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

RAM Quality: Crucial vs Kingston

mattmower

mattmower

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 12, 2010
119
19
Berkshire, UK
I'd like to order my memory from OWC, since their reputation is good and the price is quite competitive even after duty. However the (admittedly small) risk of getting a faulty DIMM which I would then have to pay to ship back (and wait 5-10 days for it's replacement) puts me off.

So that leaves Crucial and Kingston as front-runners for RAM I can source here in the UK.

3x4GB from Crucial is £420.64
3x4GB from Kingston is £387.01
3x4GB from OWC is £366.08 (inc. VAT @ 17.5% and Fedex Intl priority 3-5 day shipping)

In the past I've always used Crucial for my memory and £34 is not such a huge difference yet, it's £34 I could put towards something else.

I've never bought Kingston memory. Is there any reason why I should think that cheaper == lower quality?

Many thanks for any advice.

Matt
 
For what it's worth, I've never received a bad module from OWC But I do understand your concern, being in the UK.

Kingston and Crucial both manufacture quality memory. It would be hard to quantify which one is better than the other as far as Mac memory is concerned.
 
CaptainChunk said:
For what it's worth, I've never received a bad module from OWC But I do understand your concern, being in the UK.
Click to expand...

I know their return rates are low but it would be just my luck. The extra shipping cost wouldn't bother me as much as having to wait the 6-10 business days while it went back and, then, they send out a replacement.

CaptainChunk said:
Kingston and Crucial both manufacture quality memory. It would be hard to quantify which one is better than the other as far as Mac memory is concerned.
Click to expand...

Thanks. It certainly seems that you can get better prices on the Kingston MP memory. As low as £120 (albeit from a vendor, businessforce.ltd.uk, that I don't know rather than Cancom @ £129) which ends up being £60 cheaper than Crucial.

That's not to be sniffed at.

Matt
 
Giuly said:
Who cares? They all have lifetime warranty.
Click to expand...

The warranty isn't the issue. What I wanted to avoid was a false economy, save £30 and then have hassle from faulty/low-quality memory. But what I am hearing so far is that the Kingston memory should be on a par with Crucial.

Giuly said:
But let me tell you a secret, 3x4GB Kingston DDR3-1333 ECC for £275 incl. VAT and shipping - or the RAM that Kingston states especially for the Mac Pro, KTA-MP1333/4G, for £111/4GB plus shipping. They work both.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the links.

Matt
 
I've never had any problems with Crucials or Kingstons. I had a bad set of FB-DIMMs once from OWC. Of course, they exchanged it but I had to pay for shipping to them and I had down time.
 
In my experience I have never rec'd a bad Crucial stick. I have rec'd bad Kingston RAM, most recently for my new 2.8 QC MP. However, that is completely anecdotal and the odds of getting a bad stick of RAM from any quality vendor are probably pretty equal and my Kingston exp. is just dumb luck. It doesn't really sway me as I always go for the least expensive quality RAM. Brand is always a secondary consideration. I will buy Kingston again if it's significantly less expensive than Crucial.

I will not, however, buy Kingston's "ValuRAM" under any circumstance as that is a 50/50 prop at best on a Mac.
 
NickCG said:
As we discussed in your other thread regarding Crucial's RAM, it does indeed have Thermal Sensors. So, that's not an issue.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's why I brought this question up since the Crucial memory was back in the picture.

NickCG said:
However, I went ahead and ordered Kingston's RAM from a Dutch vendor, as I live there. 129 EUR (Roughly £110) per stick. Works out over 100 EUR cheaper than Crucial, and it seems to be of the same, or a similar quality.
Click to expand...

That's good to know, thanks. I'm leaning towards it myself.

Matt
 
Chupa Chupa said:
I will buy Kingston again if it's significantly less expensive than Crucial.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

Chupa Chupa said:
I will not, however, buy Kingston's "ValuRAM" under any circumstance as that is a 50/50 prop at best on a Mac.
Click to expand...

Yeah. It doesn't make sense to buy £3000 worth of computer and then put marginal memory in it.

I'm guessing that the memory is the same components but the "ValuRAM" stuff doesn't pass the most stringent QA checks and, hence, gets a different marketing label.

Matt.
 
I have both brands and never had any problems... Still I kind like crucial's RAM more since it tends to be more reliable... For you is basically just £11.25 more for each stick so I would go Crucial...
 
I've had numerous faulty memory sticks from crucial never from owc or Kingston. I am in the UK and I always buy from owc now.
 
I had a go at overclocking my 2008(using the software tool) but I could never get anything useful as I got memory errors from the crucial modules I have. The apple ones never got errors.
I have always used crucial but I have had a bad module in the past (although I have had a lot of memory from them). I have only had one set of kingston in the past and it was fine. I am trying kingston next on my mac pro.
 
My MP arrived today and I set about swapping the RAM for my new Crucial UK modules. I notice the Apple RAM I am removing is identical to the Crucial RAM. The label is the same, although the Crucial modules have an extra Crucial sticker.

I didn't recogise the manufacturer logo but I am sure others will know. It is a "M" with a Nike like swoosh around it.....
 
I ended up buying 2x4GB from Crucial.

They may not be the cheapest but I've bought all my Mac RAM from them and never had a problem so I figure, go with what you know.

Matt
 
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