RAM - crucial vs others for PB

[elkoreano]

i'm about to buy some ram, 512 to be exact, and prices on ramseeker.com seem to range from the 80's to 120's.. i know crucial has it for 122.. simple tech is quite high..

so, can anyone tell me the risks i run of buying like a $87 chip from 18004memory.com vs $122 ram from crucial or kingston

also, other no namers advertise a CAS latency of less than crucial's (2.5 vs 2.0) and some weird technologies like hyperspeed or something.. when it comes down to it, i don't want my comp to crash.. do all these mumbo jumbo numbers mean much apart from their crucial and kingston counterparts?

thanks.. peace

 

[JulesK]

I went with Crucial

I've used both Otherworldcomputing (OWC) and Crucial for memory, and have been happy with both. There's a 5% off coupon on the MacRumors home page, so you can save a little bit there. I was told that the PB isn't that tolerant of bad memory, so I went with Crucial for the 512MB module.

 

[stoid]

For a laptop, you will want the highest quality RAM mainly because laptops are in a delicate balance in hardware. I have purchase bargain brand RAM for my new AluBook and it operates just fine fortunately.

 

[pgwalsh]

Anyone know what type of RAM is in the G5... CAS etc. Specs anyone?

 

[ExoticFish]

ah jeez, they got me thinking about ram again....AAAARRRRRRGGGGG... anywho, here's my story...

I got my new 12" PowerBook (rev. b) and bought 512MB of Crucial ram, when my PB got here I installed the ram and kernel panics were playing everywhere, soooo i called Crucial and returned that ram and got a new one, same problem. The funny thing is that my friend has the exactly same PB as I do and he bought Crucial ram and is was fine. The problem is that not all ram modules even from the same assembly line are created equal and conform to the high specs that Apple requires. Apple I guess checks every single ram module that they use and only the highest quality ones pass. So I broke down a paid $200 for Apple ram and got it home, opened up the box and... hey, what's that on the sticker on the modules? a big letter M for Micron... AKA Crucial...

I was pissed off that Crucial couldn't provide me with good stuff off the bat and that I paid $70 more for the same ram from Apple just because they tested it.

I don't exactly know who I'm mad at... I think a little of both, but in the end I have a rock solid 12" dream machine, so it was worth it anyway...

</ranting and raving about nothing>

 

[jxyama]

Originally posted by ExoticFish
ah jeez, they got me thinking about ram again....AAAARRRRRRGGGGG... anywho, here's my story...

I got my new 12" PowerBook (rev. b) and bought 512MB of Crucial ram, when my PB got here I installed the ram and kernel panics were playing everywhere, soooo i called Crucial and returned that ram and got a new one, same problem. The funny thing is that my friend has the exactly same PB as I do and he bought Crucial ram and is was fine. The problem is that not all ram modules even from the same assembly line are created equal and conform to the high specs that Apple requires. Apple I guess checks every single ram module that they use and only the highest quality ones pass. So I broke down a paid $200 for Apple ram and got it home, opened up the box and... hey, what's that on the sticker on the modules? a big letter M for Micron... AKA Crucial...

I was pissed off that Crucial couldn't provide me with good stuff off the bat and that I paid $70 more for the same ram from Apple just because they tested it.

I don't exactly know who I'm mad at... I think a little of both, but in the end I have a rock solid 12" dream machine, so it was worth it anyway...

</ranting and raving about nothing>

it's sort of like beer. if i remember correctly, michelob, bud, busch and natural light all come from the same vat. michelob gets the best part, bud next, busch then whatever's left over goes into... you know.

i have almost no doubt that apple's RAM prices are simply inflated. i don't think they are any more selective than crucial. that's just my guess.

either you got really unlucky and got "even very well tested but still flaky" RAM twice in a row

OR (i think latter is more likely)

your RAM slots are prone (somehow) to bad RAM seating...

hope it's working fine now.

 

[Zeke]

Go with the better RAM. Crucial or Kingston. I have some cheap RAM that I got for free from ClubMac that was crashing constantly (every few minutes and nearly instantly if I multitasked). The PowerBook is touchy about RAM, and Panther makes it exceedingly so. (I was pretty much fine with Jaguar...couple of kernel panics...but Panther set it off.) Replaced the RAM with the original and panics went away. It's a pretty common problem for bad RAM in macs. Apparently OS X is very sensitive to it.

 

[pgwalsh]

Ok... I've dug a litte deeper and I found the follwing - some of which has already been mentioned.

The G5 ships with Hynix OEM RAM with CAS 3 timing.

RAM with CAS 2 doesn't seem to work on the G5 with certain Boot ROM version - bug fix waiting/pending. Even when the OEM RAM is removed people still reported problesm depending on the Boot ROM.

My questions now is does anyone know if Apple has release a new Boot ROM maybe in Panther and does the G5 take faster memory than the 3200?

Added: More info can be found at http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/G5/powermac_g5_docs_updates.html

 

[dieselg4]

3rd part ram

I've bought cheap ram from places on pricewatch almost exclusively. Most recent from some outfit inCA called DCC sales, for my 12" Powerbook. It was $95 including shipping and works fine. Crucial was over $120 for a 512MB SoDimm.

I've never ahd problems, but then again maybe I've been lucky.

 

[pgwalsh]

Re: 3rd part ram

Originally posted by dieselg4
I've bought cheap ram from places on pricewatch almost exclusively. Most recent from some outfit inCA called DCC sales, for my 12" Powerbook. It was $95 including shipping and works fine. Crucial was over $120 for a 512MB SoDimm.

I've never ahd problems, but then again maybe I've been lucky.

Cool... I think the big thing with Crucial and Kingston etc is the lifetime warranty and name brand.