Memory

Memory is a critical area of a system which is often overlooked. The problem is that memory errors are often intermittent and difficult to track down. At the best they cause your system to crash. At worse they corrupt your data and make it unusable in the future.

I've found that buying quality memory -- and testing the heck out of it as well -- is one foundation of high system availablity and reliability.

My preference is to purchase memory from either Crucial or Kingston. Over the years I have had excellent success with memory SIMMS, DIMMS, and modules from either company. Compared to failures, either infant or mid-life in other brands. These are not the only manufacturers of quality memory, they are just the ones I have the most experience with, and are often easier to purchase locally.

OTOH, Kingston Value Ram is not a value, and I wouldn't touch it with a 10-meter pole. The memory cards are so thin they don't even seat properly in SIMM/DIMM sockets!

XXX add section on memory socktes

XXX add section on memory types

XXX special sun memory

Weird PPD HP SIMMS for printers -- get link to article

• 36 Pin SIMM [ 8 or 9 bit ]
• 72 Pin SIMM [ w/out + w/ Parity, Plain / FPM / EDO ]
• 144 Pin SODIMM [Laptop SDRAM]
• 168 Pin PCxxx SDRAM
• 184 Pin PCxxxx DDR SDRAM
• 200 Pin ????? [Laptop DDR SDRAM]
• 240 Pin DDR2-xxx PC2-xxxx DDR2 SDRAM xxx == DDR2-[ 400, 533, 667, 800 ] xxxx = PC2-[ 3200, 4200 5300 6400]
• ??? DDR3 SDRAM
• Non-ECC, ECC, Registered ECC
• Buffered, UnBuffered
• Voltage [ 1.8
• CL=?
• Timings string

• 184 Pin DDR SDRAM PC3200 PC2700 CL=3 CL=2.5 DDR400 DDR

• Crucial
• Kingston
• MemoryTen
• MemoryX
• Memory Stock