Kingston Memory

[Ayman Altounji]

I'm wanting to upgrade the RAM on all of my Compaq servers (DL380 & DL360's). I was doing some price checking and was amazed at Kingston's prices compared to buying the "Compaq" RAM straight from Compaq. My question is this: Does anyone have any bad experiences with the Kingston server memory in the Compaq servers? I will be mixing existing "Compaq" memory bought with the system with new Kingston memory chips (same type & speed). Just wanted to get other people's opinions before I bought. Thanks in advance.

Bill Clark

[Ayman Altounji]

Well, where should I begin.

I had a Proliant 1600 that would not get video with Kingston Memory installed.
I have seen a lot of Parity errors with Kingston Memory installed.
I have seen a lot of system lock ups with Kingston Memory Installed.

It is difficult to get warranty support from Compaq (and rightfully so) with Kingston Memory. I know of ONE company that installs Kingston Memory in ALL their boxes. They are a larger consulting company. I went out to fix an issue of theirs and I found this out. It is very difficult to troubleshoot an intermittent problem when you don't have compatible hardware. In my opinion it is better to spend more money up front than have to do it twice. You might get lucky - you might not.

[Ayman Altounji]

I've put 2GB of kingston memory in 10 DL380s with no problems at all. It must be the proper ECC stuff though

[Ayman Altounji]

I work for a large company that has hundreds of Compaq servers. We have older prolients to newer DL and ML series systems. They all use Kingston memory, and we haven't had enough problems to make it worth switching. I did however lose a motherboard on a DL380, and getting a replacement shipped was very hard to do because of the Kingston RAM, even though the issue was clearly the motherboard.

Kingston has great warranty (lifetime) and super support. When I have had to replace RAM, it's always on my "doorstep" the next morning.