Suboptimist

How I Learned to Hate Rambus.

I am going to go out on a limb and say that only a select few know what I am talking about when I say that. Somewhere in between the days when SDRAM was still acceptable and DDR SDRAM was becoming sexy, there was a lesser known form of random access memory, RDRAM, engineered and patented by the company Rambus. I remember vaguely, being the computer geek that I was, there being an immense amount of hype about RDRAM. Ultimately, however, only two chipsets ever came to support it before the newer, less costly, and less hot DDR memory was released. I happen to be unlucky enough to have inherited a computer (with memory errors to fix) that utilizes this standard.

The Reverend can be quoted as saying, “This has to be the stupidest RAM ever.” I think he is correct. I should note that the machine was very ahead of its time, and in terms of its power can compete with a contemporary mid-range PC. The only problem is the memory. The memory situation with this standard is this: it is [still] expensive and is a hassle to use. It needs to be purchased in exact pairs, with the same speed, capacity and manufacturer, and needs to be balanced out with dummy chips. The machine came to me with 1024 MB of PC1066 RDRAM, and I learned that the motherboard I am using is prone to problems with this speed. I opted to find a slower pair, but since it is expensive, needed to reduce the capacity as well. Once my new RAM and dummies arrived, I installed them, reset the CMOS [twice before it worked] and reinstalled Windows XP.

Does anyone else think this memory sucks? I was already thinking of buying some components to build a quality gaming machine, though I was willing to throw a little bit of money to bring this back to life to tinker with it. Maybe I wasted my time and money, though I imagine this will run WoW better than my Mac does until I buy my new gear. I am particularly interested in hearing a certain Freemason’s take, since he is probably more versed in this than any of us.