Is Kingstom Hyper X PC3500 memory ok?

[Donald_Duck]

i\'m wondering if there is any kind of problem with Kingstom Hyper X PC3500
this type of memory, since nobody recommended it when i asked about components for building a giga pc, instead pc3200 was recommended....
is there any particular reason?

[Sovereign]

Expensive memory like Kingston or Crucial is a waste of money if you ask me, cheap memory will work just as well. Stuff from Kingston or Crucial is only really useful if you\'re going to overclock your system, pump up the FSB and all.

[JonFairhurst]

It\'s all about insurance. I\'ve had good cheap memory and bad. The bad stuff can make you nuts, and make you spend more money searching for the bum device. Same for motherboards. Maybe I\'m just more risk averse as I get older.

[Malinger]

I think its important to have good quality memory. You should not spend money on the cheap stuff because as JonFairhurst said-if you have problems you will pull-out your hair trying to figure what hardware is causing the problem(s).
...as for the Kingstom Hyper X PC3500... PC3500 means it will operate at speeds of up to 433MHZ while the recommended PC3200 operates at 400MHZ. Which one you should purchase should depend on the speed that your motherboard supports. You would be throwing money away if you bought the 433MHZ if your motherboard only supports speeds of up to 266MHZ, while the 433MHZ will still work on your motherboard it will not reach the maximum speed of the RAM. Now if you want to purchase the higher speed RAM because you are thinking of upgrading your motherboard in the near future then I would suggest you purchase the higher speed RAM. And buy the way, Kingston is a reliable brand. Remember try not to purchase cheap RAM for a DAW or GIGA system.

[Sovereign]

Originally posted by Malinger:
I think its important to have good quality memory. You should not spend money on the cheap stuff because as JonFairhurst said-if you have problems you will pull-out your hair trying to figure what hardware is causing the problem(s).

And buy the way, Kingston is a reliable brand. Remember try not to purchase cheap RAM for a DAW or GIGA system. <font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">The suggestion that cheap memory is likely going to cause problems is plain nonsense. 99% of the time it\'s going to work okay. And besides, ram troubles are easy to diagnose, there are several applications which can thoroughly test it.

I\'m using cheap ram in all my systems, have not a single problem in years. All my friends are using cheap ram in their PCs, no troubles.

[JonFairhurst]

Last year I built a system with some generic RAM from Frys. I couldn\'t get through the Windows setup program. I bought some Micron RAM, and it worked great. (And Frys refunded my money.)

Just this week at work I put two systems together. Each has PC3200 Samsung RAM on an Asus A7V8X. Neither works with the 166 MHz external clock (for 333 MHz operation). I turned the clock down and they work fine. I\'ve got top rated power supplies. Voltages are good. Temps are good. Both systems identical. Maybe I can tweak down the 2nd-level memory settings to get them to play at full speed. Oh well, for their applications I need 100% reliability rather than raw power.

Over the years I\'ve had three situations:

1) Excellent, trouble-free machines
2) Machines that were clearly not working, and
3) Machines that generally worked, but were occasionally flakey.

The second case can cost some money to fix, but the third case will drive you nuts. These things are haunted. And they devolve over time. Your first assumption is that the software is buggy. Programs and data become corrupted. You re-install everything and they go bad again.

I haven\'t always been able to pinpoint the ghost in the haunted machines. But when I have, it\'s been RAM. Always RAM.

So maybe the right thing is to get a great overclocking motherboard - not to overclock, but to underclock, in case your system starts misbehaving. Then you can go with cheap RAM, and clock down to see if the problems go away. And in the cases that fixes it, then get the expensive stuff. Or live with a slower machine.

Like I say, buying top RAM is insurance. I\'d say the cheap stuff has worked for me about 70% of the time. So you either get lucky or you don\'t. And for the bad luck cases, you pay up front, or pay later.

Let\'s hear it for good luck!

[Sovereign]

If you look into any hardware forum or NG you\'ll see that ram plays only a minor role among hardware troubles.

And there\'s \"cheap\" and \"cheap\" ram, I\'m not saying you should buy any OEM stick but there are quite a number of decent brands out there about which people have written a lot in the appropriate newsgroups. Then again, Kingston is not that much more expensive here in Holland compared to the cheaper OEM ram, perhaps a few euros at best.

I\'m just saying ultra-expensive ram from, say, crucial, which is almost double the price, is not worth it unless you\'re into heavy overclocking.