Value RAM Roundup: Computing On a Budget
by Wesley Fink on April 11, 2005 4:26 PM EST- Posted in
- Memory
The Memories
The first task in our look at Value RAM was to define Value RAM. With top memories selling for $250 to $400 (or even higher) for a 1GB kit, we decided that a price limit of $200 for a 1GB kit (2x512MB DIMMs) of DDR memory would be our cut-off. Admittedly, this excludes some good value Samsung TCCD kits from companies like PQI and Patriot, but these products are really just good buys and marketed by the companies as Performance memory.We requested Value RAM for our review from Corsair, Kingston, Mushkin, OCZ and Transcend as a representative cross-section of the memory industry. We asked these manufacturers to supply a 1GB kit (2x512MB) of a Value RAM product or products that sold on the web for less than $200. We asked them to supply whatever RAM they wished that met these criteria, which we would be comparing in performance to other Value RAM products in a memory roundup.
All the manufacturers supplied one or more samples for testing except Corsair. Corsair emailed us, stating that "Our policy is not to send Value Select parts for review for a variety of reasons. After a quick discussion here we decided to stick with that policy and sit this one out." When we asked for clarification, Corsair expressed concern that we would be testing performance and overclocking of their Value products when memory chips change frequently on these products. The concern is that the overclocking performance we would report in a roundup today might not be what a customer would get tomorrow because chips change frequently in value products. Corsair recommended that customers looking for overclocking and enthusiast level performance should purchase Corsair products that are geared to performance and overclocking, where results are consistent.
The Value RAM roundup resulted with seven memory pairs from four manufacturers.
| Manufacturer | Description (Memory Chips) |
Memory Speed | Rated Timings | Web Price (1GB) |
| Kingston | KVR400X64C25/512 (Kingston) |
400 DDR | 2.5-3-3 | $142 |
| Kingston | KVR400X64C3AK2/1G (Elpida) |
400 DDR | 3-3-3 | $100 ($91 on sale) |
| Mushkin | EM Series PC3200 (Unknown) |
400 DDR | 3-3-3 | $147 |
| OCZ | PC3200 Premier P/N OCZ4001024PDC-K (PSC) |
400 DDR | 2.5-3-3-7 | $121 |
| OCZ | PC3200 Value Series P/N OCZ4001024WV3DC-K (Winbond - Value VX) |
400 DDR | 2.5-3-3-7 | $115 |
| OCZ | PC3200 Gold P/N OCZ4001024ELDCGE-K (Winbond BH5) |
400 DDR | 2-2-2-5 | $195 |
| Transcend | JM366D643A-50 (JetRam) |
400 DDR | 2.5-3-3 | $100 |
The seven memories represent quite a range of choices in memory under $200 for a Gigabyte. First, we were pleasantly surprised that all of the memories except one now actually cost below $150 for a Gigabyte. That one memory, OCZ PC3200 Gold, will still interest many Value RAM buyers because it represents the revival of Winbond BH5 chips, which were discontinued from the market over 6 months ago. We are told that Winbond is manufacturing BH5 again from old dies, and we will be testing this Value RAM at the higher voltages possible on the DFI nForce4 motherboard.
The other big surprise is also from OCZ. We learned (when OCZ introduced their VX memory at DDR500 2-2-2 speed) that there would also be a Value Series version of the VX. What we did not expect was that the new "Value VX" would cost just $115 for a Gigabyte of memory. These are the same chips that were top-performers in a recent memory review. The Value Series uses unbinned chips, so performance is not guaranteed, but we were still anxious to see if this or the new Value BH5 might be the proverbial "silk purse from a sow's ear" for the cheap computer enthusiast. We all like to get something for nothing - or, at least, for very little money.
As you will see from the results, there were quite a few surprises in Value RAM performance. This includes a few very cheap but solid performers that will satisfy many users, and a couple of memories that are as mundane as we expect of Value RAM. For those of you looking for dynamite performance at cheap prices, we also found that silk purse amongst the Value RAM candidates.
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shoRunner - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
when did value ram cost $200 for a gig...dvinnen - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
Anyone else finding these Value VX moduals? The link above timeings are 3-4-4-8, not 2.5-3-3-7.JarredWalton - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
Please remember that it is rarely feasible for reviewers/sites to go out and buy all the hardware for a roundup. Wes submitted requests to several manufacturers, and this is what *they* felt like sending for testing. Of particular note is the comments from Corsair - they are not alone in rotating chip types on their value RAM. Maybe that is why several companies (i.e. Mushkin) didn't simply send their cheapest RAM.Looking around at various resellers and the pricing Engine, there are quite a few other RAM manufacturers/models out there worth considering. Corsair, Crucial, PDP, PQI, G.Skill, and several others have some really good RAM at $150 or less. You can even find PC4000 rated RAM for around $160 now.
Trust me, it's not practical to try to do a roundup of ALL value RAM. There are just so many models out there, all with different performance characteristics. If you don't want to overclock (at all), most of the $90 to $120 RAM will work well.
We should also have a "Your Mileage May Vary" clause in the article, as what Wes achieved is by no means a scientific sampling of each product. That would require at least 10 samples of each, and when you take the amount of time required to test OC'ing on *one* DIMM setup, it would take months to complete a scientific sampling of RAM.
reactor - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
quite right tony, was well done and hope to see further editions of the article. paying less and getting more is always good :)bigtoe36 - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
Typos's..."seem" is seen, "we" is were...se we all make mistakes.bigtoe36 - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
VX runs well with 2-3-2 timings with lower voltage. I have seem 233fsb 2-3-2 at 2.8V or so which is a little faster than 2.5-3-3 at the same fsb ;-).Regarding the modules that we not tested, you have to remember there are hundreds of different types of ram, not all can be reviewed in one go, I suspect this review alone took quite some time to complete as the AT LABs are a real busy place...i know Wesley is VERY busy not only reviewing but also pushing manufacturers to get boards overclocking better and pushing the enthusiast movent forward.
If only you guys had any idea of what Wes has done for the enthusiast over the past 2 years, i do and please take it from me the boards you are seeing at the moment are the fruits of that work.
Well done Wesley, nice review as always, even with the odd typo in amoungst the 8K words you wrote ;-)
bobsmith1492 - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
Well, anyway, what about the decent Mushkin CAS 2.5 for $84? It seems like a much better deal than the one they tested.http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?desc...
reactor - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
wouldve like to have seen mushkin blue line and twinmos tmii400, both are supposed to be good comptetitors to the Value VX/BH from OCZ.Cygni - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
They reviewed Value ram from the MAJOR mfts, they didnt review no name or OEM pieces, just brand name retail stuff.bobsmith1492 - Monday, April 11, 2005 - link
Who picked these.... :(What about the V-data 3200 CAS 2.5 ram for $70/gig at Newegg or the Mushkin CAS 2.5 for ~80? The ones in the review seem more expensive for slower ratings than most of the stuff at Newegg.
That said, the $115 VX value sounds pretty sweet.