Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

How important are RAM brands?

W

wowoah

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 16, 2003
187
0
Berkeley, CA
Hey, quick question for all you who're more technologically with-it than I am. I've heard repeatedly how important it is to max out RAM on your Mac, so I'm planning to upgrade my PowerBook's 512MB to a full 1GB. The problem is that the 512MB comes as 2 256MB DIMMS, whicih means that I'll probably have to sell those on eBay and get two 512MB DIMMS. I found 512MB DIMMS by crucial for $139.00 a pop, which is really really expensive, seeing as I'm a student. However, I also found the same DIMMS on eBay for ~40 bucks, and although the seller had really great feedback, he neglected to name what the brand of the DIMM was (leading me to believe it's some no-name generic brand.) Would it be okay for me to save some money and go with the eBay seller's brand, or will I need to bite the bullet and go for a namebrand like Crucial?

Thanks a lot for your help!
 
i personally would stay away from no-name. Sometimes no-name can be so bad that you cannot even stably run your computer (i.e. application crashes for no reason).

On the other hand, you may get lucky with the no-name brand and not get screwed :(

Crucial is very reliable, which is why i use them in my own computers :)
 
go with a brandname.

There's a chance just random RAM will cause all sorts of problems - random crashes etc...

I've been through it myself... and I bought it from a real RAM store... not some guy online.

People have had good luck with Crucial.

arn
 
Your best bet is to buy memory tailored for your system. Crucial, Kingston and several others all sell memory for a specific system. They guarantee compatibility and it makes the whole process plug and play. The memory is a little more expensive, but the added cost is minimal compared to the hassle of it not working and having to send it back or having an unstable system. I have seen memory cause the system to think it is overheating and shut itself down. Using generic memory is not a very good idea.
 
For future reference, who are the good big named memory brands, and are any recommended over another? Kingston used to be good, when i knew more about these things, and crucial seem to always pop up everywhere. thats about all i know..i think maybe siemens were good too but not sure if they still are or still make memory.
 
Thanks for all your help everyone, I'm a recent switcher-backer (haha, I bought a Dell in '97 after my Performa was being a pain in the *** and now I'm coming back) and these forums have made the transition so much easier. Just a quick thanks and shout-out :p

On a more relevant note: I found memory that's supposedly tailored to my PB at OWC for about $40 less than equivelent Crucial or Edge DIMMs. Is OWC trustworthy? They seem to have some pretty cool hardware there.
 
I've always got memory from 18004memory.com.

Very cheap, up to half the price of crucial at times (which is VERY expensive), and my system is very stable.. as was the last one. If it causes problems you can return it. I'll buy from them again.
 
I remember

I remember when a half meg of Ram for an Apple IIe was $600!

And from lots of experience upgrading both PC's and Macs, I would go with name brand for stability. I usually go overkill and get 433MHz ram with CAS2 and run it lower, but I'm a maniac. Doing this however I have a crash-free PC. Amazing, huh?
 
Try to buy brand name, but as long as it is lifetime guaranteed who the heck cares. Or course, lifetime guaranteed doesn't mean that you won't have problems with the first 17 chips they send you. :) Go for a name brand, but the lifetime warranty is the most important thing in my book.
 
I would go for a name brand. I have had issues will generic RAM in the past. Now I only buy name brand CAS Level 2 or 2.5 RAM. Haven't had a problem since.

Hickman
 
I've purchased RAM from Crucial, 18004memory.com, and OWC, and they have all been great chips. Once, I clicked on the wrong chip at Crucial, bought it, and they switched it for me for no cost. Any of those three I think are safe.

Regards,
Gus
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back