Which Memory Brand is the Best?

[GSte]

Were talking about it because it's one of those components that often dies/ turns up faulty and needs to be RMA'd. As individuals it would be impossible to provide even vaguely accurate failure rates of ram from different companies.... that many kits are sold every year that even if you'd had ten that had all been good, that would be no guarantee of anything

[TrentBoy]

Thanks for the microdirect link. I thought it might have been cheaper going direct but i mainly used the website to see what specs they had.

[Clunk]

You guys are talking about returning memory and RMA procedures... If you are having to send memory back because it's faulty... How does that mean they are good? I personally have always used Corsair XMS (and have never had to send any back - but of course, thats only from about 6-7 system builds ) - I'm starting to like the look of crucial ballistix because it has lower latencys at a similar price - so I'll be going for it on my next build.

Well, the question was which memory brand is best, and the RMA process is a large part of it. All manufacturers have faulty RAM, and most of them offer a long/lifetime guarantee, but what you may not realise, is that after the first 12 months, you are no longer able to return it to the retailer, you have to deal with the manufacturer direct, and if that means that the turnaround could be 4-8 weeks, then it becomes a bit of a ballache.

Teamgroup is another to avoid, overpriced RAM with a 6 week+ RMA turnaround.

[Blitzen]

Where as Corsair, OCZ etc. have all different chips on them, some good

IIRC OCZ Platinum DDR2 ALL has Micron chips.

When I asked why I wasnt sending the RAM to their european office, they said that they didnt deal with RMAs at that time.

Can i ask how long ago that was?
I had some PC3200 OCZ RAM that failed and i sent it back to a UK office had had a refund (they didnt have stock) within 4 days.

BTW......Crucial are very good in the RMA process aswell. I bought some other PC3200 from Fleabay and it was dead. Crucial swapped it for me without a hint of asking for a receipt even.

[Clunk]

IIRC OCZ Platinum DDR2 ALL has Micron chips.

Promos chips. The only ones that I know of that definately have Micron D9 are the flexxlc 9200/9600 and the equivalent model of the reapers, and some of the Titanium series.

Can i ask how long ago that was?
I had some PC3200 OCZ RAM that failed and i sent it back to a UK office had had a refund (they didnt have stock) within 4 days.

Early April this year, and as they were the FlexXLC versions with the heavy heatsinks, and the value was over £300, the postage was £60 for anything approaching decent, or £40 for dont hold your breath postage..

BTW......Crucial are very good in the RMA process aswell. I bought some other PC3200 from Fleabay and it was dead. Crucial swapped it for me without a hint of asking for a receipt even.

.

[Blitzen]

There are actually quite a few of the OCZ modules that carry Micron chips.

........................................

I RAM'd to OCZ in November. Maybe things have changed now...i dunno

[Clunk]

There are actually quite a few of the OCZ modules that carry Micron chips.

Apart from the ones I've mentioned, I dont know of any others, but I do know that the retail platinums dont have Micron D9s on them.

Which ones are you meaning?

[GSte]

I think all the OCZ modules from PC7200 up still use micron don't they? I know the 6400 flex xlc cas3 has some strange unidentified chips with ocz branding but no one is quite sure of the original manufacturer, some think hynix. These chips are on some of the reaper modules as well i seem to recall....

[vegettoxp]

So I am guessing its a good idea to wait for Intel's Offical release on X38 and then look for ram!

[EtheAv8r]

...........

Corsair is decent memory aswell but if you are UK based then their RMA process is quite frankly rubbish. They only look after the American side of the business on this front.

With this I have to disagree....... to some extent.

I had to RMA some Corsair RAM that was nearly 4 years old. When purchased it was £210. When RMA'ed (yes I did have to post in back to USA and that cost £6), that particular XMS was no longer made, and I was offered an equivalent PC3200 DDR replacement, a DDR2 replacement if I wanted to use it in a different system, or my money back. At this time to buy an equivalent TwinX pair was about £75, so I opted for the money-back offer, and got a cheque for £210 from Corsair. Yes I had to pay an £8 fee to get the cheque paid into my bank account, but I was well up on the deal - and I now only ever buy Corsair RAM.

Whole process to about a month though.....

[Blitzen]

Whole process to about a month though.....

Which is exactly what i meant.........thats poor! (Going America or not)
At least with Crucial you are guaranteed to have new memory back in your hand with 3-4 days.

Looks like OCZ may have changed now according to Clunk but the RMA's were always dealt in the UK (before Xmas anyway).

[Clunk]

Looks like OCZ may have changed now according to Clunk but the RMA's were always dealt in the UK (before Xmas anyway).

Well, normally with relatively new RAM like that, I would have gone with the retailer for RMA, but I chose to go direct to OCZ because of the customer service reputation, and the customer service and tech support was very good, albeit by email.

It happened twice that, and in the end, I returned it to the retailer for a refund, wasnt happy to be paying that kind of money for postage to the US.