Crucial CT51264AA667 4GB 240-pin DIMM DDR2 PC2-5300 Memory Module

Every day, you rely on your computer to make your life easier. A Crucial DRAM upgrade can help your system run faster, and it’s one of the easiest, most affordable ways to improve system performance. Reap the benefits doing everything from everyday system tasks to mission-critical applications. For over 12 years, Crucial has been recognized as a leader in DRAM upgrades. Our products help people achieve greater system performance through improved productivity, reliability, and speed. As part of one of the world’s largest DRAM manufacturers—Micron Technology—our long tenure of engineering and manufacturing expertise allow us to build high-quality, system-specific memory solutions for customers. We back our products by guaranteeing system compatibility, limited lifetime warranties, and outstanding service and support. At Crucial, we’re the Memory Experts.

Reviews from Customers

“Memory was Compatiable as describe with Gigabtye MB GA-M57SLI-S4 Rev 3″
Was looking to find compatiable memory for my Gigabyte MB GA-M57SLI-S4. I bought the Gigabtye MB GA-M57SLI-S4 Rev 3 since it supported a total of 16Gigs of memory but the max. at time I purchased it in Fall 2008 amount of compatible memory was only 2 gig sticks which with 4 slots will only give me 8 gigs. I found out late the 1st 2 slots are not working properly. So, having the 4 Gig Crucial Memory Module Crucial CT51264AA667 4GB 240-pin DIMM DDR2 PC2-5300 Memory Module that is compatible will help me at least get this board to at least 8 gigs. I only bought 1 module and has been working find for some time know. Hope I will get another by end of month. The price was defently cheaper than any where else including if you where to get it directly from Crucial. Hope Amazon still has some available when I purchase the second at the price purchased or better.

“hard to find- but works fine”
Since its crucial, it has a lifetime warranty and you cant go wrong. I have four of these in an Asus P5Q-EM motherboard and server 2008 runs pretty spectacularly with 16 gigs of RAM. The prices of these units here on Amazon were SIGNIFICANTLY less than anywhere else on the web.

See all detials of Crucial CT51264AA667 4GB 240-pin DIMM DDR2 PC2-5300 Memory Module

Corsair Memory VS4GBKIT667D2 4 GB PC2-5300 667Mhz 240-Pin DDR2 Desktop Memory Kit

In today¿s fast paced world, with the internet, video games, and so much more, it¿s important to have a fast computer. Rather than spend your money on buying a new PC, why not upgrade the one you have. The easiest way to increase the speed of any PC is by adding some more memory also known as RAM. Why Choose Corsair. Corsair memory sticks known as modules, are designed and tested to ensure 100% Compatibility with today¿s current PC¿s and motherboards. Every stick of RAM is qualified to meet Corsair¿s exact specifications. After a rigid internal test and inspection, every memory module is then shipped individually in anti-static packaging for protection during transport. The result: Guaranteed compatibility with your motherboard, no defective product, quality memory that will keep working and working providing a faster PC for a greater experience for you. Attention to Customer Satisfaction. We understand that you may get confused with today¿s tech language and may not know which memory module is right for you. With that in mind, we¿ve created a Memory Configurator that allows you to choose which memory perfectly fits your computer. Ask The RAM Guy If you need help installing your memory, don¿t fret, at Corsair we understand that the first timers might need some help. So we¿ve created a 24/7 online customer support site just for you at www.asktheramguy.com. Here, you can find other people like yourself that are ¿In the know¿ and can help answer questions you may have about installation or anything RAM related. More importantly, Corsair stands behind every module with a Lifetime Warranty. We realize any manufacturer can put a product in a box and hope that it will work, however, at Corsair we guarantee it will work for a lifetime.

Reviews from Customers

“Desktop memory Corsair 4GB dimm 240 DDR II – 667 Mhz”
Great product. great price I would like recommend to my frieds and family.

“Good Stuff”
Product came on time, which is a plus. For the price i paid in purchasing this product, there is a lot of value. Highly recommend to anyone running vista and experiencing slow down

See all detials of Corsair Memory VS4GBKIT667D2 4 GB PC2-5300 667Mhz 240-Pin DDR2 Desktop Memory Kit

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 е среден клас графичен адаптер и може да бъде открита в конфигурациите на повечето хитови модели на нашия пазар пък и не само. Възможностите й са сходни с тези на видеокартата на ATI за настолен компютър – Radeon HD 4550. Това всъщност накратко означава, че всички DirectX 9 заглавия на игри може да играете на високи детайли и резолюция. Игри като Call of Duty или F.E.A.R са напълно по възможостите на Radeon HD 4570. Няма да имате възможността обаче да се насладите напълно на най-взискателните игри като Crysis например. Видеокартата е базирана на RV710 чип и включва 80 поточни процесора. Тези поточни процесори са наричани още ALU, а именно Аритметико Логическо Устройство и са групирани в пет VLIW инструкции, които са независими една от друга и именно заради това производителността зависи от оптимизацията на драйвера. Едно от специалните неща при Radeon HD 4570 е възможността да използва DDR2 и DDR3 графична памет, което е евтината алтернатива на GDDR3. Все пак карти, които използват такъв тип памети, са по-бавни от тези с GDDR, но разбира се и цената е значително по-висока. Radeon HD 4570 включва Avivo HD видео технология, която предполага звуков чип за 7.1 канален звук прези HDMI или DisplayPort и второ поколение Unified Video Decoder. Това UVD 2 поддържа пълно декодиране на H.264/MPEG-4 AVC и VC-1 потоци. В допълнение на това, поддържа също и декодиране на двоен видео поток и Картина-в-Картината режим. Според производителя видеокартата консумира между 12-15 вата.

