[xycury]

I've been looking around and am kinda lost.

i have found memory for the G5.. Viking and Crucial... but isn't all memory just the same.

I can certainly get Corsair or Geil memory that is practically the same as i would get from Viking or Crucial but for cheaper.

My questions is the G5 standard on memory like everything else? Can i just get a DDR3200 2GB (2x 1GB) Kit and plug it in?

maybe a silly question... but hey i want to know what you guys think.

Anyways i'd be saving about 100 or 1/5th of the cost which is good enough for me to try. Plus the Corsair and Geil includes heat spreaders for free which is a nice addition to keeping things cool

please let me know. Thanks

[Mac_Jedi]

Originally posted by xycury:
I've been looking around and am kinda lost.

i have found memory for the G5.. Viking and Crucial... but isn't all memory just the same.

Negative.

Saying all memory is the same is like saying that all say, sunglasses are the same (forgive the rather pedestrian comparison). Sure they all DO the same thing, but the quality can vary.

While this may not make a huge dfference up front, it can mean for bad memory in the future. I bought 1 gig for my G5, and while I know I could have gotten it cheaper from www.transintl.com, I wanted the better stuff.

You don't always know whose making the chips. Some memory companies will use 2 or 3 different manufacturers to produce their ram, so you have 2-3 different item with the same part #. Even better than Crucial is Mushkin, but they would be who I would go to for say, an Xserve upgrade. Its just a higher quality, which you pay for.

Also, and I don't know 100% if this is still true, but crucial used to provide memory for Apple, as well as MANY other PC manufacturers.

In a nutshell though, no, all RAM is not created equal, I would recommending picking it up form crucial. It may cost a few $$ more, but its worth it.

[yfan]

I'm using a variety of brands of ram in my G5 with no adverse effects(see sig). I'd say stay away from the cheaper brands, bigger name brands are cheap to the point that a 512mb stick should run you no more than $90. BTW, heatspreaders are only for looks.

[+ spiral +]

Personally i would only buy RAM from Other World Computing. They have a lifetime gaurantee and focus on macs. Their RAM is typically only $5 - 10 more than the cheapest RAM on Dealram. One time i got the cheapest RAM i could find from 1800 4 Memory for my powerbook which would not boot with the memory 18004Memory sent to me. After all was said and done i wasted alot of time trying to save (literally) a few dollars. It is worth it to me to get memory that i know works right away and in the future for just a bit more $. I just got 1GB of memory from OWC and of course it arrived quickly and worked.

[Scotttheking]

I buy straight crucial. I used to buy them for good machines, and random other cheaper stuff for 'play' machines, but tasks changed, and machines got new purposes, and it because much easier to know that every machine had ram from the same company. I've never had a crucial stick fail. Like some others, I don't really shop around on price for some things. For ram, I just get what I need from crucial, and for most other hardware, I get what I need from newegg. If the company is good and reliable, they'll get all my business. It makes my life easier.

[bob_hearn]

So what about this issue of "stacked" vs. "non-stacked" chips? Ramjet makes a big deal of the fact that their modules are non-stacked (therefore less power & heat). Transintl seems to have the best prices, but no real description of their modules; I guess they use stacked chips?

OWC says their 1GB PC3200 DDR 400MHz module is non-stacked, but they don't specifically say this about the 512 module. I'm thinking of just getting 2x512 for now (for my new G5 2.5), to leave slots for bigger chips when they get cheaper.

How about Crucial? Also non-stacked? Is this a big deal?

Thanks.

[Big Mac]

Here's my advice: Don't buy the cheapest (i.e. Coast-to-Coast/1800-4-MEMORY), and don't buy the most expensive (i.e. Crucial). When you buy from cheaper companies, you don't get name brand RAM. Most all RAM is produced by a small number of oversees vendors, but I have been told that the cheap resellers use chips that failed the rigorous testing the name brand companies perform. Here's a secret, though: Crucial is not the only name brand memory seller.

There are at least five name brand manufacturers: Crucial, Kingston, Viking, PNY and Corsair. (I wasn't aware Samsung is also major developer.) Crucial is too expensive, IMO, and their site, while pretty, is unhelpful because their memory selector presents too many module variations.

Kingston is more reasonably priced than Viking; both provide lifetime warranties. OTOH, PNY, the cheapest of the name brand RAM, only provides a 10 year warranty. Finally, I've written off Corsair entirely, since that company seems to cater exclusively to PC "enthusiasts," and a search for Apple yielded 0 results.

I've found the easiest path to price comparison is Froogle, and it's important to compare prices - one could easily get screwed over otherwise. Try search terms that reference the specific part and/or part number you're looking for. Be aware of the fact that some companies sell/price the modules individually, whereas most others sell/price them in kits. (G5 RAM needs to be added in pairs.) You'll find a lot of smaller tech companies through Froogle; I bet most are reputable. The really difficult part is determining which companies have which parts in stock and then figuring out which is the cheapest after taxes and shipping.

For my G5 I selected Kingston brand RAM. The cheapest reseller of a 512MB kit was at the time ewiz.com, charging $92. Now I see the price has dropped slightly to $89. Here is the direct link. In comparison to generic RAM this was/is a good deal, and I feel better using high quality components. (A generic 312MB module failed in my iBook months ago, prompting me to look to name brand RAM.) ewiz.com does charge CA tax and $11 shipping, I believe. Hope this helps!

Addendum: bob_hearn taught me something by referring to "stacked RAM," a term which I had not heard of previously. According to this Mac Observer page, "stacked RAM" is synonymous with cheaper, lower-capacity chips. The RAM is stacked because more chips are required, making the module bigger and requiring more power. Although I could be wrong, stacked chips are only really a concern with laptops, because bigger modules may not fit properly in them.

[bob_hearn]

Thanks for the tips, Big Mac. I wound up getting 2 x 512MB from ewiz. Only problem - cheapest shipping option to Canada is $40. Plus there will be import duty! There are some Canadian memory vendors, but it is even more expensive if you buy it here, and I couldn't find anyone selling the same Kingston DIMMs anyway. Sometimes living in Canada sucks. Seriously, if you want to buy anything online, it's like you don't exist. Most places won't even ship to Canada anyway, and you can't tell until you get to the checkout page... and still no iTunes music store?!

Anyway, the memory is ordered and on the way. And the 2.5 G5 should get here - I hope - today! Oh, yeah - I got my shipping notice from Apple on 9/11. It is now 9/15. It shipped "overnight priority". Surprise surprise - it's sitting in a warehouse 10 miles away under "regulatory agency clearance delay". Plus $606 CAD in import taxes - oh joy.

Edit - just found out the G5 is still in customs clearance because Apple's customs broker has not cleared it yet. So it's still being delayed by Apple.

Oh yeah, one more thing about Canada - no Tivo!!! Please, let's have a regime change in the US, so I can move back...

[Big Mac]

Damn, I'm sorry to hear about all the extra charges, bob. When I said CA sales tax, I hope you knew I meant California. Eeek. I apologize if I led you to the more expensive option - I just was not thinking about orders outside the US. I'm happy you're satisfied with the price nonetheless. One more thing. The G5 manual is not very specific about how precisely the DIMMs lock into place in the slots. When I first tried to do it, I thought both sides of the DIMM would go down evenly and lock. It turned out that I had to push one side down and then the other. Hope you get your G5 soon.