Ultra 4 Plus Memory Upgrade Advice Needed

[Ripperoo]

I finally got myself a ReadyNAS 'Ultra 4 Plus' after what seems like an eternity.

Got it for what I thought at the time was a decent price around two weeks ago for £418 and no it's dropped again to £375. Bummer!

Anyway I'm thinking about upgrading the memory to 4GB, but what do I get?

I come accross several branded 4GB modules which are as follows:

Corsair 4GB, 200-Pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800MHz) - (VS4GSDS800D2) - £63.76

Crucial 4GB, 200-Pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800MHz) - (CT51264AC800) - £80-39

Crucial 4GB, 200-Pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 (667MHz) - (CT51264AC667) - £82.30

Patriot 4GB, 200-Pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800MHz) - (PSD24G8002S) - £66.24

G.Skill 4GB, 200-Pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 (667MHz) - (F2-5300CL5S-4GBSQ) £71.54

The prices listed above are from independant retailers as opposed to the manufacturers store price.

Also found on a certain auction site:

Hynix 4GB, 200-Pin DDR2 PC2-6400 (800MHz) - (HMP351S6AFR8C-S6) - £44.00

Still a bit more expensive than across the pond in the US I guess, but these seem to be the best delivered prices I can find for branded modules from known online retailers in the UK.

I did find some "KomputerBay" branded modules which were cheaper, but seem to get mixed reviews.

I understand that some of the above are in fact "PC2-6400 (800MHz)", but can I assume this won't impact on performance and the module will just operate at the lower speed?

Also, if anyone knows of a different reliable brand and model # available in the UK, feel free to add them here.
--
Thanks guys

[dbott67]

Although many folks have upgraded the RAM in their devices without issue, it should be mentioned that this is something that is no longer supported by Netgear. If you decide to upgrade, you should keep the old memory module to swap back in the event of problems. Having said that, TecknoJnky had success with PC2-5300:

working so far

Code: Select all

Model:   ReadyNAS Ultra 4 [X-RAID2]
Firmware:   RAIDiator 4.2.16-T25
Memory:   3968 MB [DDR2]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820220495

Patriot 4GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Laptop Memory Model PSD24G6672S

69.99

[Ripperoo]

Thanks for that dbott67

How does Patriot measure up in the world of RAM though?

I can't say I've heard of them. That being said, they may be one of the better module manufacturers.

Anyone know the preferred order of RAM manufaturers?

CRUCIAL
KINGSTON
CORSAIR
PATRIOT
HYNIX
SAMSUNG

[dbott67]

They seem to be pretty prevalent on this side of the pond and likely fall within the same group as Kingston Crucial & Corsair.

You should feel pretty safe going with the Crucial PC2-5300.

[Ripperoo]

Well, I ended up taking a chance on the Corsair 4GB module on Amazon:
Corsair 4GB, 200-Pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800MHz) - (VS4GSDS800D2)

The above module is currently £63.76 (RRP £161.55 apparently).

Installed within minutes and ran 3 memory tests on it over about 15 hours with no errors.

Is that good or should more tests be ran before putting faith in the memory?

Advice welcomed.

[dbott67]

Personally, I would feel pretty confident. The jedis recommend running the memtest at least twice (apparently memtest only has an 85% success rate for flagging bad memory - faq.php#Is_there_a_way_I_can_verify_if_my_memory_is_good%3F).

Just keep an eye on the system and be prepared to swap the old memory back in the event of problems. Any problems may not necessarily be caused by the new memory, however, being able to swap back would help eliminate/isolate the problem.

-Dave

[Ripperoo]

Hey Dave

Just keep an eye on the system and be prepared to swap the old memory back in the event of problems.

Thanks, I will do.

[zom414]

Sorry to reply to an old thread but I've not been here for a while (always the same when your kit is working ).

What sort of performance gains would there be with using 4GB? I currently have 1GB in my Ultra 4.

[mdgm]

If you're not running memory intensive add-ons there's no point upgrading the memory.

[samuk]

what would you say is a memory intensive plugin?

[dbott67]

From FAQ: http://www.readynas.com/kb/faq/performance/will_increasing_the_amount_of_memory_in_the_readynas_improve_performance

...indexing a large number of media files [like Slim server or other media streaming apps], running rsync backups, or accessing large folders, you will see improvements.

[craffert0]

While you shouldn't need more than 1GB for running programs, more memory means more disk cache, and for a file server, more memory is ALWAYS useful.