Memory Upgrade - What manufacturer?

[VenomousFiligree]

Hopefully some of you "Tech" guys can help me to decide which memory manufacturer to purchase an extra 1 Gig from.

I have a Sony VGN AR21M and have seen memory provided by Kingston, Corsair and Crucial at a fraction of the cost of Sonys own.

So any recommends?

:)
MB

[Oberoten]

Hopefully some of you "Tech" guys can help me to decide which memory manufacturer to purchase an extra 1 Gig from.

I have a Sony VGN AR21M and have seen memory provided by Kingston, Corsair and Crucial at a fraction of the cost of Sonys own.

So any recommends?

:)
MB


It is usually quite worth it to keep all memory capsules / sticks of the same manifacture to avoid timing conflicts. If you go Kingston, go kingston all the way.

[VenomousFiligree]

So discard the Sony 1 Gig I've already got and get 2 Gig of whichever....

Hmmm

[Oberoten]

Or get a second Sony, it'll likely be cheaper.
But mixing brands when it comes to memory can create interesting side-effects.

[VgnFrnd]

MB: I've got the Sony VGNAR370. I went with:

Kingston 1GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300)

It works great for me, at a fraction of the Sony price. Maybe I got lucky, but in my view, so long as you buy precisly the right number of pins, memory type, DDR rating, and speed, you should be fine. The Sony e-support page for your machine should have the memory specs you need.

[Griogre]

I think Kingston, Corsair and Crucial are all fine brands. Memory brand mismatch could be a problem but the odds are in your favor if you get the extra gig from one of these brands. Just be sure to match the spec numbers. You don't want different types if you are not sure of what the differances are.

[Dachannien]

If you're not trying to do bleeding edge clocking or anything like that, you will usually be okay. However, some memory sticks like slightly different voltages, especially the high-performance ones, and if you're mixing and matching them, you may not be able to find settings that will keep all of them running stable all the time.

[Waldo Pepper]

I'll echo what the others said about matching the specs (timing, class, etc) because that's the most critical issue. Matching brands can help with this but not always since even their own specs may change over time depending on how old the machine is.

[Oberoten]

Yeah...

Kingston / Corsair combo was NOT nice to my old motherboard which ended up being all kinds of weird after the memory upgrade. (( So of course... I built two computers instead, each with 1 Gb. ;) ))

[VgnFrnd]

Just to add to the brands recommendation, I also like Patriot. I use it in two of my machines. I would have bought it for my Sony, too, but it wasn't readily available in the specs I needed.

[VenomousFiligree]

Thanks for all the info, it looks like my choices are (Patriot didn't do any for my machine):

Kingston 1024MB 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM SO-DIMM Memory Module
£55.56 for 2

1GB Kingston Memory - SO DIMM 200-pin - DDR II - 667 MHz - unbuffered
£56.24 for 2

Corsair Value Select 1GB PC2-4200 DDR SODIMM Memory Latency » 4-4-4-12-2T
£46.56 for 2

Crucial CT650263 DDR2 PC2-4200 • CL=4 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR2-533 • 1.8V • 128Meg x 64
£36.41 for 2

Crucial CT650262 DDR2 PC2-5300 • CL=5 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR2-667 • 1.8V • 128Meg x 64
£36.41 for 2

Any recommendations, I'm assuming DDR2-667 is better than DDR2-533?

:)
MB

[VgnFrnd]

DDR 667 is faster than 533, but it will only work if your existing memory chip runs at the same speed.

In order to pick which of your options will probably work, we would need to see what the specs are on your machine.

[VgnFrnd]

I just looked up your machine on the Kingston site, here:

https://shop.kingston.com/modelsinfo.asp?SysID=34203&mfr=Sony&model=VAIO+VGN&Sys=34203-Sony-VAIO+VGN-AR21M&SUBMIT1=Find

It looks like your computer could have come with either speed. The trick will be figuring out which speed you already have. To figure this out, you could either check the build spec sheet that came with your machine (if you still have it), or you will need to power down your machine and remove the memory that you have now. Look for the model number printed on the chip and google it. The results should tell you the speed that you are trying to match.

[VenomousFiligree]

If I'm removing the existing 1 Gig and putting in 2 new ones, will it make a difference?

[VgnFrnd]

Maybe. Motherboards are limited in their support for various speeds of memory. To learn which speeds your motherboard supports, again you would need to refer back to the build sheet (which is easy) or disassemble the computer and look up the model number on the motherboard itself (which is almost certainly more trouble than its worth). This situation results in the same solution I mentioned previously: Identify the speed of your current memory, and stick with that, regardless if you are buying 1GB to match your current stick or two new 1GB sticks.

[VgnFrnd]

In other words, I would recommend that you buy memory with exactly the same specs as the memory currently installed on your system. There is much less room for unanticipated consequences if you match specs in that way.

[Griogre]

I have to second VgnFrnd. Don't borrow trouble if you can help it.

[VgnFrnd]

Besides, the speed gain on a 667 chip over a 533 chip will probably be undetectable in all but the most extreme applications, and even then the gain in real-time processing will be pretty small.