Powerbook DDR2 PC4200 Ram Thread

g0gie said:

So a lot of people have been asking questions about what 3rd party ram to buy ect ect so I thought I would start this thread. If you have bought ram for your new powerbook please review the ram you bought and where you purchased it from. Also if you have questions about ram post it here. I myself would like to know from everyone's experience what ram was compatible and how it felt running on their powerbooks

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I've not purchased RAM for the new powerbooks but I did notice that crucial has updated their web site to list the appropriate RAM in the Apple section of the memory selector. Many folks here have had positive experience with crucial.

I know that I am currently using 2 sticks in my current powerbook, that are not branded apple. One is omni(sansung) the other is corsair.

Other brand should work. hopefully a compatibility list will be out there soon.

Another thing I haven't seen much is people mentionning how ddr2ram is a lot cheaper than regular ddr.

I could get 2x1024gig pc4200 for 300$CDN tax included and shipped to my house. We don't have newegg in Canada..... not yet anyway.

Does this DDR2 RAM run any faster with the same bus speed the current PowerBooks have?

I just ordered a new 15" and I bought a 1 gb stick of ddr2 ram from newegg. The memory is by samsung. They are a reputable memory manufacturer and I see no reason why it shouldn't work. It is also much cheaper than apple, crucial or anyone else as I got my 1 gb stick for about $96 shipped.

I will post back here once I get my setup and get the ram installed.

The link for the ram I bought is here

Stacc said:

I just ordered a new 15" and I bought a 1 gb stick of ddr2 ram from newegg. The memory is by samsung. They are a reputable memory manufacturer and I see no reason why it shouldn't work. It is also much cheaper than apple, crucial or anyone else as I got my 1 gb stick for about $96 shipped.

I will post back here once I get my setup and get the ram installed.

The link for the ram I bought is here

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http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/05/10/13/1938242.shtml?tid=187&tid=123&tid=137 hrmmm

The quality of their products are fine I'm sure.

1nsanity said:

I could get 2x1024gig pc4200 for 300$CDN tax included and shipped to my house. We don't have newegg in Canada..... not yet anyway.

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We may not have newegg in Canada, but at least here in Calgary we have Memory Express.com which sells parts at oem prices. Check around your city, there should be at least one oem supplier in your city for parts.

Iggy

Others on here provided me with the following links/suggestions (can't keep track of where all these threads have gone!). So far the first one (datamem.com) is the most reasonable, by far ($106.00) - though I admit I haven't checked to see what shipping is, if anything. I've read many posts by people who swear by Crucial. As others have pointed out, it is wise to only buy from a company that guarantees their product and which is guaranteed to fit the Powerbook, perfectly/is definately Mac compatible.

http://www.datamem.com/viewcat.asp_Q_C_E_1178

http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upg...I=#TimeFormat(Now(),+&shoupgrds=Show+Upgrades

http://www.crucial.com/Store/checkout/CartDetail.asp

Edited to add the Kingston one, posted above, just to make this list more complete. That's a GREAT price. What's the catch?!:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820144183

Crucial memory report forthcoming

I've received my 2GB Crucial memory from Newegg although I haven't yet received my Powerbook. That should happen early next week. Will report back regarding the memory.

Another happy Crucial customer here!

Lucky8 said:

Does this DDR2 RAM run any faster with the same bus speed the current PowerBooks have?

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Nope the FSB is the bottleneck, it saturates at a bit over 1GB/s -- so switching to faster memory for large transfers won't help.

As some note, the small transfers will probably suffer a bit due to latency.

More of a cost/marketing issue.

The coming 200MHz bus with the 7448 will help much more boosting you closer to the 1.5GB/s saturation point -- as will the larger cache.

I purchased a PowerBook 15" last weekend and ordered 2 1 gig modules for it that night, received them on Tuesday:

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820144183

They've been working perfectly thus far. I paid about $180 for both modules. Much better than the $500 Apple wants for a BTO upgrade to 2 gig (Previously $800). DDR2 modules within the same speed range are pretty much all the same spec so it's really hard to go wrong if you stick with a major brand like Kingston, Crucial, Mushkin, OCZ etc.

Haven't installed RAM yet and new PB seems a tad slow.

Do you think the reason my new PB seems slower than I expected (not much different from my husband's PC desktop) is cause the extra BG of ram I ordered hasn't arrived yet/been put in yet and I'm going only on the 528 or so mb of ram it came with? I thought it might be a little faster because I had apple put in the 100/7200 rpm.

Can going from half a gig to 1.5 gb's make a difference in speed?

The things i''m noticing being somewhat slow are not the end of the world by any means, but so far they're: backspacing a sentence takes longer than it does on our old PC, and downloading the software that came with the pb seemed to take about 10 minutes per disc and I expected that to be quicker - but again it's not the end of the world.

