53E (double ranked ?) for 8GB memory at $400 USD total.
You can use two CT25672AB53E (double ranked ?) and four CT25672AB53ES (single ranked) for 12GB at $760 USD.
Those are examples at the 2GB per DIMM level.
Kingston provides datasheets, so you can see the difference in construction.
A rank is enough chips to make a x72 bit wide bank. 18 x4 chips in this case.
2GB single rank. $167 USD 18 chips
http://www.valueram.com/datasheets/KVR533D2S4R4_2G.pdf
2GB dual rank $89 USD 36 chips (i.e. each chip has half the density)
http://www.valueram.com/datasheets/KVR533D2D4R4_2G.pdf
Based on prices on
http://www.dramexchange.com/ , the parts cost for each module
should be roughly the same. 18 chips at $2 each at the 1gbit/chip level.
Or 36 chips at $1 each at the 512Mbit/chip level. (Registers and PLL cost something,
but I don't know an appropriate figure for those.) So I guess the rest of the
price, is the desirability of single rank memory.
Note that Kingston also makes a quad rank 2GB DIMM, which has 36 chips, but
the width per chip is x8 instead of x4. (9 x8, times four ranks.)
That should be similar to the dual rank, in terms of construction details.
Quad rank won't work just anywhere, so I doubt this is an option for you.
It might be something an AMD system uses (not sure, too lazy to read 300 page
doc to find out). This one is priced at $76. Don't buy this for your system
http://www.valueram.com/datasheets/KVR533D2Q8R4_2G.pdf
Now, this is interesting. There is quite a price spread on CT2KIT25672AB53ES
single rank sticks. So you may well not have been seeing things on the Crucial
site. Maybe the price did take a dip for a few days.
http://computers.pricegrabber.com/laptop-memory/m/15228563/
So the price does appear to be volatile.
By comparison, if you look at desktop memory, it is priced closer to the
parts cost. They only want $36 for this 2GB unbuffered double rank desktop
memory. To he able to do that, the chips are probably "blanks", with no
branding information. They may be purchased untested, and tested by the
module maker. But at least this demonstrates, that if there is
enough competition, the price can track the component cost.
Not so for registered server memory, and there is apparently
more "fat" in that business. Sort of like car tires - a business
with a huge markup.
pqi 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5400) Desktop Memory - Retail $36
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141099
Good luck,
Paul
