Best RAM Company

B

Boyo

Gawd
Joined
Apr 10, 2006
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626
I use Corsair, but I see a lot of people who buy g.skill RAM. It got me to thinking, who in general makes the best RAM?
 
cosair seems to be the best.. but just go with the cheapest brand name ram you can get.. better timings may give you only 1-2% speed difference. Better spending the extra 100 dollars on a better video card or just get more ram :p
 
Boyo said:
I use Corsair, but I see a lot of people who buy g.skill RAM. It got me to thinking, who in general makes the best RAM?
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It depends if you are overclocking or not. Also depends what Corsair memory you bought and when you bought it. I guess they were top of the heap in their glory days.

In my personal experience Crucial has a very sketchy quality control process when it comes to their memory that uses the PROMOS memory chips. I had one pair of 6400C4 that I had to send back, it would only do 350 MHz stable and would fail memtest at the rated 4-4-4-12, DDR2 800, 2.1V I have another pair that newegg is taking back too. Then I got a first replacement pair and it is stable at 460 i.e. DDR2 920, 4-4-4-12 :D So go figure. Read the reviews on newegg, a couple months later and they are still having many people with bad sticks and outright DOA. To their credit they are now making an attempt to fix the problem. If you want to get Micron D9 for overclock you would be better off to get Crucial Ballistix since that is Micron company itself.
 
wdn said:
I had one pair of 6400C4 that I had to send back, it would only do 350 MHz stable and would fail memtest at the rated 4-4-4-12, DDR2 800, 2.1V I have another pair that newegg is taking back too. Then I got a first replacement pair and it is stable at 460 i.e. DDR2 920, 4-4-4-12 :D So go figure. Read the reviews on newegg, a couple months later and they are still having many people with bad sticks and outright DOA.
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Actually, the reviews on newegg aren't really representative of the number of RMAs we're seeing. The 6400C4 RMA rate (for DOA and everything) is just about the same as every other part we have.

It is, however, our best-selling DDR2 part right now, which might equate for why it seems that more people are having problems. If you sell 10,000 parts at say a 1% failure rate, that's 100 bad sticks. If you sell 1,500 parts at that same failure rate, that's 15 bad sticks. If 20% of people with bad modules leave a bad review on newegg, that's 20 bad reviews for the first part and 3 bad reviews for the second.

I'm just making those numbers up right now to illustrate the point. Just because a part has more bad reviews doesn't necessarily mean that it's a worse part.

Also, if you have a good, perfectly working kit, you're less likely to write a review about the product than if you have problems.

I can tell you that we voluntarily brought all the 6400C4 and 6400C4D kits back from Newegg in order to test them to determine if something was wrong, just because we'd heard there were issues and the number of negative comments we saw on newegg, but after testing them internally we so no higher failure rate than any other part we sell.

I'm sorry for those of you who have received bad parts, but it sometimes happens. We're still testing each stick multiple times before it leaves the building, and I think our quality control procedure is the most stringent in the industry, as our RMA percentage is extremely low.
 
There are no best ram companies, unless you want to go by customer service and warranties. What's most important is what chips the company is using in their ram.

Like with the majority of computer hardware, everything is rebranded, so it's a mistake to go by brand.
 
I always stick with Corsair, Crucial, or OC-Z. IMO they are top notch. I'm extremely happy with my current ram - Crucial 10th Anniversary ram. Too bad they are all gone now, or I'd recommend a set to you.
 
how about Seimens, Samsung, Kingston and the other companies?
 
Honestly, you may pay a little more for Corsair, but their support is what keeps bringing me back to them. Redbeard is always around these forums. RAM GUY seems to respond really quickly to things on their official support forum and gestures like returning the newegg stock on the chance that they could have gotten a bad batch just makes me realize how far they're willing to go to make people happy.

I probably sound like a shill, but based on other experiences I've had with assorted other companies, Corsair is head and shoulders above others in terms of their support. Evga is the only other company I can think of that comes remotely close.
 