Thanks...

ps - I love the two-finger scroll thingie!

i ordered a 1GB stick from crucial earlier today, once i get it(and the pb for that matter) i will post a review.

i also plan on getting another 1GB stick a little later to have 2GB, but right now i'd rather buy a good case with the money i have.

of note, i've seen people in other threads say you should bto with the single 1GB stick and then buy the other gig elsewhere so you don't have a stick of 512 to waste, but don't do that, i did some math and with the edu prices, you save around 60$ getting the base ram, and buying 2 sticks from crucial. and then you can always sell the 512 stick and save even more money.

think about it, i payed $150 for a gig stick from crucial, when the upgrade to a single gig stick from apple was $180edu, and thats without getting to keep the stick of 512

Greenone said:

Do you think the reason my new PB seems slower than I expected (not much different from my husband's PC desktop) is cause the extra BG of ram I ordered hasn't arrived yet/been put in yet and I'm going only on the 528 or so mb of ram it came with? I thought it might be a little faster because I had apple put in the 100/7200 rpm.

Can going from half a gig to 1.5 gb's make a difference in speed?

The things i''m noticing being somewhat slow are not the end of the world by any means, but so far they're: backspacing a sentence takes longer than it does on our old PC, and downloading the software that came with the pb seemed to take about 10 minutes per disc and I expected that to be quicker - but again it's not the end of the world.

Thanks...

ps - I love the two-finger scroll thingie!

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The 512mb to 1.5GB is going to make a MAJOR difference in speed, but you'll find out. Overall you'll see the new PB speed up when the extra RAM arrives.

Cheers,

lieb39

lieb39 said:

The 512mb to 1.5GB is going to make a MAJOR difference in speed, but you'll find out. Overall you'll see the new PB speed up when the extra RAM arrives.

Cheers,

lieb39

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Thanks for the hope, lieb!

I installed a Kingston KVR533D2S4/1G 1GB stick in the new PB I just received and am having issues with kernel panics as well as random freezing requiring a hard shutdown.

I've tried this memory in every configuration possible with and without the 512MB stick that came with my BTO.

Called Kingston and (surprise, surprise) told me that they would only help me if I bought the Kingston PowerBook approved part number rather than the generic PC2-4200 chip.

I read of others using the same chip in their PB in another thread. I am curious if anyone else has had the same issues.

jamie327 said:

I installed a Kingston KVR533D2S4/1G 1GB stick in the new PB I just received and am having issues with kernel panics as well as random freezing requiring a hard shutdown.

I've tried this memory in every configuration possible with and without the 512MB stick that came with my BTO.

Called Kingston and (surprise, surprise) told me that they would only help me if I bought the Kingston PowerBook approved part number rather than the generic PC2-4200 chip.

I read of others using the same chip in their PB in another thread. I am curious if anyone else has had the same issues.

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I wish I'd talked to you first. I called them myself a few days back to ask if the Kingston one I'd seen for so cheap online was too good to be true and they said yes - that I'd have to get another one they could definitely guarantee would fit. No way - was too much. So I got mine from datamem.com who guaranteed me it would fit, has a 30 day no questions asked type of guarantee plus lifetime replacement after that, and also guarantees it will be the right one. I hope they won't disappoint me! The stick (?) is only $104.00.

Kingston ddr2 KVR533D2S4/1G

I have the same issue with KVR533D2S4/1G in my Powerbook 1.67 with the original 512 plus the Kinston stick the computer freezes with in minutes with the 1 GB by itself it takes a bit longer but freezes up as well.

For my rev B 1.33 17", I have the KTA-PBG4333/1G Powerbook recommended Kingston memory, which works fine. (DDR, in my case, not DDR2)

I too would like to know how the memory is different when all the specs/numbers appear the same, just one of them says 'OK for Apple', has a different part number and costs £10+ more.

Corsair don't work for me

Tried this RAM in my new Powerbook 15" 1.67.
Corsair Value DDR2 SO-DIMM PC4200 1024MB Unbuffered, Non-ECC, 128Megx64, CL4
Partnumber: VS1GSDS533D2
It didn't work. The PB freezed up 3 times in less that 3 hours. Tried it with and without the original ram.

Another thumbs up for Crucial. Ordered an extra 1Gb for my new powerbook here in the UK. Ordered it at 4pm arrived next day even though postage is free. Works fine, great service.

Do you buy the parts that Crusial reccomend for PB, or just the ordninary parts. It looks like all the manufactorers has special parts for Apple with excactly the same spec as the ordninary parts. And, as I have experienced myself, there is a reason for it.

got my 1GB stick intalled from apple. whilst buying the powerbook i told the sales guy that RAM is so much cheaper online than what they charge at the apple store. So i basically told him to give me a good deal for my PB + Apple Care + 1GB DDR2 Ram Stick. And he beat the cheapest available online price for a DDR2 by AUD $20 and Apple Care by AUD$100 ($189 off the store prices). I got a sweet deal, possibly due to the commission he earned (sydney does not have any apple stores [yet], all of them are franchised outlets, hence the possibility of commission - not sure though, maybe he just wanted to achieve a sales target)
oh btw, the RAM works perfectly, loving the pbook. feels so good moving from jaguar to tiger.