Best type of memory?

G

gisa

Routelayer Ordinaire...
Hi All,


I've finally got my wife's permission to upgrade the memory in my computer :hehe: but I was wondering what the best type would be, how much I should get and how much it should set me back? I know there are several kinds and that RAM in general is cheap but I want something that would be good for trainz (and multitasking) of course. Right now I have 1 GIG of DDR RAM.

Current setup:
O.S. - Windows 2000
(As mentioned) Memory - 1 GIG DDR RAM
Graphics Card - nVidia 7600 GT (256 MB)

Input is appreciated as always!

:wave:

Gisa ^^
 
It's vital that memory is 100% compatible with your computer.

Crucial offer an extremely useful free utility which will scan your current memory configuration and list your upgrade options.

Armed with that information, you can then visit various retailers (online and/or conventional as desired) and check for the best price.

If you're not used to fitting memory modules I would suggest asking someone who is to do the job for you. It only takes a couple of minutes but there is a knack to it and some vital precautions which need to be taken to avoid any risk of damage.

John
 
Last edited:
The best type of memory is the one you get for free from other upgrades:D

Best to check out whats best for your system before laying down any cash.
 
I think it depends on where you live as well Mark, not having visited South Korea, I'm unable to offer any advice on which companies sell products in that country. I could suggest you look at a couple of British websites for RAM upgrades, but I don't know if they'll mail stuff to the other side of the world.....:hehe:

Cheerz. ex.
 
ex-railwayman said:
I think it depends on where you live as well Mark, not having visited South Korea, I'm unable to offer any advice on which companies sell products in that country. I could suggest you look at a couple of British websites for RAM upgrades, but I don't know if they'll mail stuff to the other side of the world.....:hehe:

Cheerz. ex.
Click to expand...

Generally speaking the US has cheaper memory prices than the UK, Canada has quite reasonable prices as well.

I'd suggest having a look at what memory you have at the moment and how many slots your system has and how much your motherboard will access. Aim for 2.5 or more gigs of memory for 32 bit XP or Vista, 64 bit Vista depends on the cpu / chipset. More than 2.5 gigs doesn't buy you much in increased performance by the way over 2.5 gigs but it might be simpler to go to 4 gigs.

Cheerio John
 
johnwhelan said:
Aim for 2.5 or more gigs of memory for 32 bit XP or Vista, 64 bit Vista depends on the cpu / chipset. More than 2.5 gigs doesn't buy you much in increased performance by the way over 2.5 gigs but it might be simpler to go to 4 gigs.

Cheerio John
Click to expand...
I'm a little confused about getting more than 2MB because I keep seeing comments (not just here) that most programs including 32-bit Vista don't use over 2MB (though I just saw a site that said 3MB is the limit) so why buy more?

gisa,
First I would say to get your system specs, mainly motherboard specs from the computer manufacturer. For example, my current memory (from when I purchased this computer):
Memory 1024 MB (2x512MB) DDR2 PC4200 (533MHz) DIMM
But the motherboard specs for RAM is:
RAM Type (Various) DDR2 PC5300 (667MHz) DIMM
You can see my current memory is slower than the max speed I can use so speed not just memory matters. There's also some info about voltage, but I'm not sure what so I cannot give specific info here, you need a more tech savvy person.

I can say the Crucial is not the only site offering an advisor. NewEgg does, so does Best Buy and others. What is interesting is if you use different advisors, each has different answers. What should be noted here is specs and price of memory, that's where decisions need to be made.
Here's a list of what different advisors tell me for a 1GB stick since I want to go 2MB total (at least).
NewEgg - CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) $14.49
Crucial - 1GB, 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 memory module $15.99
also 2GB kit (1GBx2), 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 memory module $31.99
Best Buy/Circuit City/Corsair(through Micro Center) - doesn't list my system.
Buffalo (through Micro Center) - a bit too technical for me, I get lost as to whether I want buffered, registered or unbuffered so I can't get past this selection yet.
Kingston - 1GB 533MHz DDR2 Non-ECC CL4 DIMM $12
also 1GB 533MHz DDR2 Non-ECC CL4 DIMM (Kit of 2) $16
also 2GB 533MHz DDR2 Non-ECC CL4 DIMM (Kit of 2) $24
eMachnes (computer manufacturer) - will provide advice through a phone call (for a price when out of warranty) and even offer to sell me memory.

In addition, you could try someplace like PriceGrabber.com for comparison shopping and sort by various methods. For example, above it looks like Kingston is cheaper until you add their $6 Shipping Fee that NewEgg doesn't have. But there is also reviews, some memory like Kingston, Crucial, Corsair have positive reviews, others like Patriot and PNY have none.

