Ram Suggestion

[Tradesman]

None taken, I don't work for gskill, I have two businesses of my own. Actually, the problems I ran into with the gskill SSDs led me to these forums. Once I took a look, like the SSDs, there was very little support being provided - especially for SSDs, so I just started helping people out. I've used gskill RAM off and on for quite awhile. Preference wise, I tend to lean towards OCZ, Mushkin and Corsair. GSkill though is rather dependable, particularly if you don't need support. Most of the issues with RAM here seem to be for people wanting to run 8 or more GB and/or with running AMD CPUs (which can be frustrating). With what I do, I just don't get much call for people wanting AMD systems, I do pick up a fair number of referrals for troubleshooting/upgrades on AMD systems though.

I've worked with a couple or three P5N-T mobos and wasn't real pleased (they were doing upgrades), their 'support' really bytes. For SLI systems I've always had good luck with EVGA and XFX. The ASUS Striker, used to be top notch (and over-priced) but has also been slipping slowly but surely

[Nate Rowe]

I'll admit I was tempted by OCZ but I don't really like companies selling different types of products. When you're selling ram and you start making ssd drives, that's cool but it just strikes me the wrong way how OCZ and Corsair make PSU's and other things. I say stick with one thing and be good at it. I've had one experience with Corsair, first stick died in 8 hours, 2nd stick died in a couple months, their RMA was pretty good though. I might buy Corsair in the future but right now, their current DDR2 ram seems to be outdated, it's all models made quite a while ago and just reproduced, unlike some of G.Skill's products where they have vast models and some models look newer. I don't think I'd buy OCZ, quite a few people seem to have issues with it and Gigabyte boards.

I wasn't even using SLI at the time, it just happened to be a SLI capable board. I probably will never buy another nvidia chipset board with how screwed I got on the NF4. Again, my logic speaks up and tells me that when making different components work together, it's better to have them made by the same company. i.e. I take comfort in knowing that my cpu and chipset is all Intel, I think they kinda know how to make a chipset run with one of their cpu's properly.

[Tradesman]

OCZ and Corsair are both still primarily memory makers, they dabble w/ other products as do many any vendors to appear diversified, i.e. BFG video cards, PSUs, but like BFG, Corsair (SeaSonic) and OCZ (FSP, TopPower, and others) buy and rebrand PSUs from actual manufacturers. If ever not sure about a product, you can check the UL number to see who the real manufacturer is. Best example in the world, take a look at NewEgg and check out Rosewill, the biggest rebrander in the business.

[Nate Rowe]

Why even bother with rebranded items though? (Jeez we're off topic ) I've seen you gotta be careful with PSU's and there's a thread (I forget where) that they investigated and list the actual manufacturers of the rebranded PSU. Bottom line: If OCZ, Corsair... etc... aren't actually making the PSU's, how can they put their name on it with the warranty and whatnot. Either they don't want to invest in making on their own or they don't have the knowledge to. Either way, it would seem logical that they truly don't know much about that end of the product line, that is why I'd rather go straight to the source and buy from a company that actually knows what's inside a PSU.

My main reason for not trusting companies that "multi-task" with products is Ultra. Had a nasty PSU from them and when I RMA'd they sent me one that had lower specs and a cheaper model. Then I had a nice fan controller that filled my case with smoke. Based upon this, I personally wouldn't trust Rosewill but I've heard a few things of theirs is decent.

Yea, I'm sore over that. But it's gotten me to think about what quality really is.

[Tradesman]

Good thing to think about, here's a link for most of the actual manufacturer

http://www.10stripe.com/articles/who...wer-supply.php

Most rebranders buy via contract, some set specs, QC measures, etc.....and others basically buy stock models off the shelf. It varies.

Have you gotten gotten a delivery date for your RAM yet? If you bought from the Egg you should have it by Tues, Wed if you went UPS or Fed-Ex...I ask because they came out with this new EggSaver thing....and Oh God..it takes forever....It's a combo of DHL and the USPS. They screwed up one of my orders (a split delivery from two locations) and one part went to it's default shipping method, it took 9 days from California to Tucson, the rest came UPS 3 day (as specified) and arrived in two days.

The EggSaver stuff SAT in Phoenix for 5 days (between DHL and USPS)

[Nate Rowe]

Woot! I have a Antec True Power Trio which apparently is Seasonic That page wasn't the one I was talking about but it's plenty better than the one I saw. I mainly got my PSU because at the time Antec was really rated high and I had previously owned Antec. Also, it didn't have a fancy paint job or lights or modular cables, I wanted to pay for quality, not aesthetics.

