RAM for a G5 - alternatives to Crucial?

[tveric]

I know Crucial has the best rep, I've read all the recommendations on this board, but it just seems to me that their prices, relative to everyone else's, are higher than ever. I'm looking to get a pair of 1GB DIMMs and they want $272 for theirs - meanwhile on other websites, what seems to be the same memory (all the specs are the same) is going for as little as $140 for the pair... and up, all the way past $300.

My question is, once you see identical product descriptions, it's hard to tell the difference between these wildly-differently-priced products, and is there anyone who has bought RAM for their G5 (PC3200) who's happy with their purchase and paid less than $200 for 2 GBs of it?

 

[AstrosFan]

I'm not a RAM expert, but from what I've read here (primarily from CanadaRAM) I learned that although the specs may appear the same, there's no guarantee the RAM would be compatible with your Mac.
The most consistent advice I have seen has been to purchase your RAM from a company which GUARANTEES Mac compatability and also has a lifetime warranty.
In addition to Crucial, OWC and DataMem (http://www.datamem.com) fit these specifications.
I've bought from both Crucial & DataMem & have had very good experiences with both.
I'm not exactly sure which G5 you're referring to (I'm guessing PowerMac since you're talking about buying a pair), but here's a link to DataMem's pricing on RAM for the PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0 GHz; the pair of 1 GB chips is $186.

http://www.datamem.com/parts_that_f...5+Dual+2.0GHz+(M9455LL/A)_A_MF_E_Apple_A_C_E_

Hope that helps!

 

[SmurfBoxMasta]

I know Crucial has the best rep, I've read all the recommendations on this board, but it just seems to me that their prices, relative to everyone else's, are higher than ever. I'm looking to get a pair of 1GB DIMMs and they want $272 for theirs - meanwhile on other websites, what seems to be the same memory (all the specs are the same) is going for as little as $140 for the pair... and up, all the way past $300.

My question is, once you see identical product descriptions, it's hard to tell the difference between these wildly-differently-priced products, and is there anyone who has bought RAM for their G5 (PC3200) who's happy with their purchase and paid less than $200 for 2 GBs of it?

I 2nd that on http://www.datamem.com I got 10 of their 2gb sets about 6 months ago for my wife's company G5's and they are great + reasonably priced + super fast shipping + no questions asked return policy

also http://www.ramseeker.com

 

[mariahlullaby]

I got my 1GB stick for my PB from DataMem as well and am very happy with the service. VERY fast shipping as well (I think I got it within 2 days of ordering).

 

[rdowns]

I've bought my Crucial RAM from newegg.com. They have better pricing than Crucial does.

 

[iGary]

http://www.macsales.com

 

[snapple]

I paid $183.44 total for 2 1-gig sticks from OWC for my G5 quad about 3 weeks ago. I have not had any problems so far.

 

[GWS]

Owc

I've bought Crucial in the past for both Macs & PCs. I've never had any trouble with it in the PCs, but did have problems in the Macs.

My last purchase was from OWC http://www.macsales.com for my iMac G5 Rev B. It's worked flawlessly. I just ordered a 1GB stick from OWC for the 12" Powerbook I ordered from Amazon last Sunday, and will order a stick of memory from them for the wife's new iBook as well. They have good prices and ship fast. I've also ordered a couple of their external Firewire enclosures in the past and have been very happy with them.

I highly recommend OWC as a vendor.

Gary

 

[mduser63]

http://www.newegg.com seems to often have better prices on Crucial RAM than crucial.com itself. They also have other brands and are generally a good company to deal with.

 

[grapes911]

http://www.newegg.com seems to often have better prices on Crucial RAM than crucial.com itself. They also have other brands and are generally a good company to deal with.

Just make sure you purchase the Mac Crucial RAM which will definately work with Macs. The general Crucial RAM may or may not work.

 

[ivel]

I us Geil memory in my PC.

I just checked their site and they have an Apple Series.

Geil USA

 

[grapes911]

I us Geil memory in my PC.