Лаптопи с ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570:

Acer Aspire 5738DG

Dell Studio 1555

Toshiba Satellite L500

Después del anterior post, donde quedó demostrado que aún siendo el mismo tipo de memoria, es más potente dá mejores resultados la de 512M frente a la de 1Gb, en uno de los comentarios, un lector me lanzó una proposición, ¿y si las pruebas las haces con 2Gb en vez de con 1Gb de RAM?

Como aún tenía el tenderete montado y motivado por mi curiosidad, no me costó mucho localizar un módulo de memoria Kingston 2GB DDR3 1066 y repetir las pruebas anteriormente hechas.

El resultado :

9800GT

EAH4830

Y yo pensando que al aumentar la memoria RAM no influiría en este tipo de test, ya que suponía que lo que se testea es el rendimiento de la gráfica.
Ahora reconozco que estaba equivocado.

The ddr2 is the latest version of ddr . The fullform of ddr2 is double data rate interface. So both ddr andddr2 are not copatible in their own way. With respect of double pumping the data bus in ddr and ddr2 uses I/O buffer between memory and data bus . As a result the data bus plays with doube speed than the memory clock. So the combination of ddr and ddr2 collects four data transfers for each memory clock cycle.

so ddr2 reflects 3200MB/s which is the highest transfer rate at present. On the same external data bus clock rate on which ddr 2 is working gives the same bandwidth but iwth greater latency, giving inferior performance output. Now the good-rated ddr2 memory module are double fast in comparison to ddr memory modules. Actually ddr2 keeps its memory in memory cells which got acitve by the usages of clock signals which helps in synchronizing their work with the aid of external data bus. So ddr2 cells move the data on both rising and falling edges of the clock.

In this way ddr2 works very efficiently in comparison to data rate of ddr. The frequency of ddr2 bus is boosted by the usage of electrical interface improvements, prefetch buffers, on-die termination and also off-chip drivers. The latencyis marketed quite high. Now the 4 bits deep is considered for ddr2 prefetch buffer , for ddr 2 bits deep and for ddr3 8 bit deep is considered. At present ddr2 is carrying 4 to 6 cycles latencies. So in this way the ddr2 memory should work on double data rate to get the same latency.

Gadgets

Hace unos dias, hablando con un amigo acerca de un equipo que vió en la portada del folleto de publicidad de tontolandia, me comentaba que ese equipo estaba bien porque llevaba una tarjeta gráfica de 1Gb y le servía para jugar.
Yo intentaba explicarle que una tarjeta gráfica, dentro de un equipo tan económico, por mucho que fuese de 1Gb no podía ser buena, pero él erre que erre que si, que si era de 1Gb era buena y le iban a funcionar los últimos juegos. Que si mejor 1Gb que 512, que si DDR2 o DDR3. Al final, ante tanta insistencia, decidí dejarlo por imposible.

Y ayer, aprovechando un huequito que tenía, decidí meterme en faena.
Cogí dos tarjetas gráficas de gama media, una de 512M y la otra de 1GB para ver si entre éstas realmente hay mucha diferencia.

El equipo :
* Placa base Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R
* Microprocesador Intel Pentium D 3,0Ghz
* Memoria Corsair 1GB DDR2 800
* Windows VISTA Home Premium SP1

Las tarjetas gráficas :
* NVIDIA 9800GT 1GB DDR3
* ATI RADEON EAH4830 512M DDR3

Test :
* 3DMark 06
* 3DMark Vantage

El resultado :

9800GT

EAH4830

Después de las pertinentes pruebas, y confiando que la lógica me daría como ganadora del resultado la 9800GT 1Gb, queda demostrado que no, por lo que llego a una curiosa conclusión, que nada es lo que parece.

The motherboard

The motherboard in any computer is the main circuit board inside the box. Whether you own a laptop or a desktop computer, the motherboard is essential to the function of the computer. The motherboard is a printed circuit board also known as a PCB. The PCB with all the components attached is the PCBA or PCB assembly. The typical components of a circuit board are present with capacitors, diodes and resistors. These components connect the electrical circuit within the board and each component has a specific function within the circuit. The capacitors store an electrical charge and can keep constant power present despite power surges and sudden drops in power. The diodes are silicon chips that allow current to only pass through the circuit in a single direction. The resistors do just what they sound like in providing a specified amount of resistance to the electrical current. Circuit boards are double sided with a component side and a solder side to place the components and hold them in place. A motherboard itself is useless, but a computer cannot run without the use of the motherboard. Essentially the job of the motherboard is to hold the microprocessor and have all the computer components connect to the motherboard through a slot, port or socket. All contained on the motherboard is the CPU or central processing unit, BIOS or basic input output system, memory and storage.

