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Anyone using Kingston ram? And do you 'need' to get a 'matched' pair/set?

M

msmth928

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 3, 2009
154
0
As the title says really :)

Reason I ask about the matched pair/kit is because the retailer I was going to buy it from has run out of the 6GB kit, but do have separate 2GB modules... wondering if it would be ok to just go ahead and order 3 of those :-/
 
I actually tried pairing a 1gb Kingston with some no-name brand that was same size but neither would show up. But of course that was in a G5. Could be a different story in a Pro
 
Well, my G5 also was picky as all hell on my RAM, so I'd have to agree that it may be a horse of a different color.

OP: Make sure you know the return policy very, very well before you take any chances with your RAM cash. Best of luck, but with enough research, you won't need as much.;)
 
They are being advertised for the mac so should be ok there:

Kingston 2GB DDR3 1066Mhz ECC Memory For Apple Mac Pro 8-Core, Quad-Core , Xserve Xeon (Ref 333-0884 Or Mb981g/a)
Click to expand...

Do I 'need' to get a kit or will 3 or 4 of these be as good?
 
Do you have to buy a matched pair guys? It's considerably cheaper just buying 3 x 2GB Kingston sticks than getting a 3x2GB kit (which for all we know are just 3 sticks just put in a package and called a 'kit'!).
 
msmth928 said:
Do you have to buy a matched pair guys? It's considerably cheaper just buying 3 x 2GB Kingston sticks than getting a 3x2GB kit (which for all we know are just 3 sticks just put in a package and called a 'kit'!).
Click to expand...

Not sure what computer you have as your post doesn't tell us. I have a early 2008 MacPro and they have to be matched pairs...
 
surflordca said:
Not sure what computer you have as your post doesn't tell us. I have a early 2008 MacPro and they have to be matched pairs...
Click to expand...

2009 Quad MacPro - where tri channel can be utilised. Just not sure if they have to be or can be 'matched' ?
 
I bought Kingston ram because they work the best with ZDNet clock. I am able to overclock my Early 2008 2.8 to 3.3Ghz, and 3.2Ghz with a reboot.
 
Just recently got a matched pair of 2GB Kingston KTA on top of my stock 6x1GB RAM on my 2009 Octad MP, so all 8 slots occupied. As for tri-channel, there is no difference on my apps, even though some of them are memory hogs.
 
Jarman74 said:
Hi,

is anybody able to tell me, in a nutshell, why Kingston's memory modules are so much more expensive than Crucial's? Do they have any specific feature?

Crucial (8GB modules): € 190.99 ex. VAT
Kingston (8GB modules) € 305.00 ex. VAT :confused:
Click to expand...
There shouldn't be any difference (both indicate they're for Apple MP, so it has the same timings and heatsinks), so go with the less expensive vendor.

forester54 said:
BTW do all MP's need the heatsinks on the RAM?
Click to expand...
The '06 - '08 MP's used DDR2 FB-DIMM (memory clock depends on the model though; 667 or 800MHz), which did require heatsinks. Larger from that used on the PC versions, given their placement. Otherwise, it was the same chips and PCB as the PC variants.

The '09's do not require heatsinks. DDR3 runs much cooler than DDR2 FB-DIMM's. :)
 
I have used Kingston rams for many years from the Powermac G5s and the MacPros. Works fine with no problems. I don't know about the warranty in other countries but here Kingston has a lifetime warranty.
 
I'm going to post a comment i made in another thread, it has to do with kingston ram;

I had a similar problem with RAM i purchased made by Kingston, for my first generation Mac Pro. I bought 2x2gb sticks. I already had 4x512mb, so I would have had a total of 6gb. I installed the ram and it came out at 4gb total. I repositioned the ram and restarted the mac, and got my full 6gb.

After about 2 weeks, after doing some random fiddling around with settings and such, I checked my mac pro's system specs (just to drool at its awesomeness) and noticed my RAM went down from 6gb to 4gb. I checked everything; repositioning of ram, swapping ram out (isolated old ram, isolated new ram), ram tests, pram resets, etc. What I found that the kingston modules were showing up as 2x1gb. So i tried running them on their own (only one module in the mac). Sure enough, a red light flashed on the riser card and one of them had dropped down to 1gb of available memory, the other was fine. When paired, I got a total of 2gb. I got it quickly replaced for new working ram. I'm still a little skeptical of kingston, eventhough its brand name. Hopefully the new modules I got will last me a good while.

Here's my thread if you wanna read more into it;

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/791432/
 
nanofrog said:
There shouldn't be any difference (both indicate they're for Apple MP, so it has the same timings and heatsinks), so go with the less expensive vendor.
Click to expand...

Sure thing, I will do so. Thanks! :)

ungraphic said:
I'm still a little skeptical of kingston, eventhough its brand name.
Click to expand...

Seems its brand name would cost a hefty €100 to me. A good reason to be definitely skeptical :p

Thanks for your link! ;)
 
I bought 4 sticks of 2GB Kingston HyperX from Fry's on sale and haven't had any problems. Buying the individual sticks was about 30% cheaper than buying the dual channel matched pair.

Do manufacturers actually do anything to determine matched pairs or do they just package two of the same the same model in the package?
 
DNA930 said:
Do manufacturers actually do anything to determine matched pairs or do they just package two of the same the same model in the package?
Click to expand...
They should, but these days, I think the definition of "matched" has become subjective with some vendors.

For example, they may only consider matching the listed specs of type, clock, and timings, rather than any binning at all (tests the individual DIMMs to see what it can actually do, and combine similarly performing DIMM's in the kit). It can be done by binning the chips before assembly into the DIMM, but the variance may be wider as a result. But the binning process is the reason the price is higher.
 
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