[zeller]

Hi all,

I know this question has been asked before, but I can't find a satisfying answer in the archives.

I'm looking at upgrading RAM for my Pismo to 1 gig (I've got 384 right now and have lots of disk swaps). I am considering different vendors and manufacturers. There is a huge price difference on 512MB chips between Crucial and generic RAM ($140 vs. $55), and I can get Kingston for $77 off buy.com. I can't imagine the Crucial would be worth it. Oh yes, and I am a poor graduate student. Here are my concerns, from most important to least:

1) it has to be good RAM - no kernel panics
2) the less energy consumed, the better (I'm concerned about battery life)
3) faster = better

Which vendors/manufacturers do people recommend, given the above? Is Kingston as good as Crucial? Are there other brands to consider? What should I look for in RAM. Is CL2 that much faster than CL3? PC133 vs PC100? parity vs. non-parity? I really wish there were a FAQ somewhere...

Oh yeah, and I have read on this board that the pismo takes either high or low profile chips in both slots - is that right? When I installed a low profile chip in the bottom slot it seemed pretty tight.

What else am I forgetting to ask?

Ben

[PeteWK]

Hmm, OK, I'll give it a shot.

I have both a DVI G4 and a Pismo G3 and both have 1 gig of ram. The Pismo has entry level stuff from OWC. It's been flawless since the day I got them both. I think they were something like 150 dollars when I got them. They're currently going for 59.95. That's just sickening. Good for you, though.

My DVI has the high end Kingston chips in it. They sell for 180. But they're low profile and you don't need that at all. The cheaper Kingston is lower end memory. If you're going to do that, go with the no-name stuff. That's what the Kingston budget line is anyway, just rebadged memory.

OWC has always been good to me and I've purchased a bunch of stuff from them over the last couple of years.

In short: OWC, High Profile, 60 bucks each. (OWC is eshop.macsales.com)

PeteWK

[schwank]

I got mine from 1-800-4memory at
http://www.ramseeker.com/scripts/modelDetails.php

it was the cheapest at the time (200 for a 256) it did go bad on me once, then they sent me another one that registered as a 128, but now its been woking for over a year without a problem.... I guess the moral of the story is as long as it has the lifetime warranty who cares!

P.S it was faster stuff than shipped with apple, and worked fine on osx

[josntme]

Ditto to PeteWK on the OWC ram.

I've been running their memory for years and haven't had one problem.

Just Yesterday, I installed 512 in my Pismo.

[zeller]

Cool, thanks! I'll probably order the OWC RAM when I get home tonight.

Ben

[Bluebomber21XX]

I'll third the vote for OWC RAM. I have a 512 module that has been great.

[PeteWK]

Originally posted by schwank:
I got mine from 1-800-4memory at
http://www.ramseeker.com/scripts/modelDetails.php

it was the cheapest at the time (200 for a 256) it did go bad on me once, then they sent me another one that registered as a 128, but now its been woking for over a year without a problem.... I guess the moral of the story is as long as it has the lifetime warranty who cares!

P.S it was faster stuff than shipped with apple, and worked fine on osx

Dude, am I the only one who doesn't think that's a ringing endorsement for Ramseeker.com?

PeteWK

[schwank]

Heh heh heh well, ramseaker is just a site that lists prices to a bunch of places... 1800 4 memory was the company I purchased the ram through. There was a problem with the ram chip after a year, but they took care of it with out a problem (I did have to pay shipping I think). I would probably buy from them again, mistakes happen, at least they responded quickly and fixed the problem.

[FulcrumPilot]

512 mb kingston valueram worked for me on the lower slot. no problem so far. here is my original post:

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...threadid=61936