The shape, size and layout of the motherboard is referred to as its form factor. Many form factors have been invented over the years, but there are a select few form factors which are typical to most motherboards on the market. There are many different form factors specific for large server computers and smaller motherboards for mini computers. As the motherboard gets larger or smaller it is intuitive on how much the motherboard can be expanded as there are a limited number of interfaces for cards or upgraded memory or capability. The most common form of motherboards is the ATX form factor which was developed by Intel in 1996. ATX stands for Advanced Technology Extended, with the board measuring 12”X9.6”. ATX replaced the now obsolete AT form factor to become the default for new computer systems. There have been several variations to the ATX board with similar capability in a smaller board. The sacrifice comes with less slots being available for expansion. In 2003, Intel introduced the BTX form factor to be the replacement to the ATX motherboard. As technology progresses, the power demands for components increased and so did the heat given off by the components. ATX is still the most popular form factor for do-it-yourselfer computer builders. If you are looking to replace your motherboard in your current box, make sure the motherboard matches up with the correct dimensions. A smaller motherboard may have to be installed if the size of the box constrains the motherboard which can be installed.

The microprocessor or CPU is a main component on the motherboard which determines the speed and performance of the computer. The faster the processor, the faster the computer can process instructions or think. The socket is the interface the microprocessor fits into where originally, the CPU connected through a PGA or Pin Grid Array. There are a plethora of CPU selections to choose from starting with the selection between Intel and AMD. There are many common sockets which have replaced the outdated technology.

AM2+ is the newest AMD socket on the market currently. It is very similar to its predecessor the AM2, but the main difference is the 2.6GHz HyperTransport speed versus the 1GHz speed of the AM2. The AM2+ also features split power planes with each dedicated to the CPU core and the other for the IMC or Integrated Memory Controller. The split plane allows the CPU to be in a sleep mode, while the IMC is still active which equates to better power management within the system. The aforementioned socket is Socket AM2, which was designed by AMD and released on to the market in 2006. The AM2 replaced Socket 939 and Socket 754. Socket AM2 is a PGA socket with 940 contacts and supports the AMD Athlon 64, Athlon 64 X2, Athlon 64 FX and Opteron Processors. The socket features memory support of DDR2-SDRAM and is a single processor socket. The front side bus or FSB is a 200MHz system clock with a 1GHz HyperTransport, which makes the system faster by replacing the typical FSB structure. Although it is unreleased at this point in time, socket AM3 is AMD’s newest socket which is due out late in 2008. The PGA socket is expected to support a DDR2 or DDR3 SDRAM type memory. In terms of compatibility, AM3 processors will work on AM2 motherboards, but not vise versa, as the AM2 chips lack the necessary memory controller for DDR3 memory. Computer enthusiasts will be able to upgrade to the AM3 on the current AM2 board, but not be able to enjoy the DDR3 memory. The advantages lie in the user being able to install faster processors into their system. The only true means to fully appreciate the AM3 is to have an AM3/DDR3 board.

Socket LGA 775 is one of Intel’s latest sockets to hit the market. Also known as Socket T, the LGA flip-chip works with the Pentium 4 chips, Dual Core, Xeon and Celeron processors. The Socket supports Dual channel DDR2 800/667 Un-buffered / Non-ECC memory. Socket 775 replaced Socket 478 because the LGA format of Socket 775 offers better power distribution versus the PGA Socket 478. The FSB speed is greatly increased to 1600 MT/s or Mega Transfers per second, which is exactly twice the transfer rate of the preceding Socket 478. The chips are less fragile with their LGA format and have increased heat dissipation qualities by allowing it to sit perfectly level with the internal heat sink.

Both of the sockets for Intel and AMD’s latest processors fit on all the ATX form factor boards and any smaller board which is based off the larger ATX board. These boards include, ATX, Micro ATX and Mini ITX which are the most popular and common form factors on the market for computer enthusiasts.

The motherboard connects the different functions of the microprocessor to the rest of the computer through the use of a north and south bridge. The northbridge is connected directly to the processor and connects components and slots needing the highest amount of processor speed necessary to operate at their optimum level. The front side bus or FSB connects the processor to the northbridge. The southbridge is slower than the northbridge and connected to the southbridge are the slots which do not require faster processor speeds. Information must pass through the northbridge before reaching the southbridge.

Bus speed determines how quickly a circuit board can connect one part of the motherboard to the other. The bus speed is measure in megahertz or MHz and this speed will tell the user how much data can move simultaneously through the bus. When reading bus speed on a specification sheet, this is usually referring to the FSB or front side bus, which connects the northbridge and processor together. When selecting a motherboard, again knowing the desired function of the completed computer system is essential. The AGP or Accelerate Graphics Port connects the video card to the memory module and the processor. Gaming without any kind of hitch in the action is facilitated by having a high bus speed in the AGP.

