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    Oops, wrong RAM! Should I RMA?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by LikeTheSearchEngine, Nov 2, 2007.

  1. LikeTheSearchEngine

    LikeTheSearchEngine Notebook Enthusiast

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    Greetings out there in NBR land - I ordered 3GB of RAM from newegg, Gskill. I told a very tech savvy (or is he?) friend of mine to look at the PC5300 RAM and tell me if there's any difference in the brands. He does, and recommends the Gskill highly, because it is CAS Latency 4, and has timing of 4-4-4-12, I think. I say cool, and briefly look it over and order.

    The RAM comes and as I am installing it I see that he linked me PC4200 ram and I bought it without doublechecking!

    It fits, the computer works great, but the ram only operates at 533 MHZ, instead of 667.

    A tech at crucial told me that the RAM performance increase for 667 to 800MHZ is only 15% or so. Is that the same case here? Is it worth doing an RMA and such, or is the videocard going to bottleneck me more than the ram anyhow?

    Thanks for the advice!
     
    LikeTheSearchEngine, Nov 2, 2007
    #1
  2. Crimsonman

    Crimsonman Ex NBR member :cry:

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    i dont think you can put 800MHz ram in that computer of yours. so i wouldnt bother
     
    Crimsonman, Nov 2, 2007
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  3. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

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    how can you do an rma? thats for faulty equipment. email newegg and tell them you ordered the wrong ram and you can send it back.
     
    nizzy1115, Nov 2, 2007
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  4. Sean S

    Sean S Notebook Consultant

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    just tell them you accidentally ordered the wrong ram.
     
    Sean S, Nov 2, 2007
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  5. LikeTheSearchEngine

    LikeTheSearchEngine Notebook Enthusiast

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    Right, ok.

    I thought RMA was synonymous with a product return, whatever the reason.

    My question is, is it worth returning it?
     
    LikeTheSearchEngine, Nov 2, 2007
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  6. LikeTheSearchEngine

    LikeTheSearchEngine Notebook Enthusiast

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    Also, to Crimson, I can put in 667, I have 533.
     
    LikeTheSearchEngine, Nov 2, 2007
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  7. powerpack

    powerpack Notebook Prophet

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    I would try and return. The increased latency of the CL5 is 20% more than CL4. The speed increase of 667MHz over 533MHz is 20% so there is not an improvement as much as the speed numbers would indicate. I would still go with the faster RAM there are situations where it will work faster like when it has found what it is looking for it will transfer faster. 667MHz is faster just not much.
     
    powerpack, Nov 3, 2007
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  8. sordid

    sordid Notebook Consultant

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    Well since RMA stands for Return Material Authorization, then yes, you technically are requesting one from newegg to send back incorrectly ordered ram even though it was not faulty.

    RMA has just become synonymous with returning faulty merchandise because 9 times out of 10 that's the reason you're requesting to return the item. However, it's not the only usage of the term.
     
    sordid, Nov 4, 2007
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