Beginers guide to RAM

thegills

I would like to buy a stick of 256Mb DDR Ram for my PC. I looked on Komplett and was totally confused by the different types. Can anyone explain what the following mean.

1. ECC/REG
2. CL2.5
3. Generic Memory 184-P

Which is the best manufacturer?

My MoBo is 2100 and supports 266Mhz???

Kali

1. ECC/REG

stands for Error Correction Code/Checking, Registered Memory.. basically for every byte stored theres an error checking bit (to double check data integrity).. ECC tends to be slower and usually only supported by server-based motherboards... and really only required for that sort of platform.

2. CL2.5

CL should refer to CAS Latency... basically the time in clockcycles to access a column in the memory bank.

3. Generic Memory 184-P

The number of pins on the bottom of the RAM.

Basically you don't want ECC ram. You want as low a CL as possible, and 184 pins

Hobart

Originally posted by thegills
I would like to buy a stick of 256Mb DDR Ram for my PC. I looked on Komplett and was totally confused by the different types. Can anyone explain what the following mean.

1. ECC/REG
2. CL2.5
3. Generic Memory 184-P

Which is the best manufacturer?

My MoBo is 2100 and supports 266Mhz???

Have a look here in relation to the different types of Ram and an overall explanation. ECC stands for error correcting code (I think) and contains in built algorithyms which are meant to help solve issues with memory addressing from badly written software.

CL stands for CAS latency which is the number of clock cycles it takes before data will flow once a command is recieved.

Generic Memory ??

Saruman

My MoBo is 2100 and supports 266Mhz???

We would need a lot more than that before we can give you advice.. in the meantim get your mobo manual and find out from there what you need. Should say, otherwise give us manufacturer and model or at the very least your bios version and we can find out.

thegills

More info.

I have an AMD Athlon 1800+ model K7S5A.

Dempsey

Could someone also explain the difference between 32 bit(232pin) and 16 bit RDRAM(184pin)?
Is there performance difference?
Does 32 bit RDRAM fit most motherboards or what

thegills

Right lads. Thanks for the info to date. I scoured Komplete.ie and found the following 2 products that look like they'll do the job

1. DDR-DIMM PC2100 256MB DDR CL2.5
- Generic Memory 184-Pins
- Only e30.19

2. Crucial PC2100 DDR-DIMM 256MB CL2.5
- Unbuffered, Non-parity, 2.5V, 32Meg x 64
- Only 50% dearer @ e45.98

Why the price difference??

Mountjoy Mugger

Generic memory is usually of an inferior quality, especially when up against the likes of Crucial.

As an aside, if you knew your motherboard's details, you could go to http://www.crucial.com/uk and check what RAM would do the biz.

Quigs Snr

Hi there,

I have used the ECS K7S5A in the past with Kompletts Generic RAM and have had no problems.

By the way, Crucial is a very good make, but Kompletts generic stuff is good also (Their Generic stuff, is branded Twinmos memory and as such is reasonably good, certainley, I have never had a problem with it).

Dempsey

I'd recommend www.shop4memory.com very highly. Delivery in Ireland is free and delivery is fast.

Yavvy

Kingston are the worlds largest manufacturer of generic memory and if you type your macnine type into the auto config thiongy it will give you details of the range of memory available to you.

you can then shop around for price

marauder

Take a read of this for all your RAM questions and Answers....
http://arstechnica.com/paedia/r/ram_guide/ram_guide.part1-1.html

po0k

re: 32-bit vs 16-bit RDRAM, the 16-bit used X many 16-bit channels to make up the 64 or 128-bit pipe didn't it?
I assume that the 32-bit variety can now double the "pipe width" to 128 or 256-bit?

RDRAM has higher internal latency as far as I remember, but it has a quicker fetching method.

Basicly RDRAM = good for workstation/pro apps, DDR is better (money and I think latency-wise) for gaming.

That's a very rough guide though.

Arstechnia is a class site. www.anandtech.com are also class.
Great set of FAQs on there.