PCI or Peripheral Component Interconnect is how you would add different cards to the computer or expand your PC. PCI was the standard for adding any kind of additional sound or video graphics card to your computer. These are your expansion slots. Because PCI is more of a general purpose expansion connection, the newer cards requiring higher bandwidth have also been form fitted to fit specified interconnects on the motherboard. The AGP or Accelerated Graphics Port is like the PCI interconnect in that it is a point to point channel specifically installed on a motherboard to interface with a high-end graphics card. Because there are typically more than one PCI interconnect on a motherboard, the AGP provides a dedicated access between the port and the microprocessor, which makes communication between the card and processor much faster. AGP has recently been replaced with PCI Express which was designed to completely replace PCI and AGP. PCI e does not structure itself around a bus speed, but uses a serially linked full duplex point to point system called, lanes. There can be up to 32 lanes of data dedicated to the PCI e and the motherboard. This allows for extremely fast data transmission. The fastest potential speed is 8 GB/s but the fastest available speed at this time is 4 GB/s. For serious gamers, and high graphic necessity, the PCI e is essential when selecting a motherboard. For enhanced 3D graphics, NVIDIA’s SLI or Scalable Link Interface allows the user to link two or more video graphics cards together. More than one PCI e slot is needed to have this capability as well as an Intel processor. Crossfire made by ATI is a competitor of NVIDIA’s SLI and can link up to four graphics cards together. The advantage with ATI is that they have opened the architecture to Intel after it was designed for AMD. SLI requires an SLI certified motherboard, while ATI simply requires more than a single PCI e slot. ATI has a higher bandwidth, but a slower clock speed. ATI’s Crossfire is not available for notebooks, where SLI is available for notebooks. Proper research, desired functionality and performance must first be ascertained before building the motherboard. Start with the desired processor only after investigating what components are supported by the processor.

Integrated Drive Electronics or IDE and Advanced Technology Attachment or ATA are interchangeable terms used to describe the port at which storage devices are connected to such as hard disks and CD-ROM drives. These drives are among the most primitive of the connections to a motherboard as the ribbon used to connect the drives was first developed in 1986. The cables or ribbon are in two varieties of a 40 wire or an 80 wire ribbon which connect the drive to the interface. Typically, a mother board will have two or more interfaces to connect these peripheral devices. The IDE or ATA is controlled by the southbridge as the speed needed to process the information is comparatively low. Each interface can handle two devices of the like. Many new computers have two CD-ROM drives where one can act when the other one is not.

Both of these drives are connected to the same ribbon and attach to the interface. The master slave relationship is described as the slave drive checking if the other drive or master drive is in use. If the master is not in use, the slave will operate. When setting up a second CD-ROM drive, the computer will ask the installer if the drive being installed is a master or a slave. Choose accordingly to what drive is which. When installing one drive, most situations require that the drive be a master.

There are several other components to determine the speed of your computer aside from the processor speed. The amount of RAM or random access memory present in your computer is a large determinate of how quickly your computer can access information in no particular order, or at random. There are several different types of RAM and motherboards will come with expandable memory slots where more RAM can be added to your computer. Should the computer become low on RAM, the computer will then begin using hard drive space for additional memory, which slows computer performance. Memory is usually bought in the form of DRAM or Dynamic RAM which is structurally much more simple than Static RAM or SRAM, but DRAM requires a capacitor refreshing, as capacitors lose charge over time and the memory will also fade. When purchasing additional RAM, the buyer is typically purchasing DRAM. The pieces of DRAM are about the size of several sticks of gum and are easily inserted into the slots where your computer will immediately have an increase in performance.

The only real visible portion of the motherboard from the exterior of the computer box is usually in the rear with the connections to the various peripheral devices. The ports are soldered directly to the motherboard and they connect your mouse or keyboard to the motherboard. Serial and parallel ports will connect a printer for example, where the serial can be used to connect a joystick for gaming purposes. This was the old standard, and most gamers hook up their peripheral devices to the USB ports. Although most computers come equipped with parallel ports, most peripheral devices can be hooked to the computer via USB. Your phone cable line and Ethernet cable hookup, as well as the various USB ports are also soldered directly to the motherboard. If you plan on attaching a high definition audio video device to your computer, the consideration of a Firewire or IEEE 1394 High Speed Serial Bus might want to be considered. The Firewire is preferred over USB because the Firewire has greater speed, higher sustained data transfer and power distribution capability and does not need a computer host. This equipment is very standard with all motherboards. The most important features to look for are of course the processor speed and what kind of expansion slots are available to upgrade the computer for specific needs. There is a lot of information which goes into selecting a motherboard, but with the proper research and knowing the desired performance and functionality, the average computer enthusiast can build himself a powerful computer with excellent capability.

