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OCZ 1GB RAM CHEAP!! (from Fry's/Outpost not me)
Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 10:47 pm
by bri
I ordered mine already so I feel free to share the good deal
http://shop2.outpost.com/product/491400 ... IN_RSLT_PG
$58 after rebate, free shipping
enjoy!
Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:11 pm
by laundromatt
awesome deal - thanks for the heads-up.
Re: OCZ 1GB RAM CHEAP!! (from Fry's/Outpost not me)
Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:40 pm
by jjesusfreak01
Tell us if it works well. I might have to get one if it does.
Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 11:39 am
by DreadLord
Did it work?
Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 4:01 pm
by bri
don't know i didn't receive it yet
Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 6:11 pm
by vinny77
OCZ makes the best of the best memory
Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 7:47 pm
by jjesusfreak01
For the record, there shouldnt be any problem mixing 5400 and 5300 memory, right?
It has to run at the lower of the two speeds, but will it do this automatically?
Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2006 1:43 pm
by Interpol
I have 2 of these in my T60 right now for a total of 2GB running in dual channel mode. Bought them from Monarch Computer for $70 each. They work great. If you only buy one, it will still work fine with the existing memory on your laptop if it's running in single channel.
The sale price from Fry's/Outpost is an excellent deal.
Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2006 2:24 pm
by DreadLord
Interpol, thanks for the info! Maybe I'm trying to read too much between the lines, but are you saying that if I buy a 1gig OCZ stick and mix/match it with my Hynix I won't get dual channel/stable performance? I know you bought two OCZ, is there any reason you didn't just buy 1 and mix/match it with what the system shipped?
Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2006 2:43 pm
by jjesusfreak01
DreadLord wrote:Interpol, thanks for the info! Maybe I'm trying to read too much between the lines, but are you saying that if I buy a 1gig OCZ stick and mix/match it with my Hynix I won't get dual channel/stable performance? I know you bought two OCZ, is there any reason you didn't just buy 1 and mix/match it with what the system shipped?
From what I understand, to get dual channel performance (which is absolutely NOT necessary, but somewhat faster ), you need to have two identical or nearly identical pieces of RAM. If they arent identical, then you can run it in single channel at the speed of the slowest piece of RAM. Dual Channel ~= stable performance. At the price they are selling it, you almost might as well buy two just to get dual channel out of it, but if you are strapped for cash, one should do.
PS, looks like its on backorder now...
PPS, off of backorder...
PPPS: I bought one, lets hope this works...
Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:44 am
by bri
back in stock. I received mine today and seems to be ok. I ran PC-Doctor memory test 5 times and will try Memtest later on tonight. How can I check what actual speed it is running at? I found the same model at Zipzoomfly and it's rated PC2-5300 instead of PC2-5400.
I'm running the stick alongside an original Samsung 512MB module. The timing is different at 5-5-5-15 as opposed to 5-5-5-12 on the Samsung. Does that make a difference?
Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:46 am
by Interpol
DreadLord wrote:Interpol, thanks for the info! Maybe I'm trying to read too much between the lines, but are you saying that if I buy a 1gig OCZ stick and mix/match it with my Hynix I won't get dual channel/stable performance? I know you bought two OCZ, is there any reason you didn't just buy 1 and mix/match it with what the system shipped?
The short answer is: it depends. In order for a system to run in dual channel mode you need 1) 2 sticks of RAM, and 2) the RAM must be paired in size (i.e., 2x512MB, 2x1GB). It also helps if the RAM is very closely matched in brand and speed, since dual channel is essentially 'interleaved' reads and writes - meaning, for example, if you're writing/reading 4 bytes of data to RAM, the odd numbered bytes go to stick #1, and the even numbered bytes go to stick #2. So if you have a mismatch in speed, you may or may not have problems because the efficiency of dual channel is very RAM-timing dependent.
As someone mentioned above, at that price you might as well buy 2 sticks of OCZ and sell your Hynix on eBay to recoup some of the cost.
Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:48 am
by Interpol
bri wrote:back in stock. I received mine today and seems to be ok. I ran PC-Doctor memory test 5 times and will try Memtest later on tonight. How can I check what actual speed it is running at? I found the same model at Zipzoomfly and it's rated PC2-5300 instead of PC2-5400.
Download and run the current version of CPU-Z.
Also, if you look at the label on the SODIMM, you'll see it's clearly marked PC2-5400.
I'm running the stick alongside an original Samsung 512MB module. The timing is different at 5-5-5-15 as opposed to 5-5-5-12 on the Samsung. Does that make a difference?
There is virtually no difference between 5-5-5-15 and 5-5-5-12 on the T60, especially if you're running 2 sticks in dual channel. You should not be able to notice any real-world difference.
Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 1:49 pm
by jjesusfreak01
Is there any actual speed difference between 5400 and 5300? They are both running at 667mhz, so where is the actual difference?
Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 3:51 pm
by laundromatt
Interpol wrote:
As someone mentioned above, at that price you might as well buy 2 sticks of OCZ and sell your Hynix on eBay to recoup some of the cost.
A good idea, but the rebate is limited to one per household.
Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 4:05 pm
by Interpol
jjesusfreak01 wrote:Is there any actual speed difference between 5400 and 5300? They are both running at 667mhz, so where is the actual difference?
No difference at all. PC2-5400 RAM is rated to run at 5400 speeds, that's all - so if you have a FSB that's running faster than 667MHz (which the T60 doesn't do) the 5400 RAM will most likely work better.
Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 4:06 pm
by Interpol
laundromatt wrote:Interpol wrote:
As someone mentioned above, at that price you might as well buy 2 sticks of OCZ and sell your Hynix on eBay to recoup some of the cost.
A good idea, but the rebate is limited to one per household.
Even without the rebate for the 2nd stick, the price is very good.
Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 4:55 pm
by bri
Interpol wrote:
Download and run the current version of CPU-Z.
Also, if you look at the label on the SODIMM, you'll see it's clearly marked PC2-5400.
Ok, it is marked PC2-5400. I ran CPU-Z, it says Frequency is 332.5 Mhz and FSB:DRAM is 1:2. Is that right?
Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 5:08 pm
by jjesusfreak01
bri wrote:Interpol wrote:
Download and run the current version of CPU-Z.
Also, if you look at the label on the SODIMM, you'll see it's clearly marked PC2-5400.
Ok, it is marked PC2-5400. I ran CPU-Z, it says Frequency is 332.5 Mhz and FSB:DRAM is 1:2. Is that right?
Could be wrong, but I think the frequency should be at 666.7
Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 6:09 pm
by Interpol
jjesusfreak01 wrote:bri wrote:
Ok, it is marked PC2-5400. I ran CPU-Z, it says Frequency is 332.5 Mhz and FSB:DRAM is 1:2. Is that right?
Could be wrong, but I think the frequency should be at 666.7
No, 332.5 is correct. The DRAM runs at twice the FSB frequency (thus "DDR" = double data rate). So multiply 332.5 by 2 and you get 665, or roughly 667MHz.
Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 6:27 pm
by jjesusfreak01
Cool, thanks for the info!
Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:11 pm
by bri
Interpol wrote:No, 332.5 is correct. The DRAM runs at twice the FSB frequency (thus "DDR" = double data rate). So multiply 332.5 by 2 and you get 665, or roughly 667MHz.
Whew ok. Still off by 2MHz, wonder why that is... Also it indicates 'Dual' in number of channels... I thought the two sticks have to be the same size to run in dual channel mode... oh well, not really going to worry about it, doesn't seem like a big deal in performance
RAM works great guys! Went through 10 passes in Memtest no errors. grab it before it's gone... i'm getting another stick for my sister's soon-to-be macbook pro

Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 3:07 am
by Interpol
bri wrote:Interpol wrote:No, 332.5 is correct. The DRAM runs at twice the FSB frequency (thus "DDR" = double data rate). So multiply 332.5 by 2 and you get 665, or roughly 667MHz.
Whew ok. Still off by 2MHz, wonder why that is... Also it indicates 'Dual' in number of channels... I thought the two sticks have to be the same size to run in dual channel mode... oh well, not really going to worry about it, doesn't seem like a big deal in performance
In the big picture, 2MHz is virtually nothing. If you stare at the FSB frequency display in CPU-Z you'll see a small fluctuation. Percentage-wise, you're looking at a discrepancy of only about 0.2% - which means absolutely zero real-world difference in performance.
Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 7:56 am
by laundromatt
bri wrote:
RAM works great guys! Went through 10 passes in Memtest no errors. grab it before it's gone... i'm getting another stick for my sister's soon-to-be macbook pro

Is it still available? The website says to call for availability, but I haven't been able to get anyone on the phone.
Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 12:51 am
by liquidtiger720
so the 1gb stick works well with teh 512mb stick that came with your laptop?
I'll have to jump in on this too

Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:27 am
by Interpol
liquidtiger720 wrote:so the 1gb stick works well with teh 512mb stick that came with your laptop?
I'll have to jump in on this too

Yes, it worked fine with the Samsung PC2-5300 512MB stick that came with my T60.
However, the price of these are so good I just decided to buy a second stick and sell the Samsung on eBay.

Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 12:18 pm
by jjesusfreak01
Some good news (we'll see how good later)...the OCZ memory is clocked exactly the same as the Lenovo memory in my T60. 5-5-5-15
That should mean running in Dual Channel is a definite possibility!
Note, the 5-5-5-15 reading on the Lenovo RAM is from the Rightmark Memory Analyzer.
Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 2:51 pm
by bri
My OCZ is also rated 5-5-5-15, but the original Samsung stick was 5-5-5-12. CPU-Z says the OCZ is 5-5-5-15 but I didn't get the check the Samsung stick.
I think there was a bit of an issue with the timings being off... after I took out the Samsung stick certain things seemed to run faster. I don't have any really intensive applications, but start-up, shut-down, Opera and Meebo all ran faster (less delay) with only the OCZ instead of both.
Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 3:28 pm
by jjesusfreak01
bri wrote:My OCZ is also rated 5-5-5-15, but the original Samsung stick was 5-5-5-12. CPU-Z says the OCZ is 5-5-5-15 but I didn't get the check the Samsung stick.
I think there was a bit of an issue with the timings being off... after I took out the Samsung stick certain things seemed to run faster. I don't have any really intensive applications, but start-up, shut-down, Opera and Meebo all ran faster (less delay) with only the OCZ instead of both.
You got lucky. My system wouldnt even run with both of them without locking up. I am just using the OCZ memory now with no problems. It was cheap anyways, and maybe a future BIOS update will make it work.
BTW, my installed stick was a Micron.
Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 7:39 am
by Interpol
jjesusfreak01 wrote:You got lucky. My system wouldnt even run with both of them without locking up. I am just using the OCZ memory now with no problems. It was cheap anyways, and maybe a future BIOS update will make it work.
Don't hold your breath - the problem you're experiencing isn't likely to be fixed with a BIOS update as it sounds like the memory timings for each stick aren't compatible with each other.
If you absolutely must run 1.5GB or higher and want to minimize potential problems, just buy another OCZ stick.
BTW, my installed stick was a Micron.
Didn't know Lenovo used Micron memory. My T60 came with 512MB of Samsung (which will be going on eBay soon).