HOT? FS: Kingston 2GB DDR2 Laptop or Desktop Memory - $14.99

I have a question for those who got the Kingston notebook memory. Has anyone benchmarked it?

I am asking because when I went to FS, they had no more Kingston, so they gave me this one (Crucial) at $15:

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/prodde ... atid=10487

Since it's much cheaper in general ($30 vs $60), I have some doubts whether to keep it or not (it's for my wife's laptop). I benchmarked it against the Corsair Value that I currently have on my laptop, and it has very similar performance even though the price is the $82 (bars 2 and 3 are the Crucial and Corsair results respectively):

BANDWIDTH TEST:
[IMG]http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/1933/bandwidthnr0.jpg[/IMG]

LATENCY TEST RANDOM
[IMG]http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/5255/r ... ncyrx8.jpg[/IMG]

LATENCY TEST LINEAR
[IMG]http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/1715 ... ncyxb8.jpg[/IMG]

I guess the performance would be similiar for the Kingston memory, but it would be nice to compare. I used Sandra Lite. Get it from here and do the memory bandwidth and latency (random and linear) test:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/SiSoftware_Sa ... d4664.html

Thanks for your input

djredhat wrote: ↑I have a question for those who got the Kingston notebook memory. Has anyone benchmarked it?

I am asking because when I went to FS, they had no more Kingston, so they gave me this one (Crucial) at $15:

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/prodde ... atid=10487

Since it's much cheaper in general ($30 vs $60), I have some doubts whether to keep it or not (it's for my wife's laptop). I benchmarked it against the Corsair Value that I currently have on my laptop, and it has very similar performance even though the price is the $82 (bars 2 and 3 are the Crucial and Corsair results respectively):

BANDWIDTH TEST:
[IMG]http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/1933/bandwidthnr0.jpg[/IMG]

LATENCY TEST RANDOM
[IMG]http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/5255/r ... ncyrx8.jpg[/IMG]

LATENCY TEST LINEAR
[IMG]http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/1715 ... ncyxb8.jpg[/IMG]

I guess the performance would be similiar for the Kingston memory, but it would be nice to compare. I used Sandra Lite. Get it from here and do the memory bandwidth and latency (random and linear) test:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/SiSoftware_Sa ... d4664.html

Thanks for your input

Hi djredhat, in your final analysis, was the Crucial modules worth the $14.99 if it compares well enough to the Corsair value module? Isn't it still darn cheap at $14.99 though? The warrany is only good for a year but using my credit card will bump it to two. I was offered by one of the assistant store managers to take 5 modules at $14.99 a piece as the store only reserved one for me when I order a few Sunday evening.

Thanks.

FrozenPegger wrote: ↑It uses all 4 GB - Vista Home Premium (32bit). What a difference!

At least it shows in Bios boot and once booted it say 4Gb in My Computer Properties window. I have a 256mb video card.

32-bit OS's DO NOT use 4GB of memory. They physically can't. Vista only shows 4GB after it was updated so ppl don't return the RAM saying "this doesn't work, it only says 3.25GB"

ive got an extra 2 gb stick...looks like my crappy acer laptop maxes out at 2 gb....if anyone wants it ill sell for $20 if you pick up from me in MTL (ndg)...

RAM IS NOW SOLD

achc wrote: ↑Learned my lesson. For these sales, always go to the original store and buy one first! Then go price match. If you PM successfully and end up with more then what you need, you can always refund the expensive one.

The thing is, how did you guys manage to do ISPU for FutureShop when it says its out of stock everywhere when I checked online? I guess that is after they had limit 1 per customer? For those who order before 3pm (approx), you can order any qty for ISPU at $14.99 right? Go to the store after 5pm, pay for it, get the store receipt, go to BB and PM right? I guess that is the way.

The thing is, after I fail to PM at BB, I suppose all FS stores will be out by then and online was over since 5:10pm EST.

