Rambus ram

[xjas]

I have:

2GB in 8x256MB matched PC-800 ECC with 4 terminators
1GB in 2x256 & 1x512MB PC-4200 non-ECC with one terminator

All Samsung.

I don't know much about how RAMBUS evolved, but see the pics for part #s, etc. These are NOT interchangeable, the ECC & non-ECC have different keyings.

Also, 4 RAM expansion boards from Dell Precision 530 workstations (one of each board per system.) These fit the ECC RAM.



Offering them up here before they hit Ebay. I'd love to get $20 out of all this, but RDRAM prices are all over the map and I can't figure out if it's actually valuable or not. Make me an offer.

 

[luckybob]

I'm gonna send you a PM here after this message...

 

[Chuck(G)]

128MB and 256MB aren't uncommon. About a year ago, I picked up a pair of 512MB modules for $10 shipped on eBay. They work fine and max out my Intel 820/P3 system.

A ridiculous innovation, IMOHO.

 

[NeXT]

Man I used to remember when Rambus was horribly expensive and that was in comparison to prices for DDR1 at the time.
It looks cool, runs hot and while it does on occasion pop up in new designs it was overall a ridiculous technology.

 

[Unknown_K]

I never bothered with Rambus even when it was dirt cheap.

 

[compaqportableplus]

RDRAM is cool. I love the old P4s that use RDRAM.

 

[Chuck(G)]

RDRAM isn't cool--for the bandwidth, it's one of the hottest-running memories that I know of. I think RDRAM on Intel boards started with the ill-fated i820 chipset.

i440BX was a great chipset to develop--I wonder why Intel gave up on it.

 

[krebizfan]

Intel got partial ownership in Rambus in exchange for making RDRAM the only option on Intel motherboards for several years. Oops. Of course, Intel making a series of very poor chipsets didn't exactly help RDRAM take off.

 

[Unknown_K]

You needed a chipset that supported dual channel lower latency PC1066 RDRAM to see a meaningful increase in speed. The stuff most systems shipped with were slower higher latency PC600 and PC800 RAM with shitty chipsets.

When did Intel dump RDRAM for DDR anyway? I don't think the last generation of P4 chips used RDRAM.

 

[krebizfan]

You needed a chipset that supported dual channel lower latency PC1066 RDRAM to see a meaningful increase in speed. The stuff most systems shipped with were slower higher latency PC600 and PC800 RAM with shitty chipsets.

When did Intel dump RDRAM for DDR anyway? I don't think the last generation of P4 chips used RDRAM.

Intel switched to DDR support starting with a modification to the i845 chipset in 2002. Intel had to have lost billions in its chase for $100 million in Rambus stock options.

 

[hargle]

Internally intel used to call DDR "dead dog ram" because they thought for sure that rambus was going to take over the world. Whoops.
Sorry for continuing to drag this marketplace post further off topic.

 

[GiGaBiTe]

When did Intel dump RDRAM for DDR anyway? I don't think the last generation of P4 chips used RDRAM.

The last chipsets with RDRAM support were the 850, 850E and 860 chipsets.

There were some rare 850E socket 478 boards which supported up to a 3.06 GHz Pentium 4 HT with the Northwood core.

But Intel saw the writing on the wall from the beginning that Rambus wasn't going to be popular due to the high price, so they created an auxiliary chip called the "Memory Translation Hub" (MTH). This chip allowed use of cheaper PC-100 SDRAM on pure Rambus chipsets like the i820. This is why many Rambus Intel chipsets were deemed unreliable crap, because the MTH was a rushed design full of bugs that slowed the system way down and caused instability. I found an old review of an i820 with a MTH vs a 440BX, the i820 MTH is 13% slower with the same PIII 600 CPU.