Once you look through all this, then it is what items you need combined with ones you like such as price over rating, rating over price, etc.
 
StorkNest said:
I'm a little confused about getting more than 2MB because I keep seeing comments (not just here) that most programs including 32-bit Vista don't use over 2MB (though I just saw a site that said 3MB is the limit) so why buy more?

gisa,
First I would say to get your system specs, mainly motherboard specs from the computer manufacturer. For example, my current memory (from when I purchased this computer):
Memory 1024 MB (2x512MB) DDR2 PC4200 (533MHz) DIMM
But the motherboard specs for RAM is:
RAM Type (Various) DDR2 PC5300 (667MHz) DIMM
You can see my current memory is slower than the max speed I can use so speed not just memory matters. There's also some info about voltage, but I'm not sure what so I cannot give specific info here, you need a more tech savvy person.

I can say the Crucial is not the only site offering an advisor. NewEgg does, so does Best Buy and others. What is interesting is if you use different advisors, each has different answers. What should be noted here is specs and price of memory, that's where decisions need to be made.
Here's a list of what different advisors tell me for a 1GB stick since I want to go 2MB total (at least).
NewEgg - CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) $14.49
Crucial - 1GB, 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 memory module $15.99
also 2GB kit (1GBx2), 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 memory module $31.99
Best Buy/Circuit City/Corsair(through Micro Center) - doesn't list my system.
Buffalo (through Micro Center) - a bit too technical for me, I get lost as to whether I want buffered, registered or unbuffered so I can't get past this selection yet.
Kingston - 1GB 533MHz DDR2 Non-ECC CL4 DIMM $12
also 1GB 533MHz DDR2 Non-ECC CL4 DIMM (Kit of 2) $16
also 2GB 533MHz DDR2 Non-ECC CL4 DIMM (Kit of 2) $24
eMachnes (computer manufacturer) - will provide advice through a phone call (for a price when out of warranty) and even offer to sell me memory.

In addition, you could try someplace like PriceGrabber.com for comparison shopping and sort by various methods. For example, above it looks like Kingston is cheaper until you add their $6 Shipping Fee that NewEgg doesn't have. But there is also reviews, some memory like Kingston, Crucial, Corsair have positive reviews, others like Patriot and PNY have none.

Once you look through all this, then it is what items you need combined with ones you like such as price over rating, rating over price, etc.
Click to expand...

Trainz can use 2 gigs of memory. However you are also using XP, antivirus software, and other things running in the background, which also require memory, 512mb is sufficient for XP etc.

Crucial scanner is a reasonable way to get the motherboard information without taking the computer apart. It will also look at you cpu speed etc to recommend the optimum memory speed. Volage only really becomes important when you decide to overclock the memory.

Memory comes in different grades, some has passed more stringent tests than others, if you are putting it in yourself I'd probably go best quality, if you are a computer builder looking for the highest profit then you'd probably go cheapest available.

Cheerio John
 
Wow! Lots of input! Groovy. :)

As I mentioned, I'm running win 2k and don't plan on upgrading anytime in the near future. The thing is, I want to stretch my current system (single core athalon xp 3200 ~ 2.0 gHz) for a few years because then I'll be moving back to Canada.

I'm not worried about memory prices over here, since Korea makes a lot of it. :D Ordering overseas right now would generally be foolish since I get paid in Won and the Won has taken a big hit (as have many other currencies around the world).

I just want to know what type is best? DDR? DDR2? SDRAM? It's kind of confusing to a computer intermediate type like myself. :)

If I have to, I will find a shop, bring my desktop in, let the guy open it up, check it out and give me some advice and go from there. My wife is Korean, so she'll know if something is fishy and she might even be able to cut me a deal. :D

:wave:

Gisa ^^
 
gisa said:
Wow! Lots of input! Groovy. :)

As I mentioned, I'm running win 2k and don't plan on upgrading anytime in the near future. The thing is, I want to stretch my current system (single core athalon xp 3200 ~ 2.0 gHz) for a few years because then I'll be moving back to Canada.

I'm not worried about memory prices over here, since Korea makes a lot of it. :D Ordering overseas right now would generally be foolish since I get paid in Won and the Won has taken a big hit (as have many other currencies around the world).

I just want to know what type is best? DDR? DDR2? SDRAM? It's kind of confusing to a computer intermediate type like myself. :)

If I have to, I will find a shop, bring my desktop in, let the guy open it up, check it out and give me some advice and go from there. My wife is Korean, so she'll know if something is fishy and she might even be able to cut me a deal. :D

:wave:

Gisa ^^
Click to expand...