Corsair

Who ever heard of company letting its dissatisfied customers send them back their retail product(that is functioning as advertised) and upgrade them to a better product for a very small fee.( my total price minus was about 10 dollars cheaper than the retail 8500c5d)
 
leSLIe said:
how about Seimens, Samsung, Kingston and the other companies?
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I think you're confusing the IC chip makers (Seimens, Samsung, Infineon, Micron, Winbond etc...) with RAM makers (OCZ, Corsair, Crucial, Mushkin!, G-Skill, Kingston, etc...)

As someone stated earlier, all RAM companies make their modules from IC chips provided by another manufacturer. So basically, what determines the "quality" of the RAM is the service & support behind it.

For instance, when it was discovered that Winbond BH-5 was "THE SH*T" to have, it was available from several different RAM manufacturers. At that particular point in time, I was most comfortable with Mushkin!, so I bought their "version" of BH5 modules. It used to be that you could ONLY purchase Mushkin! RAM from Mushkin directly.... that has changed now, but when that was the practice... I found that their service went above and beyond what I had come to expect from "other" companies. I'm still a loyal Mushkin! fan, but if another RAM product perfroms euqally as well, but is made from another manufacturer, I'll buy that "other" brand as long as I know they have good customer support.
 
I have to say by far the best company I've ever dealt with is Corsair. There customer service, which I admit I've had to use a few times, Is bar none the best.
 
Redbeard said:
Actually, the reviews on newegg aren't really representative of the number of RMAs we're seeing. The 6400C4 RMA rate (for DOA and everything) is just about the same as every other part we have.

It is, however, our best-selling DDR2 part right now, which might equate for why it seems that more people are having problems. If you sell 10,000 parts at say a 1% failure rate, that's 100 bad sticks. If you sell 1,500 parts at that same failure rate, that's 15 bad sticks. If 20% of people with bad modules leave a bad review on newegg, that's 20 bad reviews for the first part and 3 bad reviews for the second.

I'm just making those numbers up right now to illustrate the point. Just because a part has more bad reviews doesn't necessarily mean that it's a worse part.

Also, if you have a good, perfectly working kit, you're less likely to write a review about the product than if you have problems.

I can tell you that we voluntarily brought all the 6400C4 and 6400C4D kits back from Newegg in order to test them to determine if something was wrong, just because we'd heard there were issues and the number of negative comments we saw on newegg, but after testing them internally we so no higher failure rate than any other part we sell.

I'm sorry for those of you who have received bad parts, but it sometimes happens. We're still testing each stick multiple times before it leaves the building, and I think our quality control procedure is the most stringent in the industry, as our RMA percentage is extremely low.
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I have always bought Corsair and never had a problem with it...I just spent over 300 dollars on some 6400 less than 2 weeks ago, and it was from New egg. I read the bad and good reviews and wrote the bad reviews off to people not knowing how to handle and install the ram with maybe a few sticks that were trully DOA...one thing I did notice was the packaging...those freaking peanuts are static magnets. I was very careful to ground myself while handling the ram, but I could definitely see some 13 year old kid ordering some ram and just ripping open the package and popping it into the motherboard without a care about grounding himself/herself. Static charge is for REAL, it's not a myth....that is all
 
I've always used Corsair in the past, and will continue to use them in the future despite having issues with the newest set I just purchased (first ever RAM problem).

End result was I got nearly instant feedback from Redbeard and others giving me tips on how to fix it. The RAM is now working (for now :D), and ended up being a possible mobo issue (out of date bios, on a mobo that was manufactured 4+ years ago) so I don't blame Corsair for the troubles.
 
Mushkin has treated me very well. No hassle RMA with them.

I refuse to ever buy OCZ products. Most people don't remember the OCZ of years ago. They were a fraudulent company, constantly misrepresenting products and ripping people off. I know they're different now, but I won't forget the past.
 
My experience with Mushkin was outstanding.... pc4000 that went very high... how high i cant remember and I cant find my OC notes... Never ran it that high cause the Opty didnt scale well
 
mjz_5 said:
cosair seems to be the best.. but just go with the cheapest brand name ram you can get.. better timings may give you only 1-2% speed difference. Better spending the extra 100 dollars on a better video card or just get more ram :p
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That's a good point. Plus ram only runs at a fraction of the speed a processor does. I would say dump more money on other weakest-link components like your hdd or psu or spend it getting a nice mobo or faster proc rather than $500 ram, imo.

