Value Ram vs. Regular Ram

Hi,

I just bought 2x1gb Kingston value ram. They are about $10 cheaper than regular ram. Are they worth the saving or am I better off with regular ram? Thanks.

 

If the RAM is for a notebook, then there its unlikely for a major difference to be present. So long as the specification for the modules are the same, I wouldn't worry which to buy. Just choose the cheapest one. If the notebook RAM is for a desktop, then specifications may be slightly different, and it may be better to go with the more expensie one.

 

According to toshiba, and ram manufacturers, there may in fact be a problem with using non-recommened ram modules, even in the non-value catagory. But for most manufacturers there doesn't seem to be a problem.

 

You're fine. Just buy the cheapest RAM with a lifetime warranty from a reputable company (and Kingston has an excellent reputation!)

If it were a desktop RAM module, buying the better RAM would only really matter if you plan on overclocking. Value RAM doesn't overclock very well, so enthusiasts buy the more expensive overclocking RAM that enables them to overclock their system by 75% or more.

However, since you're in a laptop, and you really can't overclock your processor anyway without melting everything inside your laptop, value RAM is absolutely fine.

 

I just installed 2x1GB corsair ValueRam into my Dell 9400, it came with 2x512MB. The difference is amazing this laptop is now loads faster, noticeable in practically every program I use! Maybe the Hynix ram it came with was super-extra-bargain-bin-Ram.

 

hynix is crap, I discovered that elixir is crap too. Only brands where the ram went bad. I bought "value ram" one time and got Samsungs. I think it is the luck of the draw.

 

Not to hijack, have you upgraded your toshiba? Did you purchase the recommended ram, or use whatever you liked?

 

Or maybe you now have 2 gb ram instead of 1...

 

There's no difference between regular RAM and value RAM, as the two names are used interchangeably on RAM installed in most consumer notebooks and desktops.

 

At present the only reason I would pay extra for RAM is if i know it is faster. I think I saw some RAM which claimed it was CL=4 at 667MHz. That would be worth a bit extra.

John

 

There are about 4 main manufacturers of all of the laptop ram.

Not to say that there is no difference between them because there is.

Hitachi ram is going to be the most expensive and something like hynix is going to be cheaper
The brands that sell them here have nothing to do with manufacture. And because there are only about 4 manufacturers theres a good chance they are all selling the exact same thing.
kingston does not make ram and neither does crucial or mushkin or whoever. It is all made in the far east 100%

Now your hitachi and samsung ram is no better than anything else in performance except for two things

1. it probably reached the market sooner. The other companies will copy it.

2. It might last longer and have a lower rma rate. it might not though there is no data on this.

 

I believe that Crucial is the marketing end of Micron, who do make RAM and other semiconductor components.

John

 

ok micron is a ram manufacturer. They make ram in china. So all things considered micron would be cheaper and later to the market than hitachi or matsushita toshiba.

You can see the whole market in action with the 2gb dimms. First hitachi makes them and a top brand like kingston resells it.

When crucial has this ram micron will have made it in china for much cheaper. And when hynix makes it it will be half the cost...

all the brands will be selling the same thing. The value line of kingston will be selling the same thing as patriot and toys r us brand.

 

No, I have not upgraded my Toshiba at all. I don't need extra RAM for what I do on this computer, plus I'm getting another laptop in the next couple of months, so it's not really necessary.

Just for reference, Everest says my RAM is made by Samsung (Samsung M4 70L6524CU0-CB3)

 

Could be , except when I did the exact same upgrade to my desktop a couple of years ago (crucial 1gb to crucial 2gb) the difference was nowhere near as noticeable.