PC satın alırken kullanıcıların karşısında hep aynı sorun vardır. Performanslı modeller gerçekten de göz kamaştırır fakat bu PC’lerin fiyatları da dudak uçuklatan cinstendir. Diğer taraftan ucuz PC’lere baktığınızda tümleşik ekran kartları karşınıza çıkar ki bu, özellikle oyunlarda ciddi bir performans kaybı anlamına gelir. Bu durumda hem kesenizi yakmayan hem de elinizi kolunuzu bağlamayan bir PC seçmelisiniz. Lâkin altın ortayı bulmak sandığınızdan zor olabilir.

Toplama ya da marka PC?

Toplama PC’ler ile marka PC’lerin arasında neredeyse fiyat farkı kalmadı. Hal böyleyken sadece performansa odaklanıp servis konusunu atlamak, sorun çıktığında sizi üzebilir. Tabii toplama PC’lerin de kendilerine göre avantajları var ve bu noktada kullanı cıların yapacağı seçim önemli. Eğer seçiminizi marka PC’den yana yapmayı düşünüyorsanız ve bütçeniz de çok geniş değilse, Casper Era CES1800 7F84, sizin için iyi bir seçim olabilir. Intel’in yeni işlemci ailesinin bir üyesi olan Core2Duo E4300 üzerine kurulu olan sistem, bu şekilde bir yandan overclock meraklılarına da göz kırpıyor. Zira bildiğiniz gibi 1,8 GHz saat hızında çalışan bu işlemci, oldukça yeni ve overclock konusunda harika bir potansiyele sahip. İşlemcide 2 MB L2 önbellek bulunduğunu ve 800 MHz FSB hızında çalıştığını da belirtelim.

Ekran kartının önemi

Casper Era CES1800 – 7F84’te bulunan ekran kartı, 128 MB bellekli nVidia GeForce 7100 işlemcisini kullanıyor. Ekran kartı, tahmin edebileceğiniz gibi PCI  Express arabirimine sahip ve Turbo Cache özelliğine de sahip. Turbo Cache özelliği sayesinde 256 MB’lık ekran kartı belleğinin yetmediği durumlarda, sistem belleğini doku belleği gibi kullanılarak performans arttırılıyor. Böylece oyunlarda yüksek çözünürlüklere çıkmak mümkün oluyor. PC’de bulunan 512 MB DDR2 belleği Vista’ya geçtiğinizde yükseltmek isteyebilirsiniz. Uygun fiyatı dikkate alındığında üründe bizi rahatsız eden az sayıdaki etkenlerden biri DVD yazıcı yerine kombo bir optik sürücü kullanılmış olması. Yani CD yazıp CDDVD okuyabilirsiniz, fakat DVD yazamazsınız. 6 kanal tümleşik ses kartıyla donatılmış olan PC’de en çok hoşumuza giden özelliklerden biri de kasanın tasarımıydı.

Kart okuyucu ve ek yazılımlar

Ergonomik bir tasarıma sahip olan kasanın ön kısmındaki açılır kapanır kısmın arkasında, çok işlevli bir kart okuyucu sizi bekliyor. Bu bir yana, pek çok kullanıcının başını ağrıtan virüs ve casus yazılımlara karşı koruma sağlayan gelişmiş yazılımlar da, ürünle hediye olarak veriliyor. Windows XP Home Türkçe yüklü olarak gelen Casper Era CES1800 – 7F84, 17 inçlik düz ekran CRT monitörle geliyor ve iki yıl garantili olarak satışa sunuluyor.

SONUÇ Gerek dış görünümüyle gerekse fiyat – performans oranıyla beğenimizi kazanan bu PC, kart okuyucu ve hediye güvenlik yazılımlarıyla dikkat çekici bir tablo çizmeyi başarıyor.

I’m down in Florida visiting my parents and helping celebrate my father’s 70th birthday.

70.

Where does the time go?

For that matter, the daughter turned 17.

Where did that time go as well?

But it’s good that I’m here and not just because I get to see the ‘rents, but because some of the tech support I provide to their burgeoning consumer electronics needs to be hands-on and cannot be done via the telephone or remote desktop like applications. For instance:

Replaced the 512MB of RAM in the desktop PC I built for my father five years ago with 2GB of Corsair memory. I then installed an additional hard drive of 500GB (Western Digital – my preferred hard drive company) to supplement the 120GB already there. Pictures really do begin to take up space, don’t they.

My mother complained that her laptop is rather pokey and she wasn’t kidding. Painfully slow is the only description for her middle-of-the-road HP dv6000. Certainly the AMD Sempron 1.8GHz chip is part of the problem, but the real culprit was the pitiful 512MB of DDR2 PC2-5300 667MHz SODIMM memory. Between the Operating System, the anti-virus suite and the usual things running in the background (and I turned off everything that absolutely doesn’t need to be running) there was only about 96MB of RAM left to run the web browser or Windows Media Player or her e-mail application, etc. Like I already said: pitiful.

So I went out today and purchased 2GB of very, very lovely Corsair laptop memory and installed such without fuss. The improvement in responsiveness on her laptop is amazing. It actually feels like a useful device and not like the lumbering device it was just a few short hours ago.

