Bad Drives-Best RAM

I read a report of a study of RAM made by an independent laboratory. They concluded that there was little if any statistical difference in RAM quality based on manufacturer or brand or price. The study suggests that buying from a reputable and reliable vendor was sufficient.

Anecdotally I've never bought RAM based on brand. I've been buying RAM for over 20 years from one vender, Data Mem. Although not the cheapest their prices are usually low and competitive. Their products don't carry a manufacturer's brand although the chips do (if you can read the info.)

I've never seen any other study such as the one I read, and they did not provide details on the study's methodology. Thus, I cannot speak to the study's reliability. But compared with my experiences I'm inclined to believe their results are reasonable.

Apple I would think makes it's own RAM, somewhere, but I don't know for sure.

No, they buy it.

I wonder if RAM is hit or miss. Either it works and works well, or it doesn't work. In others words, if RAM is poorly made, will it run poorly or just not at all? If the first, then perhaps a brand name is necessary as a guide, or as I'm hoping here, people like yourself will share your invaluable experience.

RAM is not either fine or dead. A chip may work only until it reaches a certain temperature. or may fail only with certain data patterns, or may fail only when run at maximum speed.

ECC RAM modules may appear to work even if some errors are occurring, due to the error correcting circuits, but the system will then be less reliable that it should be.

Macintoshes tend to run their memory up to rated limits, and often have problems with substandard memory that may work fine in other brands of computers. It may be because some manufactures of cheaper computers don't push the memory to its rated limits, so they can use cheaper memory modules. Apple has never been accused of selling cheap memory.

I believe Kingston and Crucial are manufacturers of the modules, but I don't know if they are chip manufacturers. Micron, the owner of the Crucial brand, is a chip manufacturer (like Hynix - part of Hyundai - or Samsung, for example.) There are literally dozens of chip manufacturers scattered around the world. Many are pretty large Asian firms. I'm not sure where they actually manufacture the chips or the modules, but it seems nowadays almost all that stuff is marked "Made in China."

In my experiences, which date back to 1981 when the chips were all made by Texas Instruments in Texas, I've use all kinds of memory from lots of different sources. I've never actually had any memory go bad or come DOA. I don't think you can make RAM "poorly" because constant failures would erode one's market in a big hurry. Considering the large number of suppliers and a very diverse demand I wouldn't think making a poor product would be very profitable.

Yes, I agree, if you don't know what to buy then buying by brand isn't a bad idea. After all we do that with other products why not with computers and RAM. Makes good sense to me. Businesses thrive on differentiating their brand to the consumer. The only problem for us consumers is when the brand's products aren't that good, but they've convinced us to buy anyway because of the brand. That certainly was the view of U.S. car makers for a long while. Eventually the strategy turned on them. Now they may be fighting a losing battle to win back consumer confidence.

But enough of that digression. I've been pleased to find a RAM vendor from whom I can buy with confidence and get a good price without paying a premium for a name. And my experience with them suggests that buying a brand name is no more a guarantee of quality than paying the highest price. My usual advice is buy RAM on price, buy only RAM that carries a lifetime warranty (guarantee,) and buy from a reputable vendor. Oh, and stay away from "labeled" RAM. Some electronic parts retailers sell RAM that carries their own brand name. I'd stay away from them. They usually do not carry a lifetime warranty. And I tend to stay away from a product that's been labeled as "Economy RAM" for the same reason - no lifetime warranty.

All my pleasure, Steve.

Apple has never been accused of selling cheap memory.

If I were a major hardware retailer, which Apple is, that had shareholders looking carefully at the bottom line every quarter, which Apple does, then I'd be contracting for the lowest possible component parts prices. I doubt Apple is looking for the highest priced memory to put in their computers. Just because they retail the Samsung RAM at twice the price of any third-party vendor doesn't mean that RAM is any better quality. It just means Apple demands a high markup to pay for all the additional overhead associated with selling it - installation, warranty replacements, service fees, system warranty, etc. And, let's not forget the Apple logo.

You can buy the same Samsung product on the open market for at least half of what Apple charges.

In fact I'd argue Apple does sell cheap memory, but they price it very high. Does the name P.T. Barnum ring a bell?

Steve,

I think you are certainly right about the PC side of the industry. Since they dominate the consumer market they also dominate the components side of the production process. As you said there are an uncountable number of PC producers not to mention the industrial marketplace. They account for most of the RAM sold throughout the world, and with markups being trimmed more and more, no doubt they pursue the lowest possible costs for components such as RAM. I suppose, then, that there are marginal RAM producers out there. The retail price of RAM for a given item can vary from as much as 25% to 100% of the highest price. If one can profit selling at 25% of the highest item price, then they have to be paying a pretty low wholesale price which is still higher than the manufacturer's price into the wholesale market.

I'm sure that Apple's decision on who to buy RAM from has as much to do with the manufacturer's capability of providing the demanded supply as it does with the cost Apple pays. It's one thing to get a really low price, but it's altogether something else to get the lock on the volume of the item. No doubt that's why Apple contracts with Samsung instead of FlyByNight, Inc.

Thanks for the complement, undeserved as it is. Sometimes I just talk too much.

Kappy (who has your first name, too.)

And all those yrs with reports and courts looking at dumping DRAM on the market below cost...

I just checked and the DDR3 I bought in June is now 50% higher, as is much of the DDR3 (DDR2 continues to fall in price). Making this the first year it made sense to BTO memory.

RAM though even for PC isn't quite generic and when building any PC system today, every motherboard has an FAQ list of compatible RAM, and you'll see people RMA / exchange and try to get a good working set - MORE SO than I've ever seen on Macs. And tips to "install OS with just one DIMM" and other such 'tips.'

I always felt Micron/Crucial did more testing and stood behind their product in a way that I never had to worry, no cutting corners, and when there is trouble, always ready to try another set.

If I may ask, what kind of RAM has your allegiance? I say allegiance because thats what I have myself and perhaps others here do as well. By that I mean if the product I buy from somewhere turns out to be good and meets my expectations, then I'll continue to buy that product from them. That explains my allegiance to OWC because starting with my G5's their memory has never seemed to be an issue.

I've alway bough my memory from Transintl
<http://www.transintl.com/macupgrades/index.cfm>
but any vendor with a lifetime warrantee should be OK.

Yes, I agree their resource pool is much larger. Not only do they have many competitors for their consumer dollars, but we have only one. You can't buy Apples or Macs (legally) except from Apple. Thus, no competition to drive prices or profit margins down.

As far as I'm aware Samsung's RAM products are available outside of Apple. I don't know offhand how much the open market prices are compared to other competitors.

I started learning about computers from magazines long before I actually bought one. I read as much as I could understand. I also read about all the available personal computers in the market (weren't that many back then) before I even stepped foot in a computer store. It surprises me how little today's consumers seem to know about computers before they buy one. They rely on an ignorant friend to tell them what to buy. They don't know a disk drive from a disc drive, memory from storage, RAM from ROM, nor anything about software and operating systems. Ignorance must surely be bliss.

Kappy