Looking at new RAM sticks but ...

Guys, I've got confused by this. I'm looking at new RAM sticks atm. Going to buy a 8GB kit today. I'm looking at 1333Mhz sticks, but what I've actually found is that 1066Mhz sticks are more expensive then 1333Mhz sticks. And one more thing, does brand really matter? I've found a Corsair Value DDR3 SO-DIMM 1333MHz 8GB Kit and G.SKILL 8GB 1333Mhz CL9 Kit, there is a huge price diffrence between'em. Also G.SKILL 4GB DDR3 1333MHz SO-DIMM CL9 Kit (2GBx2) is exactly same price as the G.SKILL 8GB kit, dunno why...

Does it make sense for you?

 

The RAM market is a funny thing these days. Price doesn't necessarily always reflect value like in other markets.

There is no real difference in brands. Gorsair/Crucial/GSkill is all about the same in terms of what you'll seem in reliability and performance.

1333Mhz RAM reduced dramatically in price over the last month or so (maybe there's a surplus right now) but the normal logic still applies that 1333Mhz > 1066Mhz - at least in theory.

 

lol, that is strange, cool for me tou

I've found two sticks of 8GB kits, which is located in Norway, as nearly none of the sellers in eBay ships to Norway... I must buy from Norwy.

G.SKILL 8GB Kit (2x4GB) 1333MHz CL9 9-9-9-24, 1.5V

and

Corsair Value 8GB (2x4GB) Kit 1333MHz CL9 ( 9-9-9-24) 1.5 V

Both is SO DIMM 204-pins and PC310666...

You want to know the funny thing? The Corsair Value is TWICE as expensive as the G.SKILL sticks...



EDIT!
Done a bit of search, found out that some users had some issues like freezing and BDOS with G.Skill sticks, (exacly the same 'model') Any one got a clue?

 

I've been using GSkill for 5+ years (first 939 PC had 2 GB DDR400 GSkill) never had a problem with them.

Most reviews on Newegg are by morons who couldn't tell you the difference between a shoe and a gorilla. Corsair, GSkill, Crucial, and Mushkin are all great reputable companies.

 

Hmm I understand, so there so no explanion why the Corsair is twice as expensive as the GSkill.. But however, if it is like that I think I'll go for the GSkill sticks..

 

Corsiar RAM always seems to be much more expensive because it's Corsair RAM. Crucial sometimes follows this pattern too. Though afaik, they make their own product, it's not rebranded Hynix or Samsung.

There's a user in the Acer 3820TG area who recently installed OCZ 1333 and he reports that despite the higher timings and that the Hm55 (65?..whatever the Arrandale chipset is) can't make use of above 1066mhz, he reports things are quicker overall. A downside is that he can't overclock as far as he did with 1066.

His NBR name is Bronsky, he certainly knows his stuff.

1333 seems to be the way to go lately, especially with the prices. I paid $186 for my 8GB 1066 Mushkin set about 2 months ago , still waiting for the $40 rebate!

 

I have those exact G Skill sticks and no problems at all.

 

lol
I'll also go for the GSkill modules. I'm buying 1333Mhz sticks because I'll maybe soon buy a laptop with nForce chipset which will make me able to overclock the RAM's to max 1333Mhz along with my CPU.. I'll have more rom for overclock with other words...

BTW RWUK, do you thing it is worth to pay extra for 'not rebranded modules'?

 

It depends. You pay for warranty and technical support. Corsair happens to be very good. Crucial I tend to find is cheaper than Corsair.

 

If the only diffrence is warranty and technical support I'm not going to, I think
But, I do not know yet, is it any diffrence between overclock etc.? I can pay off the extra, if there is any diffrences.

 

Both have CL9 latency and are 1333 MHz, so no there isn't any difference. But not all RAM are the same, some can OC good and some can't OC for crap. The process of binning my friend.

 

Well, that was why I asked I can't see any diffrance either... But however, I wonder at the real life 'performance'

 

No, they do not. Just because they sometimes stamp their name on the DRAM chips does not mean they make them. There are not very many DRAM manufacturers that all the different brands source their chips from. It is like how there are a multitude of laptop PC brands, but they all use processors from either Intel or AMD.

What do you mean, is he comparing 4-8 GB, or 1066-1333 Mhz ram? Using 1333 in 1066 doesn't have any negative impact on performance since the 1333 will run at lower speeds and tighter timings just as if it were 1066Mhz ram.

