PC hardware forum: Which is the best RAM company?

right now my eMachines has a Samsung ram stick. does it matter if i get a different brand and put it in with it?

If you have a mobo that supports Dual channel ram then yes is matters. If you are broke the what ever you got is good. I prefer to use the same brand to make sure I am getting the most out of what I bought. This ensures your ram settings will get the most out of the ram you have.

I bought RAM from crucial 5 years ago for my Dell XPS T550 PC. I also have a Dell Dimension 8300 system and bought from Crucial.com yet again to upgrade my RAM from 0.5GB to 1.5GB.

Also, your question is kinda vague. By ''best'' do you mean the best that $$ can buy or the best value? Either way, there may be some places that are cheaper than Crucial.com. For example, Monarch sold 2 sticks of 512MB Corsair brand for $105 while Crucial sold Micron brand (their) for $115 + $6 for NJ sales tax (both included free shipping). I ended up buying from Crucial site b/c 1) customer loyalty and 2) Monarch was kinda vague about what goes with what. Crucial tells you up front what will work with your prebuilt PC or mobo.

As for specs, I *highly* recommend you visit Crucial.com for 2 reasons. One, u'll see what's compatible with your PCs. E.g. choose brand for Dell, Dimension for model line, and Dimension 8300 for model, and you'll see a list of compatible types/specs of RAM, as well as other info on your PC, like how the 8300 has max of 4GB of RAM and 4 DIMM slots. You can do this for your emachines as well and by motherboard if you put together your own PC. Two, they have alot of links, FAQs, and guides that explain each spec. I don't know what's standard with RAM on the 8300, but i believe you'll want and Crucial will also confirm this as well.....

>PC3200 speed (which is 400MHz)
You can mix PC3200 speed RAM with PC2700 (which is 333MHz), but actual speed will underclock to the slowest stick. May as well get the PC3200 since due to the way production is, PC3200 may actually be cheaper if not the same price

>non registered
>non ECC (Error Correction Code)
this is used moreso for servers

>dual channel RAM
You get better performance from buying a pair of RAM of half capacity each instead one whole. Dual channel RAM uses the extra bandwidth available from 2 sticks of 512MB as opposed to 1 stick of 1GB to gain better performance. The pair of modules MUST be the same speed and capacity. They don't have to be the same brand, altho it's recommended they are (which is the reason many vendors sell them in pairs as "dual channel" kits). They also have to be installed into the correct slots for it to work. Check your PC manuals for the RAM installation section. They'll tell u which slots to install to, label the slots, or indicate that it doesn't support dual channel

...and you can look up the rest yourself. When in doubt, just go by the compatiblity list. You may not buy from Crucial, but at least you'll have a better idea about RAM after 5 to 10 minutes of reading.

Dell is priprority meaning unless you know the board model it will be very hard to upgrade as with the other machine look at the board. run msinfo to get more info on system

www.zipzoomfly.com. They have very good prices on RAM. I use Kingston on all my computers.

I've been thru many sticks, and all have the occasional bad egg (real vista killer, fyi).
But as far as things go, for customer service and RMA issues, Kingston gets my vote. Crucial would be next.
I fully agree with those who recommend checking the computer and/or motherboard manufacturer to verify their requirements.
Ram upgrades are relatively simple, till you try to stick something in which could be considered alien.

The OCZ el pc3200 gold is pretty good for the price. You can get 1 gb pretty cheap and its got 2-2-2 timings and the legendary bh-5 memory modules. So long as you dont feed it more the 3v then its got a life time warranty. Heck ppl have been over clocking these past ddr 500 at 2-2-2 timings. (currently my next purchase)

http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_el_ddr_pc_3200_gold

if you want some performance comparisons
http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2392&p=12

It depends on what you are doing, if you are just running memory and not going to be tweaking your system to squeeze juice out of it, it depends on what type of system it is.

Not messing with clock speeds and memory timings, I would say...
AMD: Corsair XMS 2x512
Intel: Kingston Hyper X

if you will be doing some tweaking,
AMD: OCZ Plat Rev 2 or Gold VX (if your doing in voltage tweaking)
Intel: I dunno.

Hi In all my years of buying RAM I have found that if you purchase from Main brand manufactures you'll have the best luck. Keep in mind by staying with the same brand of ram your timming and speed of the ram will be the same so don't mix and try to match ram. I like using Kingstom Ram as it is some of best ever made there QC is the best plus they have the best return policy if you have to return it. GOOD LUCK

Crucial does not make the chips. Micron does. Which is the parent company. Crucial is a sister company designed to market memory to end users. Go straight to the source. Micron.

My Dell Dimension 8200 came with Samsung RDRAM and I upgraded with more Samsung and it works great! Performance is outstanding and trouble free. Samsung is the only memory that I will use. I got a great deal on eBay. Also, check out Comtread (www.comtread.com). You won't be sorry.

Corsair is my choice

But that's REAL SAMSUNG....Samsung Chips, on Samsung PCBs, assembled and Tested by Samsung ...with their sticker on it.

Crucial is good.

Most of the rest ....Kingston, Corsair, OCZ, etc., are marketing companaies....packagers, distributors of RAM. They don't manufacture RAM chips ... they buy chips, they buy PCBs and have someone assemble them. Or they contract with a RAM mfg and put their labels on them.

VAPCMD

how can i upgrade my PC (Compaq)Processor(P-IV)having 256MB RAM and 40GB HDD