Is there any needed to buy name brand RAM?

I just recently bought a MSI EX 625 which comes with 4gb of ram already but i was considering buying 4gb of OCZ. is there any real difference between stock RAM and OCZ?

 

Only if the timings and speed of the RAM are different.

I doubt you'd really notice much difference as long as your current ram works. Unless you're having a problem, I wouldn't waste time or money changing brands.

 

is there anyway to check the timing on the ram currently in the system? and even though it claims to be 4gb max if i were to put in 8 would it work? i ready somewhere on this forum that it was possible

 

You already have 4GB that works. Even if you get low(er) latency RAM, which would be the only factor that differentiates what you have from what you can buy, the different will NOT be noticed by you.

If you download and run CPU-Z, one of the tabs in that tool will give you the current timings of the RAM you have. It will also tell you which chipset you are using, which should help us figure out if your system supports 8GB of RAM (way too expensive, that isn't really going to help your performance!).

 

Alright, I looked up the notebook...as far as I know, every chipset that supports the latest Core 2 Duo processors also supports up to 8GB of RAM.

But the notebook's motherboard and BIOS have to also support 8GB of RAM, which I will GUESS is the case for you.

However, 8GB of RAM is not going to increase system performance unless you are using configurations of programs/software that regularly need more than 4GB of RAM.

 

im not sure whether or not the BIOS or motherboard supports 8BG im just going according to MSI's website and the Spec sheet for the laptop which states 4GB max but if you feel there is no need for the upgrade then i wont waste my money because 8GB is very very expensive. the only real thing that im interested in truely upgrading is the CPU from the P7350 to possibly the P8600 or higher but everything above 8600 is very expensive as well and the increase from the 7350 to 8600 is so mariginal im not sure if its even worth it according to passmark, the difference is around 300 points.

 

It depends on what you are doing, but it's not likely your RAM or your CPU that is the bottleneck for most things. If it's gaming, then maybe your GPU is a bottleneck, and if it's data intensive then it's likely to actually be your HDD speed more than anything else.

You might notice a performance boost going from a 2GHz p7350 to a 2.4GHz p8600, but perhaps if you tell us what problems you are running into we might be able to help?

Certainly 8GB of RAM is overkill for the majority of users. More than 4GB is only really necessary if say you are running several memory hungry programs at the same time - and I mean really memory hungry programs.

 

its either samsung or hynix for laptop ram.
gskill is a hynix rebrand.
samsung ram is the best and fastest, but its hard to find them on ebay.

 

How so, and in what way specifically?

 

Disagree w/ the Samsung thing. You can't generalize. That's like saying all WD HDDs are good or all Intel CPUs are good. There are so many different varieties within a company, some are good and some aren't so good. As per the OP, what are you using the notebook for? If you are maxing out your CPU (you see 100% load very often), then consider a CPU upgrade. If you are maxing out memory, consider a memory upgrade. If it isn't then upgrading those parts won't give you a noticeable benefit. Typically, the HDD is the limiting factor in a system.

 

It all REALLY depends on what you want to do with the notebook. Pray tell?

8GB is definitely too much, unless you are running a lot of virtual machines or similar.

 

This is too general of a statement.. a memory module manufacturer will use use whatever DRAM they can get from a qualified vendor at a good price.

Your GSkill modules today may have Hynix DRAM, but may be using Samsung DRAM tomorrow.

I'd say don't worry so much about the brand of DRAM.. but worry more about what brand of memory module you're buying and if they'll help you (and how much) if a memory module goes bad (i.e. warranty).

My personal recommendation is Kingston.

 

well honestly im not maxing out either of the two very often at all. i just use my cpu for basic stuff like running limewire, zune, and multiple webpages open simultaneously but other then that i dont really play many games. i think the last game i purchased for pc was doom?? lol im waiting for Diablo III before is start computer gaming. but apparently the 4670 on my laptop (MSI EX 625) is pretty sufficient for the majority of games. if i were to upgrade my HDD for this laptop does anyone have any suggestions?

 

You could upgrade it to a 7200 RPM HDD; but if that is all you are doing I would say it's not necessary. You'd notice an increase, but imho it's really not needed.

Advice: only do so if you have money burning a hole in your pocket.

 

for instance this hard drive looks pretty nice. reasonably priced as well http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148374&Tpk=2.5 hard drive

 

500 GB 7200 RPM 3.0 GB/s only 150

 

i do download alot though and transfer media around quite often on my computer. so im sure a 7200 rpm hard drive would be nice

 

As I said, in my honest opinion it's not necessary; but if you have money burning a hole in your pocket then go for it. Be aware though that a 7200 RPM is faster, which in turn MAY generate more noise and MAY generate more heat.

My honest opinion. Put the money you are looking to spend in a bank account and leave it there. Next month when you have this desire to spend money do the same. In 2 years time when you have grown tired of your current laptop, hey presto, you have a fund already set up to buy your new one with.

And that's the best upgrade you can buy. A new laptop.

 

These are great words of wisdom oh wise one

 

sounds good to me. whats the best method for transfering data from desk to laptop