On Monday 10 October 2005 20:28, Gil Weber wrote: <snip>
Now I have to shop. Do you folks have recommendations... ?
Hi Gil, Sorry for the delay. I just got back in. The best approach is to go back to the motherboard manufacturer and ask, or research their website to find, which memory suppliers and products have been "certified" or at least extensively tested at the factory and are known to work with that board. That way, you are tapping into the in-house engineering talent and specific product knowledge behind the board. It might seem more expensive and time-consuming to go this route, especially when you're comparing against advertised "market" prices but, as you're discovering, there is just no substitute for the "real thing" when it comes to combining tested high quality chips with well designed high quality circuit boards. Each step in the process of building high quality modules adds to the value. This fact is generally reflected in higher prices. Words of warning: The high quality stuff is almost *always* in high demand and on the verge of being in short supply. The reason behind this seeming contradiction is market volatility. No one wants to be stuck with a large inventory of memory that can drop in value by 50% or more in one day. So everybody in the chain runs as close as possible to being a "just in time" operation. One of the down sides to this is speculators in the wholesale market preying on ignorance and greed... they often try to substitute tier 2 and tier 3 goods in place of tier 1 products while still charging the tier 1 price. When the tier 2 or tier 3 modules "stick" (meaning they work in a customer's machine and don't get returned) the seller makes an exorbitant profit, a.k.a. "a killing." OTOH, honest sellers usually identify tier 2 and tier 3 products as such by discounting them accordingly, like the manufacturers. (They don't advertise "Tier 2" or "Tier 3" but the price should tell you when a module is less than premium grade.) For example, Kingston has what I think they call a "Value" line that is typically priced competitively against "advertised market" and is much lower than their premium product. IIRC, the "Value" line has a normal one or two year warranty. By comparison, their premium product comes with a *24 hour Advance Replacement Warranty*, meaning if the system goes down due to a problem with their memory, you can call them and, in one business day, receive a replacement part in advance via DHL/FedEx etc. at no cost beyond the return shipping (and you can return the defective part(s) using a less expensive method, via UPS Ground, for example.) Note: I haven't reviewed their offerings lately, so don't hold me to the details on Kingston. But look for any reputable supplier who offers comparable service and warranty. Crucial, Kingston, Corsair (in my machine), Smart, Micron and there are others. You'll never be fired for specifying Hitachi or Mitsubishi or Siemens chips, either. Of course, these names are pulled from the top of my head and I've been out of the memory market for a long time. Hopefully, this gives you enough of a background to do some intelligent shopping. Good luck! - Carl