Venom said:
What do you Corsair fanatics think of Value Select and Samsung RAM?
I have never purchased Samsung brand, but, from what I hear it has a
great reputation; is on a lot of "QVL"/qualified vendor lists.
Corsair: great warranty service, in my experience. Unfortunately,
have had to use their warranty service more than I would like: looks
like customers in the field do some of the QC they should be doing at
the factory, i.e. DOA modules, or, modules that didn't fail outright but
caused system instability.
You didn't mention whether you are shopping for 184 pin SDRAM DDR vs.
240 pin DDR2, but, here are some comparisons, assuming you want 1G, 2 x
512MB:
184 pin SDRAM DDR, all CAS 2.5 or better. (Note: paying a lot for
super high CAS doesn't pay off all that well..a few % increase in speed,
barely noticeable even in games...but, the CAS 2.5 or 2 modules have to
be tested more, have more "headroom", from what I understand.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...2E16820144141,N82E16820148007&SubCategory=147
For about the same price, I would go for the Kingston Hyper-X with the
heat spreaders, just because--even though heat spreaders don't do all
that much, they are a pretty blue....and, I have had 100% success with
my Kingston modules, no bad ones ever, yet.
However, looking at the experiences of Newegg customers: about 1,400
bought Corsair value ram, and all but 2% were very satisfied....230
bought Kingston value, about same excellent satisfaction level.
For DDR2, various speeds, since you did not specify:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...2E16820144199,N82E16820134030,N82E16820134011
Interesting that these two different speeds are the
same price at $83 with shipping:
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB)
240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered
*DDR2 533 (PC2 4200)*
Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail
CORSAIR VALUE SELECT 1GB (2 x 512MB)
240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered
*DDR2 667 (PC2 5300)*
Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail
The Corsair Value Select has the most reviews, with an extremely high
rating; any of the name brands in the link above will do fine,
depending on your budget. Of them, all good quality name brands with
lifetime warranties, I would probably go for the Corsair XMS with free
shipping:
CORSAIR XMS2 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 675 (PC2
5400) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail
$101.00
In Stock
Free Three Day Shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowI...ystem+Memory+Model+TWIN2X1024-5400C4+-+Retail
Um, has black and shiny heat spreaders, and a sparkly sticker....and,
being Corsair's XMS line, would estimate that there's a 99% chance it
will work absolutely great....that being said, I do think Kingston,
Micron, and Crucial are all excellent as well. (No experience with OCZ;
have heard they used to have QC problems, but that these issues have
been fixed...but, they are not on Asus QVL lists very often....not sure
why.)
If you were looking for 2 x 1g, you can start a search at Newegg here:
http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/SubCategory.asp?SubCategory=147
HTH,
BC
PS: there are lies, damn lies, and statistics: lots of "anecdotal"
information in the above--but, enough anecdotes, like Consumer Reports'
auto survey, and you are able to see patterns. Looks like Corsair Value
RAM is solid, with a low error/failure rate...as mentioned, I had a
run where I got some bogus sticks (one for a laptop, the others for
non-stressed non-overclocked medical office PCs--errors did localize to
the memory modules with testing, and were corrected when they were
replaced....). Since RAM is so cheap right now, you might want to just
kick in a few more bucks for the XMS or HyperX or other "high end" line,
and be done with it....happy shopping....