I know…not very photography-oriented, but it is what’s been happening and it is what I’m reporting and you, my humble readers, should be happy!

Eramos tan pobres…

En Argentina, país bananero si los hay, que nos hace bien cuesta arriba el acceso a nuevas tecnologías, cuando algo se rompe, lo atamos con alambre para seguir usándolo.

Este es uno de esos casos: Resucitar esos viejos módulos de memoria RAM rotos, que ya dabas por muertos y que de otra forma no servirían mas que para hacerse un llavero y competir contra tus amiguitos -cada cual mas nerd que el anterior- a ver quien tiene mas megas de ram desperdiciados en el bolsillo.

…Había una vez, un tal Rick Vanrein, que era mucho mas pobre que todos los Argentinos juntos y que sabía de programación. Motivado por un interés púramente económico escribió en su página web:

Summary: This page proposes an approach to support RAMs with defective addresses, This may open interesting business perspectives, where those RAMs can be sold under a white label for less money rather than discarded of without any profit.

Claro que no tuvo en cuenta que su idea de negocio iba en contra de la producción en serie y que globalización -y chinos que trabajan por el plato diario de arroz- de por medio el costo de fabricación de memoria RAM se abarataría muchísimo dando por tierra con su proyecto.

Lo importante es que lo hizo: BadRAM, un módulo para el kernel de linux que permite a este sistema operativo funcionar normalmente inclusive cuando la memoria RAM está en mal estado.

¿Y como funciona?

Facil, se basa en la salida de memtest86 para saber cuales son las direcciones de memoria defectuosas y por medio del gestor de arranque, pasárselas como parámetro al kernel para que no las use. Genial, ¿No?.

Como se usa:

Primero lo primero; Tu kernel tiene que tener soporte para BadRAM. En kernels relatívamente nuevos (desde 2.6.16 si no recuerdo mal) BadRAM viene ya pre-incluído en el kernel… A lo sumo tocará activarlo si no lo estuviera pero eso está “out of the scope of this guide” como dicen en inglés cuado quieren decir “me da flojera entrar tan en detalle”.

En versiones anteriores del kernel se puede incluir soporte para badram bajando el parche en cuestión y recompilando el kernel parchado:

~ # cp BadRAM-2.6.19.1.patch /usr/src/linux

~ # cd /usr/src/linux

~ # patch -p1 < BadRAM-2.6.19.1.patch

Segundo – Memtest86:

Habiéndole dado soporte a tu kernel para BadRAM si hiciera falta, bien por medio del parche o bien habilitándolo en donde el kernel lo incluya por defecto, lo siguiente es ejecutar memtest86 para diagnosticar cuales son los rangos de direcciones de memorias que están fallando.

De nuevo, memtes86 viene de serie hoy en día incluído en el kernel por defecto y habilitado o no dependiendo de cada distribución.

Ejecutado memtest, tendrán en pantalla algo como esto:

Memtest86 enseñandole a ese módulo de memoria defectuoso quien es el jefe.

Lo importante es cambiar la configuración de memtest86 para que muestre los errores de salida en formato badram. Esto se hace con la tecla “C” para entrar en la configuración, activando la opción 5 – Error Reporting Mode y por ultimo eligiendo la opción 2 – BadRam Patterns, saliendo de cada menú y submenú con la tecla “0″

Hay que dejarlo correr al menos una “pasada” completa de tests.

Arriba a la derecha el primer indicador de porcentaje indica justamente el avance de cada pasada.
Al terminar una pasada completa en pantalla quedan una serie de rangos de memoria expresados en hexadecimal que se ven mas o menos así:

badram=0xfefdffc,0×2404ea30,0xfe05fffc etc.

Tomar nota (yo lo hice en papel pero seguro hay una forma mas elegante de hacerlo) de todos estos rangos de memoria que fallan para pasarselos al kernel.

Por último, iniciar la PC en modo “lo mas seguro posible”

Iniciar la pc en modo interactivo frenandola con la tecla “4″, o pasarle init=/bin/bash a la línea que menciona al kernel editando al vuelo el menú de Grub, o bien cambiando las memorias rotas por unas en buen estado.

Montar /boot/ si no lo estuviera y agregar una entrada nueva para BadRam en /boot/grub/menu.lst que en mi caso quedó así:

title  Gentoo Linux Kernel 2.6.30-r4 con memorias rotas
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/kernel2.6.30-r4 root=/dev/sda2 badram=0×2400ea30,0xff81fffc,0xffd07ffc,0×24016a30,0xfe01fffc

Y eso es todo! Linux se salteará limpiamente las direcciones de memoria conocidas como defectuosas con lo que no deberías volver a tener inconvenientes siempre y cuando tu memoria RAM no se siga rompiendo con el uso.

Si se dispone del tiempo necesario, es conveniente dejarle hacer como mínimo dos pasadas a memtes86 antes de fiarse de los resultados. Cuantas mas, mejor. Aveces ciertas fallas se presentan recién después de un tiempo de uso, cuando el modulo dimm toma temperatura.