NOOO! They are all rebranded. These 'not rebranded modules' you are talking about are more rebranded than the others!

 

Okey, so do Crosair 'make their own modules' or not?

 

No Corsair only makes the PCB where the RAM chips are soldered on and provided end user support.

I believe Crucial is the only retail seller of their own memory chips though they do also well OEM. Samsung, Hynix are sold OEM.

 

Okay, however. That is about the same. Now, I must make a decision; any of you tried to overclock a Crosair or GSkill modules?

 

No they don't. They either use a manufacturer reference PCB, someone else's reference PCB, or have someone else use Corsair's own reference PCB. But in either of those three cases, at the Corsair factory they might be only putting the memory in a retail package, if they even do that at all. None of that matters though.

Crucial is a brand name of Micron Technology. Several others sell directly as their own brand as well. In all cases their products are also repackaged by other companies. None of this really means anything to the end consumer though. Also whether a brand sells memory with manufacturer reference pcb's or a pcb of their own design doesn't mean much either.

DRAM manufacturers I can come up with:
Samsung
Hynix
Elpida
Micron
Nanya
A-Data
Dane-Elec
Probably a few other even smaller companies fabricating memory chips.

 

Okay, Trottel all your information is really good transfered to my brain. But, now back to real-life-perofrmance... I've need some good advices for overclocking memory. Any of you have any experience with this?

 

You are only overclocking the memory because you have to in order to overclock the FSB, right? When it comes to picking memory, unfortunately there is very little information compared to desktop memory. I really can't help you out there other than to say that there probably is not a whole lot of difference unless you buy memory with tighter timings/higher rated frequencies than others.

When it comes to overclocking it in your system, there are probably others on here that can help you out more than I can.

 

Well, both modules are nearly identical. Same timings, Mhz etc. The only thing is that the GSkill modules is nearly 800 money when Crosair is about 1200 money. I do not know if it is worth to pay the extro to get the Crosair...

 

No. All else being equal, buy the cheaper one.

 

I have never seen RAM chip manufacturers except Crucial/Micron and I know Crucial is owned by Micron.

Nanya I believe was bought out by Qimonda which in turn is owned by Infineon. There is also Transcend.

Just remember this, 1 person may say their X brand RAM overclocks good but another person may buy the same exact RAM and can't overclock for nuts, it's all luck of the draw.

 

Yup, the only way to guarantee yourself easily overclockable RAM is to buy is second hand. Even then, you're still having to take that person's word for it.

 

Idk. I figured Nanya was still around since I have some DDR3 modules of theirs. But Infineon spun off its memory manufacture into Qimonda, which in turn went out of business 1-2 years ago, which was odd since Infineon and then Qimonda seemed to be so strong had such a large presence in the DRAM market. They were the first to come out with GDDR5.

I just looked on Infineon's website, and there is no mention of DRAM anywhere.

Yes, it is, which is why one should not put much emphasis on brand.

 

I'm ordring the GSkill modules now. Also found out that they also give lifetime warranty...

 

Almost all RAM these days has lifetime warranty.

 

Not to mention they don't really go bad on their own anyway.

 

I have actually never bough a RAM module before

lol

However, I bough 1333 Mhz modules, because I'm going to 'overclock' it along with my CPU. I do not know if I really can call it overclock tou.

 

Hrm well I have seen Infineon DDR2 chips but they are from a few years back now that I think about it.

I have seen bad RAM though, but mostly OEM RAM, not any specific brand name but they all use each others chips so adunno

 

LOL. ++1

10char

 

Most brands of memory you can buy out in the real or virtual world (i.e. offline or online) aren't real makes. This is because various companies (including the most well known Kingston) don't manufacture the RAM chips but rather do what is widely known as fabricate RAM. In other words they buy in RAM from a true manufacturer such as Micron, Samsung, Hynix, Nanya etc. and then just stick on their own logo (nowadays often laser inscribed) and/or sticker, and at most bin the memory according to their own product portfolio requirements (i.e. mainstream, performance, low latency RAM etc.).

In as far as PC3-8500 Vs PC3-10600 goes. The latter is more expensive because is the current creme of the crop as far as laptops go. Even the 2011 Intel mobile CPU's won't go beyond this spec. Only the Intel i7 mobile chips at present actually support running the RAM at PC3-106000 speeds.