I just checked their site and they have an Apple Series.

Geil USA

Geil is a very good memory maker, but I usually find them overpriced for the Mac. I use them in my PC because I can easily overclick it, but since I don't overclock my Mac, I consider Geil overkill.

 

[Sun Baked]

I us Geil memory in my PC.

I just checked their site and they have an Apple Series.

Geil USA

I hope that the memory is warrantied to work without the heat spreaders, because in most Macs the tolerances between DIMM slots is so tight that those things have an adverse impact on airflow -- possibly creating overheating situations, or making the memory too big to fit.

Edit: Big reason I don't like it is because people won't take the time to remove the heat spreaders before sticking them in.

 

[chubad]

I bought 8 1 gig modules from 1-800-4-memory and paid $550.00. I installed it in my new quad and it tests and works great. It is guaranteed 100% to meet ALL specs for the dual cores. I just checked and it is down to $480 for 8 gigs today. In case you haven't noticed the RAM prices are falling like a rock.

 

[mikemodena]

I've gotten my RAM from CompUSA.. I got dual 256 sticks for my PowerMac to bring it up to 2GB for the time being for ~$50 with my friend's discount.. I think theyre somewhere around $26 each with the discount

 

[CanadaRAM]

Just make sure you purchase the Mac Crucial RAM which will definately work with Macs. The general Crucial RAM may or may not work.

NewEgg doesn't sell any of Crucial's Apple part numbers...

 

[tveric]

Wow, thanks, everybody. I would have never known OWC and Datamem were good choices for RAM if not for the people on this board. I really, really, appreciate it - their prices are great, and several of you have told me that their memory is working flawlessly in your G5; I guess I can't ask for any more than that!

And speaking of RAM prices dropping like a rock, I noticed that even since my first post in this topic, Crucial's price for 2 1-GB sticks dropped $12 (to $260... still nowhere near OWC or Datamem.)

thanks again.

 

[iSaint]

I'm happy with my Kahlon purchase.

 

[tveric]

Anyone else vote for Kahlon, yea or nay?

 

[CanadaRAM]

Anyone else vote for Kahlon, yea or nay?

Have no experience with them, however it is worrying that their Apple compatibility listings are at least 6 months out of date and contain errors and missing models...

 

[ortuno2k]

Crucial from newegg.com is a bit cheaper than buying direct, and it's the same, good quality memory that you buy directly from them.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Crucial from newegg.com is a bit cheaper than buying direct, and it's the same, good quality memory that you buy directly from them.

Is there an echo in here??

NewEgg does not sell any of Crucial's Guaranteed-Mac-Compatible part numbers, they only sell the generic Crucial modules.
NewEgg does not guarantee compatibility, Crucial will not on these parts either.
NewEgg has a 15% restocking fee policy if it doesn't work and you want your money back.

The generic Crucial will work on some Apple machines and not on others. I am glad it worked in your case. However a 1.0 to 1.33 GHz AlBook owner should definitely avoid the generic Crucial (CT12864X335), Crucial had to bring out a separate part for those machines.

IF you are comfortable doing your own testing, and taking the risk of potentially sending it back and incurring shipping and restocking charges, then you can save $20 by going to NewEgg.

BUT there are plenty of reputable sellers (see above posts) who do guarantee compatibility, offer a lifetime warranty and no restocking charge, at a comparable price to NewEgg, so if you don't want the risk, there are better alternatives.

Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com

 

[wkw]

I have purchased ram from 18004memory several times and it has always worked perfectly. They have been around for many years and are a reputable company.

 

[ivel]

Anyone else vote for Kahlon, yea or nay?

I think I bought a lap top battery from them some years ago.It was the cheapest that I could find and it works fine.

 

[Rocksaurus]

Back when I had a G5 I purchased Wintec RAM (since they get their chips from Samsung, like Apple does.) and I just made sure that the timings specified on it by Newegg matched the timings of the RAM I already had in my G5 and I never had a problem. Great thing about Wintec RAM is it's cheap, too. Give it a look.