As I said before, forget the PMing. You're making things much too complicated. A few people amazingly enough did manage to get a PM at BB, but I'm sure many others didn't. For this particular deal $15 was already an excellent price. Why risk missing it on the off chance that you might save a bit more? In future, take the deal as it is and be happy with your purchase. Don't fret about trying to save even more - it's just not worth the aggravation. Besides, the store with the lower price deserves your business. The higher priced store doesn't. Leave it with unsold stock and eventually it will drop its own prices too.

lorax1284 wrote: ↑...next time BB has a "customer appreciation" sale, they'll have this memory on for $12.99 or something.

Mark my words!

Let's see... Kingston USB sticks on sale one week, Kingston memory on sale the next... looks like FS/BB (or at least their FS branch) have some sort of deal with Kingston to clear out surplus stock. If BB have a F&F/PC sale this month I'd expect a Kingston deal there too. I wish Kingston made complete laptops, going by these discounts!

djredhat wrote: ↑it does NOT! 32 bit OS's addressing space is 4gb (= 2^32 bytes) - it uses about 1g for system devices etc, so it leaves only 3gb of addressable RAM. It is easy to upgrade your system to 64bit though - the serial number is good for both x86 and x64 of the same Vista family (home, premium, etc).

anywhere that details how to upgrade my system to 64bit? i'm on vista home basic i believe. thanks.

noway wrote: ↑What a disaster. I put 2 sticks of the desktop memory in my cart on Monday afternoon at about 13:57. Then at 4:55 pm I updated the cart and the new price appeared as $16.66. Went to checkout and selected in store pickup and order was processed normally. Later got e-mail saying that my order was cancelled since the store I selected for pickup has no stock...that I can re-order...HOW CAN I REORDER WHEN THERE IS NO STOCK LEFT? I guess I should have selected the SHIP option and maybe I would have gotten it?

What do I do now (I am very angry at FS)?? How could they have a problem filling my order if I processed the order before the sale even started??

ISPU is always hit-and-miss, even when there is no special sale in effect. From past experience I think the staff grab the best deals for themselves, leaving the product no longer available, even though it was when you placed your order.

litebrite wrote: ↑anywhere that details how to upgrade my system to 64bit? i'm on vista home basic i believe. thanks.

MS have Vista upgrade options. Go to your system's "Welcome Center" screen and I believe you'll see an option to upgrade. You'll probably find their upgrade price too high though, especially considering how little you paid for the RAM. So long as it works with your system though, even if you can't access all your installed memory it was still a great deal.

(Can't believe I said that about FS!)

djredhat wrote: ↑it does NOT! 32 bit OS's addressing space is 4gb (= 2^32 bytes) - it uses about 1g for system devices etc, so it leaves only 3gb of addressable RAM. It is easy to upgrade your system to 64bit though - the serial number is good for both x86 and x64 of the same Vista family (home, premium, etc).

I've heard that before, but when I looked into it it apparently only applies to premium versions (i.e. Vista Ultimate). I don't think it applies to Vista Home.

People could try the 64-bit Win 7 Beta if they are feeling adventurous though... (3.5GB download - ouch!)

Shortly after the sale ended, there put over 3000 units back in stock. Go figure...

blakjak wrote: ↑Shortly after the sale ended, there put over 3000 units back in stock. Go figure...

Lol wow... and they only allocated 200 units for the sale... sure is 'limited'.

If any1 is around the Hamilton,Ontario city and wiling to sell me an unopen one laptop ram 2g for $20 then pm me. Or contact me we might have a deal in the works.

blakjak wrote: ↑Shortly after the sale ended, there put over 3000 units back in stock. Go figure...

They have too! B**turds!

They had no notebook RAM in-store locally right at 5PM, when the sale "started", but they have over 3000 units available online the very next day.

No wonder I call it FS's Customer AGGRAVATION sale. They lost my business completely for at least month after their Sept/Oct sale, when they wouldn't honour online prices in-store.

Managed only to get one so my wife's laptop now has 2GB+512MB.
Since the max usable is 3.25GB and there is negligible speed difference between 2 and 3GB, should I bother getting another one when they go on sale again?
I'm not sure because as I understand it, they are not parallel in DDR and I am losing a percentage of performance. Not sure how much.

alanbrenton wrote: ↑Hi djredhat, in your final analysis, was the Crucial modules worth the $14.99 if it compares well enough to the Corsair value module? Isn't it still darn cheap at $14.99 though? The warrany is only good for a year but using my credit card will bump it to two. I was offered by one of the assistant store managers to take 5 modules at $14.99 a piece as the store only reserved one for me when I order a few Sunday evening.

