Help to learn different memory typs

  • Thread starter Thread starter Shaun B
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Shaun B

Hi ive been looking around to learn what unbuffered, non ecc, non
registered, low density, high density means, is there any good sites that
explain this in detail? as im going to buy a 1 gig stick of ddr ram soon and
need to know what it all means for the best type that my mobo will use.

Thanks Shaun B.
 
Shaun B said:
Hi ive been looking around to learn what unbuffered, non ecc, non
registered, low density, high density means, is there any good sites that
explain this in detail? as im going to buy a 1 gig stick of ddr ram soon
and
need to know what it all means for the best type that my mobo will use.

Thanks Shaun B.
Click to expand...

Shaun - Don't take this the wrong way, but you are thinking too hard. Your
mainboard owner's manual will tell you what RAM to buy. If you don't have
the owner's manual, download it from the mainboard maker's web site. If
that fails, punch in your mainboard model number at www.crucial.com, and
they will tell you exactly what you need to buy. You can buy it directly
from Crucial (GOOD idea, in fact), or you can just take that information and
use it to buy the RAM elsewhere.

There are certain RAM specs that are somewhat helpful to know, such as CAS
rating in particular (LOWER number is better). HOWEVER, if the memory is
compatible with your motherboard, it will be tremendously helpful to you,
regardless of CAS rating. In general, your mainboard owner's manual is all
you should need to buy RAM.

You don't need to study RAM to properly and successfully upgrade it. -Dave
 
Ok yeah but ide still like to know for something to read and learn whats out
there?

Shaun B.
Shaun - Don't take this the wrong way, but you are thinking too hard. Your
mainboard owner's manual will tell you what RAM to buy. If you don't have
the owner's manual, download it from the mainboard maker's web site. If
that fails, punch in your mainboard model number at www.crucial.com, and
they will tell you exactly what you need to buy. You can buy it directly
from Crucial (GOOD idea, in fact), or you can just take that information and
use it to buy the RAM elsewhere.

There are certain RAM specs that are somewhat helpful to know, such as CAS
rating in particular (LOWER number is better). HOWEVER, if the memory is
compatible with your motherboard, it will be tremendously helpful to you,
regardless of CAS rating. In general, your mainboard owner's manual is all
you should need to buy RAM.

You don't need to study RAM to properly and successfully upgrade
Click to expand...
t. -Dave
 
Mike T. said:
Shaun - Don't take this the wrong way, but you are thinking too hard. Your
mainboard owner's manual will tell you what RAM to buy. If you don't have
the owner's manual, download it from the mainboard maker's web site. If
that fails, punch in your mainboard model number at www.crucial.com, and
they will tell you exactly what you need to buy. You can buy it directly
from Crucial (GOOD idea, in fact), or you can just take that information and
use it to buy the RAM elsewhere.

There are certain RAM specs that are somewhat helpful to know, such as CAS
rating in particular (LOWER number is better). HOWEVER, if the memory is
compatible with your motherboard, it will be tremendously helpful to you,
regardless of CAS rating. In general, your mainboard owner's manual is all
you should need to buy RAM.

You don't need to study RAM to properly and successfully upgrade it. -Dave
Click to expand...

I think it is good to ask questions. No sense making mistakes by
just buying stuff blindly.

Buying from Crucial is one solution. I would not expect to
find an inappropriate selection of chip types used on the memory
modules by doing that.

For 1GB unbuffered DDR, there are two kinds of RAM making the rounds.
There are sticks with 64Mx8 chips on them (Crucial would sell those).
There are also sticks with 128Mx4 chips on them. (Evil Ebay sellers
handle those.) To see what is wrong with the latter chip type, see
this advertisement for example, especially the fine print, where it
says the DIMM with the 128Mx4 chips on it only works with VIA PT800,
KT600, P4X266A chipset or an a SIS 648, 648FX, 746FX chipset. And,
in that case, we don't know if the mentioned chipsets, can drive
multiple of those sticks or not. It could be that the chipset
can only drive one evil stick.

http://www.portatech.com/catalog/memory.asp?ID=285

My advice would be, if buying 1GB sticks, to avoid Ebay at the
very least. Stick with branded RAM. Use the Newegg customer reviews
for memory products, to spot products that barely meet their
ratings. If a products overclocks a bit, it may mean it has
sufficient "headroom" to work properly at stock settings.
Some products are "shaved" very close to their stock setting.

At the engineering level, the memory chips from different makers
are supposed to be interchangable, but occasionally there will be
reports of certain combinations not working well. I don't think
it is possible to be forewarned in every case, so treat some level
of incompatibility as a risk with any RAM selection. But by going
with a branded memory product, you may be able to avoid the
easy pitfalls, such as buying unbuffered modules with 128Mx4
chips on them. (Such a module would not be JEDEC approved, and
JEDEC is an industry standards group that defines memory for
computers.)

Some motherboard makers provide a memory QVL (qualified vendor list),
but since the construction of memory modules changes on a weekly
basis, the info is not very useful unless it is kept up to date.

Paul
 
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