Noobie Memory Question

[nagd1986]

I am building a pc for the first time using core 2 dou. I primarly enjoying watching HD Porn and surfing the web, and also like to listen to music with the Zune Desktop Medial Player.

Here is my question.

what is the difference between ram brands. Because i see 4gb of memory could be any from 40 dollars to 140 dollars. does it matter what type of ram i buy? Shouldn't all ram perform the same as long as its same size?

 

[jsc]

Difference? Not a lot among the top brands.
Does it matter ... ? Not a lot among the top brands.
Perform the same? Oh, no. But among the top brands, performance is close enough at most frequencies that you would need a good benchmark program to distinguish among them.

Read this article:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ddr2-ram-memory,2079.html

It would be hard to go wrong with any of the brands in the article. I have, for a long time, prefered Crucial. I have used OCZ. A lot of people prefer Corsair.

 

[jfurterer]

I'd suggest Crucial for two reasons. It's a "top" brand and performs well and it has a LIFETIME WARRANTY. No hassles. If it stops working send it back and get a new chip. Unless your on a real shoe string, penny pinching, serious budget or need the highest possible, super performance, and over clocking action Crucial is always the brand to get whether your watching HD porn or any other kind of porn. You can find it at Newegg.

 

[average joe]

Expensive RAM is either:

1.) Great Quality RAM that will overclock well ie is can take extra voltage so you can lower timings and it handle the heat better than average.

2.) Hype Cheap RAM is a fancy looking heat spreader

3.) Some combination of the two.

If you are going to overclock you need Number 1.

If you aren't then get a decent branded Value RAM that is on your motherboard manufacturers list of approved vendors. Make sure you now what default voltages are on the board (DDR2 1.8) and the specs the ram has at those voltages.