Grab the scanner from www.crucial.com and buy the type it tells you to buy. This need not be crucial.

Cheerio John
 
Thanks for the link John. ^^ I used crucial before but it had problems trying to identify some of the stuff on my computer. I used another program, CPU-Z (freeware) to find out my mainboard (ASUSTeK A8N-E)

I found out two important pieces of information. I know I have 4 open slots in total (using two now - in the 1st and 3rd position [does it matter which positions so long as they are in pairs? - i.e. 1st and 4th or 2nd and third...?]):

Supported DRAM Types: DDR SDRAM only
Error Detection Support: ECC and non-ECC

I wanted to ask: what is the difference between ECC and non ECC memory? Would I be correct to assume that ECC is better and faster than non-ECC?

I can also only use DDR SDRAM only too right?

As well it stated:

Do I have to install matching pairs?

A: Yes. Your system requires that you install memory in pairs.

So that means I'll have to buy two sticks...right? Or can I get a kit? Would that count as a pair?)

Since I'm going with windows 2000 for now (I suppose I'll have no choice but to upgrade within a years time or so - maybe I can ride it out 'till I get back home or XP gets even cheaper) how much memory should I go with for trainz, as a total?

From all these questions, I can then find out how much I'll need, the best type and then the final price. :)

Thank you all for your input so far! It's been very useful and helpful! I hope it helps others too!

:wave:

Gisa ^^
 
Last thing...



I circled two things. Is the memory in the middle one unit of 1 gig or two bars of 512 MBs? If so, why is it so much more? :confused:

:wave:

Gisa ^^
 
Basically with SDRAM it's sort of what is being made and available. Since memory chips are basically made by making a photocopy then etching it the basic manufacturing cost of 1 gig parts is the same as 512 mb except as the volume goes up so the cost comes down.

I'd go with the 1 Gig part and buy two of them. If you are going with quality memory you don't need a matched pair but do put in two of the same type to keep the dual channel. You know what the memory is DDR PC3200 so see if you con pick up a cheaper manufacturer locally. Kingston isn't bad, tomshardware.com has some reviews on memory.

ECC memory is roughly 2% slower than non ecc memory but is more reliable. If you run ecc memory then all your memory should be of the ECC type and your existing memory probably isn't.

Cheerio John
 
gisa said:
I circled two things. Is the memory in the middle one unit of 1 gig or two bars of 512 MBs? If so, why is it so much more? :confused:

:wave:

Gisa ^^
Click to expand...

It is 2 512MB sticks, note the (512MB x 2), that's why it says 1GB kit. I don't know why the cost but if you can afford that, may as well get the 2GB kit (1GB x 2) on the right.
 
Hi All,


Thank you all again for your advice. I am always impressed by your knowlege John, but from what I read on the internet, there did not seem to be an overall speed increase when comparing win2k to win XP? I trust your opinion but yeah, regardless is that true for other games and applications as well?

I am thinking of getting XP and then the memory. That should suffice for a pre-xmas present. :D

:wave:

Gisa ^^
 
gisa said:
Hi All,


Thank you all again for your advice. I am always impressed by your knowlege John, but from what I read on the internet, there did not seem to be an overall speed increase when comparing win2k to win XP? I trust your opinion but yeah, regardless is that true for other games and applications as well?

I am thinking of getting XP and then the memory. That should suffice for a pre-xmas present. :D

:wave:

Gisa ^^
Click to expand...

When I upgraded from w2k to P that was the sort of performance increase I saw in Trainz. XP was designed to give better games performance plus you are using later drivers which normally helps.

Cheerio John
 
Hi John,


Thank you for the explanation. I will see if I can go about getting Windows XP, but I think it will be virtually impossible to pick it up over here. We'll see what I can do.

You'd recommend 4 gigs total for XP right?

:wave:

Gisa ^^
 
gisa said:
Hi John,


Thank you for the explanation. I will see if I can go about getting Windows XP, but I think it will be virtually impossible to pick it up over here. We'll see what I can do.

You'd recommend 4 gigs total for XP right?

:wave:

Gisa ^^
Click to expand...

2.5 gigs is probably enough, anything more and you won't see any noticeable difference in performance, but sometimes its easier to drop in 3 or 4 gigs depends what you can lay your hands on. XP can see 3-3.5 gigs of memory depending on the motherboard will use extra memory to cache the hard drives which is always a good thing.

Cheerio John
 
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