In terms of memory for your own laptop in your signature, the most it will support frequency wise is PC3-8500, otherwise known as 1066MHz effective. Anything higher will work but only at 1066MHz. Given this situation, it is pointless to buy the higher PC3-10600 RAM unless of course you plan on buying a new laptop any time soon, and this new laptop just so happens to support PC3-10600.

I hope that makes sense.

 

Hey!
First of all, thanks for your answer!

As I wrote, I'll buy a nForce ChipSet based laptop. It is also running @ 1066Mhz, so the reason why I buy 1333Mhz sticks is because I'll overclock the CPU on that laptop, that will raise FSB and this will result a overclocked RAM sticks. But in my case, the RAM Sticks will just run what it is designed for. This will give me more rom to upgrade the CPU and RAM as well. I know that T9600 (which my new laptop will run on) can easily overclock to 3.30Ghz, again this changes from system to systems, but I think I'll atleast hit 3.2Ghz before it gets unstable.

 

Oh sorry, missed the part about the Nforce chipset.

If you plan to overclock then remember that PC3-8500 RAM can also be overclocked and is cheaper as you've already noticed. If your T9600 is a E0 revision then it will go beyond 3.2GHz with ease. It's just a case of a) what Vcore you need to give it (setting the appropriate VID) and b) whether the cooling solution in your laptop can take the extra heat. At the moment your CPU is designed for a 35W TDP, with overclocking expect 50-60W, especially if you take it high and boost the Vcore.

 

Yep. I know that. I'm going to use the T9600 from my Qosmio. But, There is not a big price diffrence between 1066 and 1333 sticks, so I'll stick for the 1333Mhz modules. Just to be on the safe side, and go even higher if I can. The laptop I'm going to do this on is based on a Asus. I've have tested it out, and it is espesially designed so it runs cool, and I don't know how Asus has done it, but they have 'a cooler palmrest for confort' - as they name it. It is overall a very quite and cool system. However, it is shipped with a T4500 which I'm going to upgrade to T9600. It is based on the same chipset as the Qosmio X305 series, so technically the chipset even supports a QX9300. And a maximum of 8GB RAM. The thing is, or the unsafe side is, there is NOTHING about this laptop on the internet. I'm not able to find a single user with this model. So I just hope Asus not have put any limitations, because again, technically it should work, as many Qosmios are working on same chipset...

 

Do also note that just because a laptop can technologically support a given processor (any Q9000, Q9100, Q9200 or QX9300 are fine examples) doesn't necessarily mean such processor will work in the laptop. Sometimes manufacturers block certain processor models at the BIOS level, much in the same way they block certain GPU's. For example, a Lenovo W500 could support a QX9300 but won't boot with one installed, for that you need to go with the W700. The good news is that a T9600 isn't that expensive these days so even if it doesn't work, you can resell it on eBay likely at no loss to you.

Your overclocking success will also depend on whether you can find what clock generator module your laptop uses as only the extreme processor models have an unlocked multiplier with you can control with ThrottleStop.

 

I've also know this But, Asus is not know for thins symptoms. As Toshiba is, they have non-readable BIOS, locked voltage etc.

For the overclock part:
Laptops based on nVidia (nForce) chipsets can be easly overclocked from nVidia control panel. If you have this installed on your laptop, you can actually try it by your self. But, if you do have a Intel chipset, you'll only be able to overclock your GPU from there. CPU and RAM will be grayed out.

As you said - the only thing I hope is that BIOS is not locked for Dual Core CPUs as it is shipped with! But I do not think it is so, if so, I'll simply return it.

 

Well since you know all the ins and out then all that remains to say is good luck

As for overclocking an Nvidia GPU, yes, either Nvidia system tools or evga precision (which I prefer). The best method I like however is to reflash the vga bios once modified with NiBiTor if the laptop allows it (i.e. the vga bios is not integrated with the system bios).

 

Hey thanks for that!

I'm also planning to increase the voltage of the GPU as well.. As far as Asus users says, they have not seen a locked BIOS case. I hope that is right for the almost unknown Asus laptop I'm looking for!

 

From what I know the VGPU in NiBiTor is just a label. Changing it won't affect the real voltage at which the GPU runs. I think this depends on the age of the GPU, not all have a digital VRM.

A pencil mod would probably be the only option in most cases. Knowing how/where though is another problem however.

 

I'll not do it if so, I'll first look at the results however...