Kingston vs. Crucial

[LearningThinking]

Want to add 1G mem to X41.
The cruial costs about $30 more than Kingson Value Ram.
Is crucial better than Kingson?

BTW: are Kingson and Kingmax same brand?

Thanks

[Wholesomer]

AFAIK, Kingston value ram is just as good as any other brand name brand. I got two 1 GB sticks DDR2 4200 Kingston from NewEgg for about $99 per stick last week. Run Memtest (took almost 3 hours) and got no error from either stick.

[jokerunm]

The Kingston ram is just as good, I bought it for my tablet and no ram problems so far. I've read about a tour of one of their factories by anandtech.com. Pretty impressive stuff.

Crucial used to be great when they were bit of a secret and had quality ram at cheaper prices then everyone else.

Now they are more expensive and their quality isn't as great as they think it is. Talk about getting big heads.

[slagmi]

Here's the thing about buying pricey RAM for your ThinkPad-

Where in the ThinkPads BIOS will you then tweak the timings, etc. to get the benefit of the extra performance you just paid for. Nowhere.

IMO save the 30$- Put it towards an extra battery or something else you can actually use!

[LearningThinking]

My second question: are Kingston and Kingmax made by the same company?

Also, just to make sure, we are talking about Kingston Value Ram, right?
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820144183)

My major concern about memory quality comes from my experience with
my HP laptop, which freeze every one or two weeks after I installed a generic
memory.

[jokerunm]

You're thinking too hard. Kingston is not generic memory, it will work perfectly in the X41.

Kingmax is generic..stay away.

[artuero]

The thing I will say in Crucial's favor is that if you have a problem with their RAM they are dogged in figuring it out and fixing it. I once had to go through a bunch of different sticks (in an old desktop) and as much as I hate returning things they were great about making it easy. Sending labels and fedexing me replacements and having available, expert tech support to handle things.

If Crucial's configurator says the memory will work they will stay through to the end to make sure it does. Actually they tested for me before I bought with an IBM 600E-- IBM said it couldn't take a particular size stick (256 MB I think, or something small). Crucial tested it before I bought it and told me that it would work.

[blackomegax]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820221204

i bought this to up my x40 to 1gb of ram. works beautifully
and i only payed 35 for it (it was on sale)

[richarddd]

1gb kingmax from newegg has worked very nicely in my x31 for the past 6 weeks.

[azX32]

You're thinking too hard. Kingston is not generic memory, it will work perfectly in the X41.

Kingmax is generic..stay away.

And what thinking is your Kingmax comment based on? What makes Kingmax any more generic and any less reliable than Kingston Value RAM?

Kingmax is extremely reliable memory for a laptop or a desktop. And it has a lifetime warranty

[verktyg]

Do a search on my tag "verktyg" and "Kingston" or check out this link (several messages posted in the thread).
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... m&start=30

I have no particular axe to grind with Kingston or any other memory "FABRICATOR".

I've worked in the hardware manufacturing side of computers for over 25 years. I play with PCs a hobby and for therapy as well as for functional reasons.

It blows my mind that people will spend thousands of dollars on a PC and try to save a few bucks on one of the most important components in their system - MEMORY!

In defense of Microsloth, Windows of and in itself is not as buggy as it's reputation has led people to believe. Many Windows stability problems are due to intermittent memory problems.

I have 9+ desktops and 6 laptops (I built the desktops and I have a problem parting with them They're like my kids It's sort of like working on a 55' Chevy hotrod.).

I use my PCs mostly for business and can afford just about anything I want. I work in the industry and can write them off as business expenses. I avoid "bleeding edge" technology and use components and software 2-3 generations old because the bugs are usually worked out.

Several weeks ago one of my desktops that I built about 7 years ago started acting up. I only use it for audio applications - converting tapes and albums to CDs. One bank of EDO SIMMS took a dump. EDO SIMMS run in pairs. Each pair checked out OK but together they failed Memtest386 and DocMem. I replaced one bank and the system is working fine again.

The point is that memory can fail intermittently and drive you nuts looking for software problems. That's why I recommend buying only memory known to be premium quality. Kingston makes some premium quality memory, their ValueRam is not premium quality, not even close.

It's your money and time!

[azX32]

Several weeks ago one of my desktops that I built about 7 years ago started acting up. I only use it for audio applications - converting tapes and albums to CDs. One bank of EDO SIMMS took a dump. EDO SIMMS run in pairs. Each pair checked out OK but together they failed Memtest386 and DocMem. I replaced one bank and the system is working fine again.

The point is that memory can fail intermittently and drive you nuts looking for software problems. That's why I recommend buying only memory known to be premium quality. Kingston makes some premium quality memory, their ValueRam is not premium quality, not even close.

And that memory that you bought 7 years ago after 18 years of experience in hardware manufacturing was "premium quality" or less-than-premium quality? Either way, I hope it had a lifetime guarantee like Kingmax does.

[verktyg]

And that memory that you bought 7 years ago after 18 years of experience in hardware manufacturing was "premium quality" or less-than-premium quality? Either way, I hope it had a lifetime guarantee like Kingmax does.

