Hi,

I've been looking to buy a 4GB DDR2 module for my EX470. I was looking at crucial.com but the DIMM I wanted is out of stock (only some very expensive ones are in stock).

Does anyone have any good recommendations?

cheers,
P.

EDIT: The title of the post was originally saying 8GB instead of 4GB, which was a typo.

Are you looking for an 8GB DIMM or a 4GB DIMM? Your subject says the former but your post requests the latter.

I'm going to guess you mean 4GB, since the EX4xx servers don't support larger memory sticks. Unfortunately, DDR2 memory has gotten quite a bit more expensive. I found this out in early 2012 or late 2011 when I decided to upgrade my EX487 and EX490. I found some Patriot DDR2 4GB memory on newegg.com and paid almost $50 per stick, and it was on sale! Interestingly, I sold 8GB (4 x 2GB sticks) of DDR2 memory on eBay a couple months ago, and it brought in quite a haul. People are clearly willing to pay a premium for DDR2--it's still common in computers these days but isn't as common in stores. Hence the hefty price.

My recommendation for you would be to check newegg.com, Amazon and eBay. I've bought memory off of eBay in the past, and sold lots of memory on eBay as well. Since most memory usually comes with a manufacturer lifetime (limited) warranty, buying memory off of eBay is usually a safe bet. Find someone who will warrant the goods for at least 7 days (I do 14 day warranties) so you have adequate time to test it and make sure it works. If you shop around, you can find a pretty good deal. No matter how you cut it, you probably should expect to spend at least $30-40 USD for a single 4GB chip, which is 30.67 euros in today's exchange rate.

Matt

_________________
Matt Sawyer
Owner, Dojo North Software, LLC

HP EX490, 4GB, E5300, 15TB - Server 2012 - Sharing and Streaming
HP EX487, 4GB, E5300, 13TB - Server 2012 Essentials - Backups

Thank you for the help. I reckon that looking on eBay is my only viable option since I couldn't find anything on Amazon.

I normally shop at the Crucial website, but they don't have that DDR2 in stock, only very expensive modules over 100 Euros!

Question: What do I have to look for in a DDR2 module tom make sure it is compatible? Is the Ex470 compatible with all DDR2 speeds?

Do you reckon this would work? http://www.ebay.ie/itm/4GB-SAMSUNG-PC2-5300F-555-M395T5160FB4-DDR2-667-240Pin-ECC-FBDIMM-Single-Module-/121081551556?pt=UK_Computing_ComputerComponents_MemoryRAM_JN&hash=item1c3105dac4#ht_2071wt_1352

Regards,
P.

It looks like the seller ended that item. However, that was ECC memory and as far as I know, none of the EX4xx series servers use ECC memory, nor do they used "registered" memory. Fortunately they use good old common garden variety desktop memory.

Here's what I bought: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820220525

I bought 2 of those in 2011, and they were $49.99 then. As you can see they've gone up in price quite a bit. I've got one of those in my EX487 and another in my EX490. That should work in the EX47x as well. Current price is $107.99 -- by today's exchange rate that's 83.18 euros.

The problem is rarity -- DDR2 is "the old stuff" now, so companies make less of it. Demand for it is still pretty high, so as the law of supply and demand dictates, when supply drops but demand remains high, the price will go up too. When I sold some DDR2 memory on eBay a couple months back, it fetched a pretty nice price. Granted I wasn't selling any 4GB sticks, but a lot of 4 x 2GB sticks went for almost $75 USD for used memory. I was very happy with that price.

_________________
Matt Sawyer
Owner, Dojo North Software, LLC

HP EX490, 4GB, E5300, 15TB - Server 2012 - Sharing and Streaming
HP EX487, 4GB, E5300, 13TB - Server 2012 Essentials - Backups

Thanks for the reply. but unfortunately newegg is a total dead-end for me as they wouldn't ship to Europe. This is why I've been looking to some sort of EU-based site where I can buy DDR2.

Regards,
P.