[Ralvark@Woefeather]

I recently ordered my new system that I'm building from Newegg, and I went with the Corsair XMS2 2 gig bundle. However, all of the RAM I was looking at had many reviews that said one or two sticks were dead on arrival.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Are people shorting their memory by opening it near the packing peanuts or building their systems on a rug? Or are there seriously that many sticks being shipping with problems?

Any thoughts?

My order is already processed and should be shipping soon, but just for peace of mind, should I be worried that I'll have to go through the RMA process?

[Danni]

Originally Posted by Ralvark@Woefeather

I recently ordered my new system that I'm building from Newegg, and I went with the Corsair XMS2 2 gig bundle. However, all of the RAM I was looking at had many reviews that said one or two sticks were dead on arrival.

Remember that 99% of people feedback on problems, but only 1% feedback satisfaction.

If the opposite were true, we wouldn't have MMO forums

[Fozzik]

Recently, there have been a lot of issues with DDR2 because of voltage.

It's a long story, that I've told several times (and even I don't feel like digging up the posts ), but the short form is this -

Many motherboards by default do not properly detect and set the correct voltage for DDR2-800 memory. It is often necessary to manually set the correct voltage.

Add to this the general bugginess with the chipsets for Core 2 Duo and AM2 when they came out... along with the people who fry their RAM when they take it out of the package or install it wrong... and you end up with some pretty negative sounding reviews.

Look at it this way... just about any good-quality brand of RAM comes with a lifetime warranty from the manufacturer, and you can send it back to Newegg for replacement within the first month. The worst possible thing that could happen is that you'd have to wait a few days for new sticks to arrive.

[Ralvark@Woefeather]

Originally Posted by Fozzik

Recently, there have been a lot of issues with DDR2 because of voltage.

It's a long story, that I've told several times (and even I don't feel like digging up the posts ), but the short form is this -

Many motherboards by default do not properly detect and set the correct voltage for DDR2-800 memory. It is often necessary to manually set the correct voltage.

Add to this the general bugginess with the chipsets for Core 2 Duo and AM2 when they came out... along with the people who fry their RAM when they take it out of the package or install it wrong... and you end up with some pretty negative sounding reviews.

Look at it this way... just about any good-quality brand of RAM comes with a lifetime warranty from the manufacturer, and you can send it back to Newegg for replacement within the first month. The worst possible thing that could happen is that you'd have to wait a few days for new sticks to arrive.

I didn't mean to ask a question many have asked, however I didn't find the answer I was looking for. Taking my time, grounding myself, reading directions and such should make the build generally painless?

I know the worst thing is waiting a few days, but now that I'm finally building my 'dream' computer after two years of saving and whatnot, after ordering a few more days seems like torture, not to mention my school's nearest post office is in the middle of a bad neighborhood.

[Fozzik]

Yes, grounding yourself and being careful...making sure it's oriented properly and not bending/rocking it in the slot... very important and should prevent 90% of problems.

As I said, DDR2-800 carries with it the chance of a few extra problems because of the default voltage. Look up the correct voltage for whatever RAM you buy (should show in the specs), and be prepared to manually set that voltage in the BIOS if (IF) you run into stability problems.

It's not that the memory is bad, it's just that the motherboards sometimes want to supply a default voltage (1.8V) and the memory might want a bit more.

Again, the voltage adjustment isn't something to worry about unless you run into problems. I just mention it because it's fairly common.

[Ralvark@Woefeather]

Originally Posted by Fozzik

Yes, grounding yourself and being careful...making sure it's oriented properly and not bending/rocking it in the slot... very important and should prevent 90% of problems.

As I said, DDR2-800 carries with it the chance of a few extra problems because of the default voltage. Look up the correct voltage for whatever RAM you buy (should show in the specs), and be prepared to manually set that voltage in the BIOS if (IF) you run into stability problems.

It's not that the memory is bad, it's just that the motherboards sometimes want to supply a default voltage (1.8V) and the memory might want a bit more.

Again, the voltage adjustment isn't something to worry about unless you run into problems. I just mention it because it's fairly common.

Alright thanks much

In addition, extra thanks to both you and rabb1t -- your respective builds were greatly useful and informative when making my purchasing decisions. I settled on these specs:

Case: Antec 900
Mobo: MSI P6N SLI Platinum
CPU: Intel C2D E6600
RAM: Corsair XMS2 2x1gb ddr2 6400 with EPP
HD: Seagate Barracuda 320GB
GPU: eVGA GeForce 8800GTS 320
PSU: Antec True Power Trio 650W
SC: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1

[Danni]

Pretty system

From what I have read, and what I am currently using, DDR2 800 runs best at 2.10 rather than 1.8. But it runs at both at the end of the day. 1.8 seems the bare minimum, 2.4 seems the max for 6400C4/C3

But if you buy a new motherboard, it's easy enough to set vcore to auto, and then fiddle with it if there is a problem.

