The benefits of buying cheaper memory???

[Nitrom]

I purchased two sticks of Corsair Value Select SDRAM DDR400
PC 3200 to go on an ASUS A7ANX along with an AMD ATHLON XP 3000 CPU.
When you go to the Corsair website to use their system to select the compatible memory with your system they DO NOT recomend you Value Select (the cheapest memory they sale) but more expensive memory with fancy names.

Talking to Corsair Support they say that they do not guarantee the timings in the latency cass on the Value Select and when I asked whats the latency on the Value Select modules they gave me several different ones indicating that could be either one of them (such as 3-3-3-8 or 3-4-4-8 or 2.5-3-3-8 ).

How much different in performance and reliability is the cheaper memory versus the more expensive one?

 

[Crashman]

Some configurations are more stressful than others. Dual Channel mode, for example, can make a difference. 875P chipsets can overstress RAM using PAT. A64's have an ultra-responsive memory controller that can push memory past it's limit too.

The problem is, cheaper modules are often rated at latencies that only work under ideally stable conditions. And they're programed in SPD for that value so it's automatically detected.

The marketting of marginal modules is particularly bothersome, then, on high performance systems. You can always slow down the timings manually or raise the voltage to make lesser modules more stable. The performance difference isn't that great either.

This is one reason I've usually recommended Crucial's memory: Crucial RAM is nearly always rated one level below it's peak capability, and thus it nearly always works at SPD values even on particularly challenging systems.

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[BrentUnitedMem]

A few reasons why it pays to buy quality memory products:

4 LAYER PCB
Some PC-3200 modules like Elixir for example are built on a 4 layer PCB, while major brands Micron, Samsung, Infineon PC-3200 are built on 6 layer PCB boards. 6 layer is more expensive, and is no doubt a better board.

TESTING STANDARDS
For example, Samsung modules are tested with more parameters than UTT chips or OEM brands. The manufacturing is cheaper for UTT, but the quality is not as good. The higher you set the standards, the higher the cost, the better the quality.

DOWNGRADED PARTS
Companies often hand pick chips that outperform the specification they are set for. In many cases a particular chip die marked as DDR-400 can operate at DDR-550. On the other hand, some chips may barely pass as DDR-400, but are still sold as 400. These chips have little to no chance of being overclocked. Of course they are sold at a lower price too.

HALF BIT
Many 'half bit' modules are being sold. Literally, half the bits in the chips are good. A 256MB module which normally requires 8 chips, will need 16 downgraded chips to meet the same size requirement.

10% OF MODULES SOLD ARE COUNTERFEIT
Though its difficult to avoid these kinds of crimes, counterfeit modules plague the spot market. Counterfeit parts are built to look like quality memory. An OEM branded module may be illegally built with the Samsung logo on it- and sold at a price that is 'too good to be true'.
more info & source: www.antifakememory.org

It pays to buy good memory.

 

[Simpleton]

Yeah...now I realize the mistake I made buying Value select...I guess it takes some know how to purchase parts. Hope to have no problems whit these cheaper modules because you can RMA them only to get back similar replacements.