You may have heard the phrase, "good, cheap, fast: pick any two." I have opted for RAM that is good and cheap, though I'd spend a few extra dollars for a noticable speed improvement. What RAM is good and cheap, and where can I buy it?

I am building a new computer. I have bought the motherboard (Intel D945Pvs, 945P chipset, LGA775 socket, and four DDR2 667 dual-channel slots) and the CPU (Pentium 4 630, 3GHz, 800MHz front side bus, and 2MiB Level 2 cache). I am now looking for some DDR2 667 (1GiB, either as two 512MiB sticks or as one 1GiB stick) to put in it.

I remember from when I bought my two 256MiB sticks, two years ago, that the RAM's brand is important. I do not know which brands people consider good and which ones they do not.

Another factor that leaves me confused is timings. What timings are good these days?

The cheapest RAM I have found by a brand I recognize to be good is the Corsair VS1GB667D2. Unfortunately, Neither NewEgg nor Corsair on their site give any timings, so even if I knew how to interpret them, I would have no luck.

I also found the Patriot PSD21G6672 for eighteen cents less. Does anyone recognize this brand? I don't care about eighteen cents, and I'd rather know I am buying RAM from a trusted vendor, so unless I hear that Patriot is trustworthy, It is my intention to buy Corsair's RAM.

Quote: Originally Posted by stormshaman You may have heard the phrase, "good, cheap, fast: pick any two." I have opted for RAM that is good and cheap, though I'd spend a few extra dollars for a noticable speed improvement. What RAM is good and cheap, and where can I buy it? I am building a new computer. I have bought the motherboard (Intel D945Pvs, 945P chipset, LGA775 socket, and four DDR2 667 dual-channel slots) and the CPU (Pentium 4 630, 3GHz, 800MHz front side bus, and 2MiB Level 2 cache). I am now looking for some DDR2 667 (1GiB, either as two 512MiB sticks or as one 1GiB stick) to put in it. I remember from when I bought my two 256MiB sticks, two years ago, that the RAM's brand is important. I do not know which brands people consider good and which ones they do not. Another factor that leaves me confused is timings. What timings are good these days? The cheapest RAM I have found by a brand I recognize to be good is the Corsair VS1GB667D2. Unfortunately, Neither NewEgg nor Corsair on their site give any timings, so even if I knew how to interpret them, I would have no luck. I also found the Patriot PSD21G6672 for eighteen cents less. Does anyone recognize this brand? I don't care about eighteen cents, and I'd rather know I am buying RAM from a trusted vendor, so unless I hear that Patriot is trustworthy, It is my intention to buy Corsair's RAM.

Patriot is good. Get which is ever is cheaper, there both very similar.

I'm not too sure about the price but the owners of this RAM
seem to be pleased with it.

Corsair and Kingston Value Ram. Both are good in my book

Quote: Corsair and Kingston Value Ram. Both are good in my book

I share that opinion... and you might add Infineon & Transcend to those, imho.... here in the EU
those are easy to get.... they might not "take the performance crown"but they are Rock Solid!

TDR

Quote: Originally Posted by Nerdz Corsair and Kingston Value Ram. Both are good in my book

I've had nothing but good luck with Kingston ValuRAM. A particular kit I bought from them had Samsung TCCC chips. This was before I knew how to OC of course, but I was able to run @ DDR470 @ 3-3-3-8 timings with 2.6v all day.

Quote: Originally Posted by Nerdz Corsair and Kingston Value Ram.

Quote: Originally Posted by The Dragon Reborn Infineon & Transcend

Heh, I'm not shopping for suggestions. I'm buying the cheapest RAM that fits my requirements. I've looked at NewEgg, Dealnews, and a few other places, and this is what I've found. I just want to know if Patriot is a trusted brand. So far, one person has said they use it. Anyone else?

Of course, if you've seen cheaper, please, tell me! :-)

Yet another echo for the Kingston Valu. Always treated me right.

Quote: Originally Posted by Reverend KWR Kingston Valu

Yes, but is it cheaper than the Corsair? I trust the Corsair as much as Kingston (and I trust Kingston, too. In fact, I almost bought Kingston last time, but Geil was cheaper and also high quality).

Quote: Originally Posted by stormshaman Yes, but is it cheaper than the Corsair? I trust the Corsair as much as Kingston (and I trust Kingston, too. In fact, I almost bought Kingston last time, but Geil was cheaper and also high quality).

Im pretty sure they are about around the same price, you might have to compare timings though to see which one is really worth the difference of a couple bucks.

Ive managed to find some 512 Sticks, But the timings pretty much suck..(unless DDR2 is supposed to be that sucky with timings..)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145529
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145569
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227040
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145538
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820141474
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16820144165m

5-5-5-6 or so timings for some, There are some 4-4-4's in there..

As far as your particular requirements go - you haven't elaborated too much on what you want to be doing with it - hitting 800MHz? benchmarking? word processing?
If it's just for a speed improvement, I don't think you'll see too much of a boost if you have tighter timings or not (unless you bench it)
DDR2 Ram has inherently worse timings than regular DDR - I'm on Corsair ones (with the activity LED's) They do 4-4-4-12 at 667MHz/1.9V, however you pay for the performance (twice that of the value stuff)

The Corsair Value Select stuff is good RAM - Corsair are one of the companies at at the forefront of RAM innovation - so you know they're trustworthy -it just doesn't have the fancy bells and whistles that their other lines have (they also have a decent warranty too - 5 years where I am for the value select, lifetime for the rest)

Kingston ValueRAM is also a good buy - as far as the patriot stuff goes, i've heard good things on their DDR, but nothing on DDR2.

Good luck

EDIT:

Quote: Originally Posted by corsair's site Part # : VS1GBKIT667D2 Type : DDR2-667 (PC2-5300) Size : 1GB Kit (2 x 512MB) Latency : 5-5-5-15 (JEDEC) Package : 240-pin DIMM Heat Spreader : none

There's timings for the 1GB kit anyway

EDIT EDIT: just read the affiliate review posted by spectrum:
http://www.pcstats.com/artvnl.cfm?articleID=1935
That's patriot (higher end though - but sick timings regardless)

Quote: Originally Posted by Masterp As far as your particular requirements go - you haven't elaborated too much on what you want to be doing with it - hitting 800MHz? benchmarking? word processing? If it's just for a speed improvement, I don't think you'll see too much of a boost if you have tighter timings or not (unless you bench it) DDR2 Ram has inherently worse timings than regular DDR - I'm on Corsair ones (with the activity LED's) They do 4-4-4-12 at 667MHz/1.9V, however you pay for the performance (twice that of the value stuff)

It is not for a speed improvement; I am switching from an old Athlon XP 1700+ to a Pentium 4 630. I do not intend to game on this. Watching movies, using three monitors, Photoshop, and Illustrator are the most strenuous activities with which I will task it.

I am out of the loop of knowing what timings are good nowadays. I think I remember that some numbers should be high, some should be integers, and some should be multiples of two, but nothing beyond that. Also, last time I knew anything about timings, there were only three numbers. Now there are four.

Quote: Originally Posted by Masterp they also have a decent warranty too - 5 years where I am for the value select, lifetime for the rest

Both the Corsair and Patriot on NewEgg have lifetime warranties from the manufacturers. I have decided to buy the Corsair.