Son las encargas de llevar las tareas al procesador, por tanto cuando dispongamos de más memoria, más rápido se abrirán las tareas que queramos realizar.
Existen distintos tipos de ram a distintas frecuencias y ciclos:
Lo más rapido es fijarnos en las frecuencias.
DDR a 400 (para ordenadores viejos)
DDR2 a 800 (para ordenadores actuales de gama media)
DDR3 a 1066/1333/1666 (para ordenadores actuales de gama alta)

El precio de los 2 gb de ram ddr2 es sobre 20€, lo ideal es comprar un kit de 2 memorías, y colocarlos en DUAL CHANNEL. Al colocar 2 memorías iguales, en 2 zocalos del mismo color de la placa, el “canal” por el que pasa la información se duplica.

Kingstom es la marca con más propaganda, pero hay muchas mejores: Mushkin, OCZ, Corsair.

Sin lugar a dudas a la hora de reemplazar algún componente, ya sea por falla o por actualización, a veces podemos encontrarnos en la situación de no saber exactamente que modelo, capacidad, bus, etc. soporta nuestra pc. O incluso podemos ni siquiera saber que modelo es el microprocesador o memoria que tenemos en nuestras manos.

Por eso, hoy dejo dos páginas que pueden resultarnos de utilidad.

Cpu-World es una página donde podremos consultar características, modelos, encontrar inclusive una descripción detallada y hasta una foto del componente en cuestión.

Memory Ten nos ofrece en su base de datos básicamente lo mismo, pero con memorias ram y flash.

La gama Gemstone Blue de Acer está formada por tres familias: equipos ligeros y de prestaciones moderadas, macroportátiles de gran tamaño y equipación a la última y, finalmente, ordenadores medios para el que quiera un poco de todo sin dislocarse el hombro por el peso del ordenador. Esa gama media está representada por equipos como el Aspire 6920 o este 6935.

Si el Acer Aspire 6920 es un ordenador pensado para ver cine en alta definición, el 6935 es la versión para jugones. La mayor diferencia entre ambos es que el Aspire 6935 le da un buen empujón a la parte gráfica para que los juegos de última generación también tengan su hueco. El portátil lleva, concretamente, una gráfica Nvidia GeForce 9600 GT con 512 Mb de memoria dedicada DDR3 y 2303 Mb de Turbocaché.

El resultado de esta unión es una mayor flexibilidad a la hora de hacer correr juegos en su pantalla de 16 pulgadas FullHD 1080p (1920×1080 píxeles) y ratio de aspecto 16:9.

Por supuesto, todas las demás opciones de vídeo orientadas al cine siguen presentes. El Acer Aspire 6935, como su hermano menor el 6920, cuenta con sonido Dolby Home Theater que emula virtualmente el audio 5.1. También cuenta con lector de Blu-Ray y un sintonizador de TDT DVB-T. Las salidas de este sistema son el ya tradicional HDMI y una salida de audio digital para grandes equipos de sonido.

Físicamente, el Acer Aspire 6935 no se diferencia mucho del 6920. Ambos miden 385x 275x 43,6 mm, pesan 3,5 kilos cuentan con el dashboard táctil que aglutina los controles multimedia y el mismo número de puertos genéricos, que en este modelo se amplian con un mixto USB/eSATA.

El 6935 se mueve con los procesadores Intel Core2Duo con arquitectura de 64 bits. La memoria máxima es de 4 Gb DDR2 y el disco duro la misma opción que en el 6920: un SATA de 320 Gb.

Crece, sin embargo, el apartado de comunicaciones. Aparte de Bluetooth 2.0 con EDR, que es opcional y de la conectividad Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, el 6935 dispone de módulo opcional Wimax 802.16e/2.5G. Entre los extras que redondean esta delicia tecnológica encontramos webcam o lector de tarjetas 6 en 1(SD, MMC, MMCplus, MS, MS PRO, xD). La batería puede ser de 6 u 8 celads y su autonomía sobrepasa levemente las tres horas. El precio de este equipo ronda los 1.200 euros.

Más info | Acer
Vía | TusEquipos

¿Qué es la tecnología Dual Channel y en qué consiste su funcionamiento?

POR JOEL(INTELAF, S.A.)

Muchas veces nos han preguntado al momento de comprar o estar armando una computadora, ¿Cuánto de memoria le pondremos o cuánto debe de tener para poder utilizarla? y algunos nos dicen que le coloquemos dos memorias de la misma capacidad y de la misma velocidad para que trabaje en Dual Channel y nos quedamos con la duda en algunas ocasiones de, ¿que termino nos están hablando? y que nos expliquen mejor sobre el tema, bueno para que podamos entender el termino, es Doble canal de datos. Es una característica que nos indica que el procesador puede acceder a su memoria por dos caminos distintos y los puede usar de forma simultánea, doblando el ancho de banda disponible. Esta característica viene dada por el controlador de memoria que está en la placa base o Tarjeta madre llamada NorthBrigde (componente del Chipset). Hay que tener muy en cuenta que las memorias sean totalmente idénticas (Frecuencia, Latencias y Fabricante), ya que en caso de que sean distintas puede que no funcionen. (Esto en casos esporádicos) Actualmente, es posible utilizar esta tecnología en módulos de memorias DDR, DDR2, y DDR3 cuyas velocidades estén entre DDR266 y DDR3-2000.