I had a big problem with my cpu heat a while ago. Seems I forgot the difference between typing 1.35, and 1.53 onto the CPU might cause an issue.

[Auto] works well in my humble opinion.

[Fozzik]

Different manufacturers spec their RAM out for stable operation at different voltages. It depends on a number of factors, and it's not something to change around without knowing the details. Best to look up the specified voltage for your specific RAM, and use that (IF you need to set it manually).

Auto is almost always best for things like voltages...letting the motherboard BIOS handle the settings is generally the safest and most stable route. In some situations (like recent motherboards and DDR2-800), it might be necessary to make changes...but only if there's a problem.

[Danni]

Originally Posted by Fozzik

Different manufacturers spec their RAM out for stable operation at different voltages. It depends on a number of factors, and it's not something to change around without knowing the details. Best to look up the specified voltage for your specific RAM, and use that (IF you need to set it manually).

Auto is almost always best for things like voltages...letting the motherboard BIOS handle the settings is generally the safest and most stable route. In some situations (like recent motherboards and DDR2-800), it might be necessary to make changes...but only if there's a problem.

I don't wish to try and second guess Fozzik, heck, he knows a boatload more than me. Corsair, Geil, Crucial and OCZ from what I can remember have a tolerance on C4 6400 ram from 1.8 to 2.4, so defining 2.1 is ok seeing as some MB's sometimes decide to send a smack in the mouth to the memory instead of a defined voltage.

I bow out to Foz and Rabb1t. They know a lot more than me. I would not want to give someone bad advice, so I will shut up.

[Ralvark@Woefeather]

Originally Posted by Danni

I don't wish to try and second guess Fozzik, heck, he knows a boatload more than me. Corsair, Geil, Crucial and OCZ from what I can remember have a tolerance on C4 6400 ram from 1.8 to 2.4, so defining 2.1 is ok seeing as some MB's sometimes decide to send a smack in the mouth to the memory instead of a defined voltage.

I bow out to Foz and Rabb1t. They know a lot more than me. I would not want to give someone bad advice, so I will shut up.

I've read something similiar but I'll only be fiddling with it if I have initial problems.

[dakyres]

Originally Posted by Ralvark@Woefeather

I recently ordered my new system that I'm building from Newegg, and I went with the Corsair XMS2 2 gig bundle. However, all of the RAM I was looking at had many reviews that said one or two sticks were dead on arrival.

I went with the DDR800 2 gig xms set, the set with the 5,5,5,15 latency, and havent had any trouble. Several things to take with a grain of salt when it comes to Newegg and memory - just like SV boards, usually the ones that have troubles post 10x more than those who dont. While I would do a bit of research on something that was givin 2 stars as a whole, whne i see a 3 or 4 star post and I read reviews saying how good they are...I usually go for it.

The series I got had 4 stars to it, and most of the issues I read was from people with boards that ALSO had 4 stars next to it and posts similar to 'seems picky with ram' , so I didnt let it bother me. Corsair has always been good to me.

[Ralvark@Woefeather]

Originally Posted by dakyres

I went with the DDR800 2 gig xms set, the set with the 5,5,5,15 latency, and havent had any trouble. Several things to take with a grain of salt when it comes to Newegg and memory - just like SV boards, usually the ones that have troubles post 10x more than those who dont. While I would do a bit of research on something that was givin 2 stars as a whole, whne i see a 3 or 4 star post and I read reviews saying how good they are...I usually go for it.

The series I got had 4 stars to it, and most of the issues I read was from people with boards that ALSO had 4 stars next to it and posts similar to 'seems picky with ram' , so I didnt let it bother me. Corsair has always been good to me.

Thanks guys. I finally found that sweet spot in life where I had enough money AND enough time to research and build, etc. so this is actually my first build despite owning computers for many, many years. I've been nagging my friend non-stop with questions about the parts, while researching and going on what I already knew. He's very good at busting my chops for not knowing as much as I should (studying for a Computer Science degree) but then again, I'm not a hardware guy!

Thanks again for all the help and calming advice -- I've been paranoid and excited ever since I made the decision to go through with it.