When I checked out with the ram they had the eggsaver but they also had UPS 3-day which was also free. I don't know why they put UPS as free but I took it. I got my tracking number and it will be here Wednesday. I don't call that 3-day shipping, closer to 4-day but I'm not gonna complain

That DHL and USPS stuff is weird and a bad partnership if you ask me. I have always liked UPS and USPS. Plus I know and ******** with our UPS guy and since I'm out in the country he's not pressed for time to deliver packages so they're rarely dinged up

*EDIT*
Found the PSU link I had:
http://forums.legitreviews.com/about6443.html

[Tradesman]

SeaSonic is good. If you ever really get deep into it you may find where some manufacturers also buy from others to fulfill contracts, so a rebrander (Company C) might buy 1,000 PSUs from company A, who may actually outsource all or part of the contract to company B. Have seen that through Rosewill where a client ordered to identical case fans, they were slightly different color and had different UL numbers (made by different companies).

Good on the UPS 3 day business shipping, the DHL thing is a waste, I've talked to some of the upper folks (higher end supervisors) at the Egg about it and they may be dropping it or changing it, but who knows, I do know there have been alot of complaints on it.

[Nate Rowe]

Wow, that's pretty craptacular from Rosewill. I think Newegg should drop DHL but still allow USPS delivery for those that want it sent to their P.O. Box. I might suggest that to them when I send off a e-mail. I have been watching the PI Black 800mhz memory for probably a little over a month and I've seen the price jump around and it really seems like they are scamming people with it. It was $49.99 for the longest time and then they dropped it to $44.99 for a special 7 day deal that they sent out in their newsletter. The day after that it show up to $49.99 again and then the day after that it dropped to $44.99. It was at that price for the longest time until a few days ago where it jumped to $59.99. How can they justify that $15 or so price increase when it's DDR2 and it's been out for such a long time? It really rubbed me wrong.

[Tradesman]

The Black and the straight PI (black is PI-B) are the same DIMM differnt color heatsink, and I wouldn't doubt it if the PK was also the same, believe they throw different voltage specs to make it appear as a larger selection, when only real diff is the heat sink.

Pricewise, as demand goes up so does price at times, these originally came out at $69.99, bought a black set for a client.

[Nate Rowe]

I didn't think the PI Black was any different than the regular PI, especially since there really isn't any difference since "Black"

But $15 overnight on a product that's $44.98. That's crazy.

I just saw that 3+ people on newegg reviewed this ram on the EP45-UD3 motherboards and had issues with it posting. Apparently G.Skill was/is going to send this ram to Gigabyte to have it tested. Any word on what's going on? (not necessarily directed at you Tradesman)

[Tradesman]

Which mobos? I've seen where people have problems with posting at 1066 (all kinds/brands of RAM) because they expect the mobo to automatically set itself to 1066, or having problems when first building the system with some versions of Vista or XP with 8GB loaded (OS glitch, best to build with 2...or 4GB).

Always interesting to read the Egg reviews, you see so many reviewers having 'problems', even when they rate their own knowledge as 'HIGH', like people complaing their AM2 CPU won't post in an AM3 socket mobo

[Nate Rowe]

Haha yea. I like those people that think they know everything but the answers to their problems is a simple google away or more commonly, common sense

For what it's worth:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&Keywords=ep45

I believe there's more reviews saying the ram works great with EP45-UD3 models. It's just unsettling to see such specific problems with the exact mobo+ram combo I'm going to have...

[Tradesman]

It can be tricky, alot of people expect to stick it in and TaDa! it set's everything for them. Generally you have to hop around a little to set the RAM and it's not all right there in the same place, the timings are, but then voltage is generally with the other voltages, whether it's set in linked/unlinked is closer to CPU settings. Just takes a little patience.

[Nate Rowe]

Don't you gotta set tRFC higher? Like 55-60 range for 8gb? I'm gonna have to figure out how to get some fans on the memory since there's probably not gonna be much airspace between the sticks.

I just hope it posts At least I'll have 4 sticks and a better idea of testing if one is bad or goes bad.

[Tradesman]

You generally shouldn't have to change the tRFC. The refresh should be set for the RAM, if you lower it, it can cause data corruption, taking it higher can cut into to performance. Generally about the only time I play with it is if I think I've got and iffy stick. i.e. runs OK but occasional burp. You can raise it (very small degrees) and it can increase stability. This setting, along with tRRD, tRC, tRW, tREF and others aren't even available in some BIOSs. As for fans, unless you intend to really juice them you shouldn't need any. I've never used fans on the RAM. As with any build though, you do want a well ventilated box. I'm not big on RAM and HD fans. Do sort of suggest AM coolers for CPUs, preferably like the Zalman 95/97/9900 lines or Artic Freezer 7, etc, set up to exhaust the air out the back of the case, with an exhaust fan at the case wall. With that setup it does double duty, not only exhausting heat from the CPU, but it also pulls the hot air in from above the RAM, add a front case blowing air into the case and RAM and you keep the RAM at decent temps.