It doesn't matter whether it was under warranty or not. The point I was making is that the system started having weird lockups. It seemed like a software problem. After running the basic checks - empty Temp directory, run Scandisk, Defrag, run several AV programs, AdAware, SpyBot, etc. - and everything checked out OK, I tested the memory.

Bad memory and system files that get overwritten by updates and install programs in pre ME/XP versions of Windows are 2 of the biggest causes of Windows stability problems. Back in 1995 I asked a friend who was a Software/Hardware engineer and wrote for several PC magazines, "How often do your computers crash?" "Four or five times a day!".

Most users have come to expect software to be buggy and Windows to be unstable and unless or until they have a major memory failure, they don't have a clue about the problem. I would estimate that in the pre PC100 era as many as 10% of the PCs in the US had/have defective memory! Most of the problems are intermittent so they are hard to trace without an expensive electronic memory tester or software like Memtest386 and DocMem.

FYI, it was Cubig brand memory. They had a good reputation among OEM computer companies at the time I bought it, at least 8 years ago.

There are hundreds, maybe thousands of memory "FABRICATORS" worldwide. Many of them are fly by night companies. Most off brand memory suppliers farm out the production; low bidder gets the business. The computer industry is very volatile. Companies come and go! Technology changes weekly.

A lifetime guarantee isn't worth the paper it's written on in the computer industry. What lifetime? The life of the computer, your lifetime, what? If there were a lifetime guarantee on the Cubig memory and there may have been, it would be pretty difficult to try to collect on because 72 pin EDO SIMMs have been obsolete for over 5 years. In several years the current types of memory will also be obsolete.

KingMAX is a Taiwanese company. A lot of their manufacturing is done in the PRC. I don't know much about them. Their products seemed to be aimed at the consumer market. Do you work for them? Do you know first hand about their manufacturing practices? What is the MTBF (mean time before failure) rate for their memory? What are their manufacturing tolerances - how much of a return from failure rate is acceptable to them? I have repeatedly said that I don't know much about KigMAX. I'm not attacking their products, just the effects of advertising mentality.

Kingston has a pretty high expected return rate for their ValueRAM line. They have that calculated into their pricing. They are very good about replacing products but who's reimbursing you for your lost time and possible data loss due to defective memory? What is YOUR time worth?

[aamsel]

Kingmax is a different company.

My recommendation:
Get the crucial stuff. It may cost a little more, and we can debate forever if their quality has gone down over the years, but I think it is still top quality memory. If you have ANY issues with crucial memory, it can be replaced, no questions asked any time. They are not going out of business.

Andrew
Austin, TX

My second question: are Kingston and Kingmax made by the same company?...

[blackomegax]

corsair value pc3200 in desktop, "gigaram" in laptop.

both memtest = 0 errors overnight. i dont see the problem with modern cheap ram as long as it doesnt error in memtest

overpaying for ram just because it has a shiny blue heatsink on it and can do CL2 instead of CL2.5 is quite stupid unless you despratly NEED that extra 1/10th of a second to open a program.

[aamsel]

Laptop memory modules don't have heatsinks.
They are all the same specs, CAS latency, timings, etc.
Only difference is which chips are on the modules, and, more importantly, who makes the modules and who assembles them.

I would agree that if it memtests fine it should be fine. Just buy it from newegg or someplace that has a "no hassle" return/exchange policy.

Andrew
Austin, TX

corsair value pc3200 in desktop, "gigaram" in laptop.

both memtest = 0 errors overnight. i dont see the problem with modern cheap ram as long as it doesnt error in memtest

overpaying for ram just because it has a shiny blue heatsink on it and can do CL2 instead of CL2.5 is quite stupid unless you despratly NEED that extra 1/10th of a second to open a program.

[LearningThinking]

Hi, Everyone,
It seems newegg offer crucial now.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820145097
The model number for this is CT12864AC53E
I can find it on crucial's website.

However, when I use the memory selection tool of crucial.com, it shows the following model: CT439984, which is more expensive than CT12864AC53E.

My question is what is the difference between the two, besides that CT12864AC53E is OEM and CT439984 is probably not?


Thanks a lot!

L.T.

[bhtooefr]

It's not OEM/non-OEM.

What Crucial's recommending is RAM specifically for your ThinkPad (even though it's the same module), and charging you for the access to the Memory Configurator, and the guarantee that it'll work.

If you have any reason to think that it'll be incompatible, get it through the configurator for the ~$5 more - that way, you can return it until they get you a module that is actually compatible.

[LearningThinking]

It's not OEM/non-OEM.

What Crucial's recommending is RAM specifically for your ThinkPad (even though it's the same module), and charging you for the access to the Memory Configurator, and the guarantee that it'll work.

If you have any reason to think that it'll be incompatible, get it through the configurator for the ~$5 more - that way, you can return it until they get you a module that is actually compatible.

The price difference is not $5, it is 160 versus 115.

[sugo]

bhtooefr is talking about crucial.com vs crucial.com, not crucial.com vs newegg.com.

[bhtooefr]

Oh, we're talking Crucial vs. Newegg?

Newegg will charge a 15% restocking fee if it's wrong, but it should definitely be compatible. Just run Crucial's mem configurator, get the specs, look for a module with identical (or better) specs to what Crucial says.

[johnd04]

Where can I get this Memtest everyone keeps referring to?

[bhtooefr]

http://www.memtest.org/