Thanks.

Well, the tests show the same performance. I don't think warranty is an issue since ram sticks are the componenets that fail the least. Cannot comment how they compare to Kingston without someone posting benchmarks.

Sure, for $15 you can't go wrong ...

djredhat wrote: ↑Well, the tests show the same performance. I don't think warranty is an issue since ram sticks are the componenets that fail the least. Cannot comment how they compare to Kingston without someone posting benchmarks.

Sure, for $15 you can't go wrong ...

Thanks for your response.

litebrite wrote: ↑anywhere that details how to upgrade my system to 64bit? i'm on vista home basic i believe. thanks.

Well, there is no upgrade path from 32 bit to 64bit. You will have to start from scratch - wipe out the hard drive and install a fresh copy. You will need a Vista AIO (all in one) DVD. If you don't know where to download one, you could buy it on fleebay. Note that this DVD is not activated or cracked, so it is completely legal. During the install, it will ask you to input your serial number, and based on the serial number, it will offer you install either the 32bit (x86) or 64bit (x64) version of the apropriate Vista version (eg -Basic, Premium etc). IMPORTANT - if your PC came with SP1 preinstalled, then you serial is only good for VISTA AIO DVD WITH SP1 INCLUDED. So make sure you get the AIO SP1 version. Also, if it came without SP1 initially, then make sure you get the AIO DVD WITHOUT SP1 in it. The serial numbers on the label at the bottom is specific to the serivce pack version.

1. Back up your data (DVD, external hdd)
2. Download 64bit drivers in advance -from your manufacturer's website. YOUR NETWORK CARD DRIVER IS A MUST (unless you have a second machine and a usb key to transfer the files over to your 64bit machine). You will need you LAN connection installed to connect to Internet and get the other drivers
3. Boot from your AIO and, when prompted, chose the x64 version of you license group.
4. Finish the install, install all drivers and transfer your backup to your newly installed x64 Vista.

djredhat wrote: ↑Well, there is no upgrade path from 32 bit to 64bit. You will have to start from scratch - wipe out the hard drive and install a fresh copy. You will need a Vista AIO (all in one) DVD. If you don't know where to download one, you could buy it on fleebay. Note that this DVD is not activated or cracked, so it is completely legal. During the install, it will ask you to input your serial number, and based on the serial number, it will offer you install either the 32bit (x86) or 64bit (x64) version of the apropriate Vista version (eg -Basic, Premium etc). IMPORTANT - if your PC came with SP1 preinstalled, then you serial is only good for VISTA AIO DVD WITH SP1 INCLUDED. So make sure you get the AIO SP1 version. Also, if it came without SP1 initially, then make sure you get the AIO DVD WITHOUT SP1 in it. The serial numbers on the label at the bottom is specific to the serivce pack version.

1. Back up your data (DVD, external hdd)
2. Download 64bit drivers in advance -from your manufacturer's website. YOUR NETWORK CARD DRIVER IS A MUST (unless you have a second machine and a usb key to transfer the files over to your 64bit machine). You will need you LAN connection installed to connect to Internet and get the other drivers
3. Boot from your AIO and, when prompted, chose the x64 version of you license group.
4. Finish the install, install all drivers and transfer your backup to your newly installed x64 Vista.

Thank you! Is the upgrade to 64 bit from 32 bit worthwhile for the 4 gb of ram? I'm not that good w/ computers, so I'm nervous about doing this installation by myself. Just wondering if I'll notice much better performance.

Tornado F2 wrote: ↑I've heard that before, but when I looked into it it apparently only applies to premium versions (i.e. Vista Ultimate). I don't think it applies to Vista Home.

People could try the 64-bit Win 7 Beta if they are feeling adventurous though... (3.5GB download - ouch!)

It works perfectly on my 64 bit win 7 beta download on my lowly hp laptop =D