# Different brands of RAM... difference? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 2, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-brands-of-ram-difference/315243 "2005-08-02T02:14:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-brands-of-ram-difference/315243/1 "2005-08-02T02:14:42Z")
Basically, I’m cheap, and want some ram. Will I notice a difference between a stick of 30 dollar ram vs. 60 dollar? (We’re talking laptop 512 meg here (more specifically, PC2700 SODIMM.)) Because newegg has kingston for 54 dollars, but I could go get some cheapass brand for 30 something on ebay or something, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-brands-of-ram-difference/315243/2 "2005-08-02T02:20:04Z")
Higher prices RAM has lower latency timings, meaning it performs better. But, if you don’t do any memory intensive applications, like gaming or video editing, then cheap RAM is fine, so long as it’s not ultra-cheap. If you mentioned the brand I could let you know if it’s too cheap. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-brands-of-ram-difference/315243/3 "2005-08-02T02:36:25Z")
- - - If you are expecting to overclock, you care and want the lower-latency brands. Otherwise, it is extremely likely that ANY cheap brand of RAM will work at stock speeds just fine. ~ ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-brands-of-ram-difference/315243/4 "2005-08-02T03:01:26Z")
I doubt it would make much difference in a laptop as typically laptops do not allow you to overclock. There might be some issues with reliability and if your getting them from ebay, warranty issues might be complicated. Also, a few years ago, some laptops were finicky about the type of RAM they would accept (PC100 but not PC133 for example) but I think thats largely no longer an issue. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-brands-of-ram-difference/315243/5 "2005-08-02T03:06:50Z")
[Well, there’s this](http://cgi.ebay.com/ELIXIR-512MB-DDR-SODIMM-512-MB-200-PIN-ALL-LAPTOP-NEW_W0QQitemZ6789867703QQcategoryZ80201QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) for… holy shit, 11.00 shipping? Screw that with a gigantic fork. I refuse to pay that much shipping for something that’s going to cost 3 dollars to mail. Well, actually, it’s still like 10 bucks cheaper. I can’t tell that this is the same thing as what I’m looking at below, though. Before I consider newegg, can I safely overclock my ram? By how much? (FTR, I’m looking at [this](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820172106) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-brands-of-ram-difference/315243/6 "2005-08-02T11:10:57Z")
One thing to be careful about in buying cheap RAM is that some companies buy slower RAM chips and remark them as higher speed RAM. Running them at higher speed is far less reliable. Buyer beware. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-brands-of-ram-difference/315243/7 "2005-08-02T16:05:31Z")
Well, I broke down and bought a 512 Corsair stick last night for 55 dollars, shipped. My friends tell me that it’s like the Cadillac of RAM, but not quite the Ferrari. Oh well. My computer’s more of a Kia anyways. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-brands-of-ram-difference/315243/8 "2005-08-02T19:16:06Z")
> [@chaoticdonkey](#): > > Before I consider newegg, can I safely overclock my ram? By how much? (FTR, I’m looking at [this](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820172106) You can’t overclock laptops. ---
**Author:** ![leandroc76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@leandroc76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leandroc76)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-brands-of-ram-difference/315243/9 "2005-08-02T19:27:47Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > You can’t overclock laptops. not entirely true, you can. depending on the mobo, there are several small, I mean small, smaller than the tip of a ball point pen, resistors, that can be removed to be configured to run about 10-14 percent faster. It’s just not worth it though. the cpu would melt your Mobo and your battery would drain. PC notebooks have enough trouble as it is with Windows bogging them down. ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-brands-of-ram-difference/315243/10 "2005-08-02T19:47:04Z")
Have you looked at Crucial? Try this link: [http://www.crucial.com/search/srchrslt.asp?type=All&ANDOR=AND&rowcount=20&cv=Crucial&keywords=PC2700+SODIMM&submit=Go](http://www.crucial.com/search/srchrslt.asp?type=All&ANDOR=AND&rowcount=20&cv=Crucial&keywords=PC2700+SODIMM&submit=Go) ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-brands-of-ram-difference/315243/11 "2005-08-02T19:56:34Z")
> [@robcaro](#): > > Have you looked at Crucial? Try this link: > [http://www.crucial.com/search/srchrslt.asp?type=All&ANDOR=AND&rowcount=20&cv=Crucial&keywords=PC2700+SODIMM&submit=Go](http://www.crucial.com/search/srchrslt.asp?type=All&ANDOR=AND&rowcount=20&cv=Crucial&keywords=PC2700+SODIMM&submit=Go) I forgot to mention that I think Crucial RAM is the best!!! ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-brands-of-ram-difference/315243/12 "2005-08-02T20:47:41Z")
Can I update the BIOS to make my computer take more than a gig of ram? What if later, I want to add a 1 gig stick to my computer to have 1.5 gigs of ram? Will I ever be able to do it? (Dell Inspiron 5100, already checked, max amount is apparently only 1 gig, from what I can tell.) ---
**Author:** ![Emerald\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Emerald\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emerald_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-brands-of-ram-difference/315243/13 "2005-08-02T21:26:50Z")
> [@chaoticdonkey](#): > > Can I update the BIOS to make my computer take more than a gig of ram? What if later, I want to add a 1 gig stick to my computer to have 1.5 gigs of ram? Will I ever be able to do it? (Dell Inspiron 5100, already checked, max amount is apparently only 1 gig, from what I can tell.) It doesn’t look like it. The [readme](http://ftp.us.dell.com/bios/I5100A32.TXT) for the latest BIOS update from Dell says nothing about being able to support larger DIMMs or anything. As far as which is faster, cheap vs. expensive RAM, if you are not overclocking them then I don’t think you will notice a difference. Check out [these results from Tom’s Hardware](http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20050124/ddr2_modules-10.html#test_results_at_a_glance). Specifically this part: > [@](#): > > For the comparison test we were primarily interested in finding out just what the latest DDR2 modules are capable of. For that reason we did not use traditional benchmarks, as the results are practically the same for various DIMMs at the same speed and timing parameters. Based on my own experience, I’ll just say that you should test any RAM when you get it, both by running something like memtest86 and also by copying large files around and comparing their checksums. That way if there is anything wrong with the chips or they don’t like your motherboard you can send them back within the 30 day window most stores give you for returns.