Did I miss something? RAM prices skyrocket (1 Viewer)

[John_Bonner]

I put together a system last August with an Epox 8K7A mobo and 256MB PC2100 DDR RAM. I got the RAM from Crucial and paid $39 for it. In November I check back at Crucial and the same stick was $29. Great I thought, by Christmas it'll be $25 and I'll get another stick. Well Christmas came and went and I never did buy the RAM. Today I check Crucial's website and the price has gone up to $86! What's goin' on? Even Newegg's Crucial price is around $80. Anyone know why the price spike and if it's expected to last.

 

[Jay H]

Nahh, I don't follow the RAM trends, but it was about $36 in beginning of Novemeber'01 when I bought the same Crucial 256MB DDR ram you have... I noticed in Mid december it was riding to like $53 so yeah, I guess it's on it's way back up....

Jay

 

[Camp]

Crucial, and other memory makers, lost a ton of money. They sold through much of their surplus and now can charge a premium for RAM again. It's a cycle I expect to become fairly regular.

 

[Jason Handy]

I think RAM is the most underappreciated resource in modern computers. It kills me to see people with 1.4 GHz machines, running with 128 MB RAM...talk about squeezing a bowling ball through a garden hose.

 

[Steven K]

If you are running Windows 98, 98, or ME, having more than 64 MB of RAM does almost no good. These versions of Windows do not scale very well at all. It kills me to see someone buy a computer with 512 MB of RAM running Windows ME.

Win NT? Win 2000? Now there's where the RAM comes in handy!

 

[Jason Handy]

If you are running Windows 98, 98, or ME, having more than 64 MB of RAM does almost no good

I wholeheartedly disagree. Windows 98 runs like a dog on 64 MB of RAM, and forget about playing Wolfenstein or any of the other hi-powered games on the market. I noticed a HUGE difference going from 64 to 256 MB of RAM. Going up to 512 may not be as dramatic but I think that your cut-off of 64 MB is too low, especially since the OS hardly runs on 64 MB anyway.

I can not comment on WinME, but I heard it requires 128 MB to run properly.

Regards,

Jason

 

[Camp]

If you are running Windows 98, 98, or ME, having more than 64 MB of RAM does almost no good.

Naa...128MB is the sweet spot for 98SE and ME.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

512MB is the limit for non-NT OSes to address properly.

 

[Carlo_M]

As a former W98 and ME user, here's my opinion:

Windows 98 Second Edition

Minimum w/o pulling hair out = 64MB

Sweet Spot = 128MB - marked improvement from 64MB.

Marginal Improvement when I went up to 256MB.

Windows Millenium Edition

Minimum = 128MB

Sweet Spot = 256MB

Overkill = 384+MB

Windows 2000 (work)

Minimum = 128MB

Sweet Spot = 256MB

Noticeable difference when I went to 384MB (if RAM is cheap, go ahead)

Windows XP

I've only used it with 512MB of PC133 RAM and 256MB of RDRAM (different systems, Athlon 850 on one, P4 1.5GHz on the other). Both worked fine.

 

[Kevin_Graham]

At my local Costco I found 256meg ram for $54.99.

Edit: It is 133/100.

 

[Camp]

What speed? PC133 and PC100 are still cheap compared to DDR.

 

[DennisZ]

go to www.pricewatch.com
PC2100DDR Ram 128MB $30
256MB $53
512MB $114
this is the best site to check for another you need
for your PC
Denny

 

[Jassen M. West]

Memturbo. It lets you defrag your ram and recover it without having to restart your computer. It also keeps track of how much is being used and how much is free.

just my .02

---jay

 

[Rob FM]

Jeff is correct in the 512Mb limit (NT kernel vs 386 Kernel)

Carlos has "fine-tuned" that limit perfectly for the OS's he listed!

~Rob

 

[Chad Seymour]

Can you use DDR ram in a system on a motherboard that isn't designed for it? I have an Abit KT7A that I was thinking about adding more Ram to, but I am also thinking that within a year, I will upgrade to a new DDR board and processor. I didn't want to buy more PC100 to dump in my current setup if I could get by with adding DDR and it work, but just not up to its potential.

Chad

 

[Joel Mack]

Can you use DDR ram in a system on a motherboard that isn't designed for it?

Not to my knowledge, no.

 

[John_Bonner]

go to www.pricewatch.com....256MB $53

The one downside about pricewatch is the "low-ballers" are places I've either never heard of or have less than stellar reseller ratings.

 

[Jason Handy]

I had a 6 month dispute with a company I dealt with through Pricewatch.com. Basically they sent me a 256 MB chip of RAM, and I ended up sending it back, but was never credited for it. The company kept giving me the runaround so I initiated a dispute with my credit card company.

Well, to make a long story short, the company locked me out of my customer web account, but I was able to get in through a back door and expose the fraud. I got my money back (whew!)

What was the name of the company...damn I forget, but I ended up going with coast-to-coast memory and they were fantastic to work with.

Jason

EDIT: I remember the name of the company - Dynasty Express (dynastyexpress.com) - they were total bastards, but are now out of business, thank the lord.

 

[Rob FM]

Pricewatch is OK...but I'd much rather deal with NEWEGG.com or MWAVE.com. They're usually within dollars of the no-name companies.
~Rob

 

[John_Bonner]

but I'd much rather deal with NEWEGG.com or MWAVE.com

Two of the BEST online vendors, hands down!