I've had good results with corsair. Not so good with g.skill (failed to operate at a stated voltage). Geil has been running ok so far.
 
for those of you that say it doesnt matter the brand, its whats inside; this is not necessarily true. just because 5 manufacturers use D9 chips doesnt mean they are the same. They will still perform differently and will overclock differently.

I myself have had good luck with Crucial, Mushkin, G-Skill, and OCZ. For my current system I will either use Corsair or Buffalo Firestix.

If your not a hard core overclocker, it really doesnt matter what you buy. Just go with what has the best bang for your bucks. The mid range ram will/ can have Elpidas, promo, D9 chips. they all overclock well ,being the D9's are supposed to be best for overclocking to the max and is usually the choice for most overclockers, but there are guys using other ram and still getting great results. It kind of comes down to preference and what the best deal of the day is. Corsair has some really great prices right now and if you search, Buffalo Firestix w/ D9 chips are at a smoking hot price, crucial ballistix has decent prices if you look in the right place.

One last comment, there is and never will be "A Best Ram Company"! this month could be Corsair, next week could be Crucial. in this Technology as fast as everything changes, no one will ever be the best. so when your ready to buy your ram, the day your ready look to see what your best option is for what you want to spend and go with it. as others have said, you will not see a big performance difference between midrange ram and high end ram. save you money for something else and get the best deal that fits your budget

Just thought of something else as well; to keep in mind. Dont recall but I saw a review last week between some corsair and crucial ram. the Crucial has D9's and tighter timings but the Corsair (probably promos) with looser timings and much cheaper performed just as well as the Crucial Ballistix!
 
well, my personal experience has been with a few companies products.

1) first stick of ram I ever bought was from crucial for my laptop, back in 01. ((sony pcg-xg-500)) after 1 year of use, it went blahh on me. last year i bought a new chip from samsung. still kickin whenever i turn the system on.
2) dont remember the name, but i bought a 512 generic chip from best buy. it had a rebate at the time so i went with it. my mistake, the rebate never came, and I didnt feel like wasting time trying to get my 20$. as far as i know, the chip is still kickin ((in my ex's comp somewhere.))
3) first build ever was with 1 gig of corsair. ((2x cmx512-3200LLpro. yeah, i ordered 2 seperate sticks since i had no clue how this stuff worked. :rolleyes: )) i had these sticks since 3/2004 and 1 stick is still alive and well in my dads comp. 1 however bit the dust, but that was completely my fault. who knew memory cant hold its liquor???
4) next set was for my 2nd build. again, corsair twinx1024-3200c2pt since corsair was workin good so far. those are now in a box tucked away till i need them.
5) after seein soo many things about OCZ, i went and ordered a set of the ocz4001024eldcge-k. heard many good things about high overclocks, didnt realize u needed to pump the juice through em. i couldnt get too much voltage, so i never really got a high overclock, but what i did get was alot of heat. put a fan over them just to keep em from cooking, or at least i thought they would anyway. this set was, and soon will be up and running again. hope to be able to pump up the voltage to see if they can shine a bit more as well.
6) next few sets consisted of 6 gigs of corsair cm72sd1024rlp-3200. ((server ram)) all kickin and workin just dandy. i actually had an opty 140 ((skt 940)) and put a nice oc on it, 2.2? or 2.3? i think. it wasnt stable for what i needed it for, so dumbed it down to 1.9 and left it there. they were all UCCC ram if i remember correctly. :confused:
7) my final set was from mushkin. model 991482....had a rebate on it, came to 90$ after rebate. i really really shoulda bought more of that stuff. anyway, it helped me OC my newark 3700 ((skt 754)) to 2.8. got the rebate, no probs, thnx mushkin!!!.

ive had good, and ive had bad experiences, but overall ive been satisfied with all my purchases. forums like these help ALOT in making decisions, along with reviews that can be found online. research to me has been key in making the right choice whenever i do finally set myself to picking up some new hardware.
 
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