Es de suma importancia que los módulos sean exactamente iguales. Si vamos a utilizar un sistema Dual Channel es muy importante que utilicemos módulos de calidad, olvidándonos de los módulos genéricos y yendo a módulos de marca reconocida.

¿Cómo saber qué tipo de Tarjetas me soportan la Tecnología Dual Channel?

Normalmente, en las placas que soportan Dual Channel, los zócalos de memoria que forman el Dual Channel suelen estar marcados en colores diferenciados, indicándose en el correspondiente manual cual es el color correspondiente, pero no hay una regla fija en cuanto a cuáles son los zócalos que forman el Dual Channel. En unas placas pueden ser el zócalo A1 y A2 y en otras el A1 y B1 (o la denominación que tengan estos según el fabricante).

¿Cómo Saber que está trabajando en Dual Channel la Computadora?

Uno de los casos en los que más se nota este incremento en el rendimiento es cuando tenemos una tarjeta gráfica integrada en la placa base que utilice la memoria RAM como memoria de vídeo. Con la tecnología Dual Channel la gráfica puede acceder a un módulo de memoria mientras el sistema accede al otro, pero en general vamos a notar un incremento en el rendimiento en todas aquellas aplicaciones que hagan un alto uso de la memoria.

El incremento en el rendimiento se va a notar en programas que hagan un acceso grande a memoria y, sobre todo, en sistemas con gráfica integrada o con algún tipo de gráfica implementada en RAM, como HyperMemory o TurboCaché.
De todas formas,  la diferencia en rendimiento no es espectacular ni mucho menos. En la práctica el incremento en el rendimiento (y esto depende de muchos factores) no pasa de un 15%, siendo lo normal que se sitúe entre un 4% y un 10%, pero como ya hemos dicho, esto depende de muchos factores (memorias, placa base, procesador…). En unos sistemas obtendremos unos incrementos superiores a los obtenidos en otros.

Esto se puede representar como una carretera de dos vías, en donde los vehículos están circulando ya sea para entrar a un lugar o bien para salir del mismo, entre mas carriles tengan para entrar y salir menor será el tiempo en que ellos puedan transitar sin ninguna dificultad, mas no así será la velocidad ya que esta puede estar restringida por medio de señales, de igual forma en una computadora al momento en que tratados de accesar a una aplicación y al mismo tiempo queremos que otra nos muestre alguna información, gráficamente  se puede representar de la siguiente forma  cuando se trabaja con una sola memoria y cuando está en Dual Channel.

¿Qué pasa en sistemas basados en AMD, en los que la memoria es controlada directamente por el procesador? ¿Se obtiene también un mayor rendimiento?

Bueno, para empezar ya de por sí el FSB a memoria en sistemas basados en AMD 64 es superior al de sistemas basados en Intel, precisamente por estar controlado directamente por el procesador y no por el NorthBridge, pero sí que existe un incremento entre utilizar Dual Channel o no. De hecho los procesadores AMD están diseñados para utilizar esta tecnología, aprovechándola al máximo (los AM2 tienen un ancho de banda en memoria de 128bits), pero si no la utilizan la diferencia en rendimiento es menor que en sistemas basados en Intel (donde es el Northbridge de la placa base el encargado de gestionar la memoria).

Un punto a tener en cuenta es que muchas placas base con Dual Channel limitan la configuración de memoria al activarse este, es decir, que si tenemos una placa base con cuatro zócalos de memoria, en los que en teoría se pueden poner 1, 2, 3 ó 4 módulos, en estas placas las opciones son 1, 2 ó 4 módulos, ya que al activarse el Dual Channel no permite una configuración que ocupe 3 zócalos.

The reason the IBM PC clone market has been so very successful for you and your competitors is primarily the use of standard connection interfaces for interchangeable components.  Think ISA, PCI, AGP, USB, DDR, ATX, etc.  If this was not important to the end user proprietary systems such as Amiga, Apple or Acorn may have gained larger market shares a long time ago.

I tell you this as I believe it is important that you do not alienate your customer by attempting to tie them to your brand with proprietary connections.  Using a totally unique daughter board screwed to the mother board for RAM (Elonex), or non ATX PSU, motherboard and cases (Dell) only convince the end user to shop elsewhere once they’ve discovered the pains of owning such unique systems.

I put it to you, Elonex, that using GDDR2 RAM as system RAM in a laptop in place of industry standard DDR2 RAM may just upset the customer.  When he notices that the guide notch it teasingly off by no more than 1mm and because of this his standard RAM will not fit and give said laptop a much needed speed boost, he may just start cursing your companies name with words no high school pupil should ever have cause to hear.

Yours

The School Network Manager