r/Glasgow Tools

Title
Author	LexyNoise
Comment	Most of the big memory makers stopped making DDR3 years ago, so second-hand like CEX or eBay is your best bet. Nothing wrong with using second-hand RAM . RAM sticks can fail over time but it's pretty rare. If you're worried, just about every Linux installer has a memory test built-in that you can run from the boot menu. Just download Ubuntu, stick it on a USB stick, and run the memory test. You don't need to install Linux to run the memory test. Pro tip for the future: the best time to buy a certain type of RAM is just after the next type comes out. New RAM types are expensive. They gradually become cheaper and more mainstream over time. Then the next type comes out and the older type hits rock-bottom prices as shops try to shift stock. Then the manufacturers stop making it, it becomes rarer and it slowly gets more and more expensive over the years. DDR5 is just starting to catch on now, so this is a great time to max out any DDR4 machines you've got at home. 16GB sticks are going for £28 and 32GB for £54. At stupid prices like that, you might as well stick 32GB or 64GB in any machine that supports it. If it makes you feel better, I spent about £25 on 2GB of DDR1 RAM to max out a 4G iMac. Those machines have one regular DIMM slot and one laptop SODIMM slot, which is just about the stupidest thing I've ever seen.
Reddit Link	https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/comments/168do2f/older_pc_parts/jz8szzu/
Created	Tue 5th Sep 2023 4:14pm
Status	normal ()

Most of the big memory makers stopped making DDR3 years ago, so second-hand like CEX or eBay is your best bet. Nothing wrong with using second-hand RAM . RAM sticks *can* fail over time but it's pretty rare. If you're worried, just about every Linux installer has a memory test built-in that you can run from the boot menu. Just download Ubuntu, stick it on a USB stick, and run the memory test. You don't need to install Linux to run the memory test.

Pro tip for the future: the best time to buy a certain type of RAM is just after the next type comes out. New RAM types are expensive. They gradually become cheaper and more mainstream over time. Then the next type comes out and the older type hits rock-bottom prices as shops try to shift stock. Then the manufacturers stop making it, it becomes rarer and it slowly gets more and more expensive over the years.

DDR5 is just starting to catch on now, so this is a great time to max out any DDR4 machines you've got at home. 16GB sticks are going for £28 and 32GB for £54. At stupid prices like that, you might as well stick 32GB or 64GB in any machine that supports it.

If it makes you feel better, I spent about £25 on 2GB of DDR1 RAM to max out a 4G iMac. Those machines have one regular DIMM slot and one laptop SODIMM slot, which is just about the stupidest thing I've ever seen.