Ram pricing is one of those particularly seasonal fluctuation things....like petrol.

Just one earthquake in Taiwan and all hell breaks loose.

I remember paying $256 for a 256 meg stick and having the shop ask me if they could have it back for another build...and I'd get it a new one in a few weeks time...and they'd pay $500....but I needed it then, not later...

Yes, that was like the hard drive market after the Thailand floods a few years back.  That I can understand.  What I don't like and can not tolerate is when prices are inflated artificially simply to profiteer.... and charging $70 - $80 extra for 2 less units of RAM but the exact same brand and values is artificial and daylight fechen robbery.  In essence, except for the actual chips, there's less material used to make up 2 x16Gb sticks... hence they should be priced to reflect that, but no, we're only buying 2 sticks [not 4 x 8Gb] so we're going to pay for it.

Like I said, consumers are losing confidence and respect in [online and bricks n' mortar] retailers over these slimy practices, yet they continue because that's how business is 'done' nowadays.  If I believe a business has artificially inflated a product to maximise profits, then I will boycott that product and business.... and I'm not the only one.

You'd think big businesses would learn from the age old principle that it is easier to get a dollar from a million people than it is to get a million dollars from just a few.... but again no, the drive to so-say maintain high profits remains, regardless of how many consumers leave those over-inflated products on the shelf out of principle and disgust. 

Sadly, people with more money than sense, absolutely no indignation or anger over slimy retail tactics, keep these businesses going through continuing to purchase products at artificially induced prices.  Things would be a whole lot better on the retail landscape if people refused to buy these products.  Yet again no!  It's too hard to stand up for something and be counted.  'They're too powerful and it's too hard", so instead too many consumers cop it sweet and lay down to get mounted..  Yup big business, particularly people like Jerry Harvey of Harvey Norman, has effectively developed strategies to 'mount' consumers over the last century or so, which goes to show just how pathetic much of the buying public is.... rolling over and just taking it.

*RANT off* .... for now.      

Not happy.... AGAIN!!!!

My order for the mobo, CPU and graphics card has been help up for two weeks now, and no word as to why until I messaged the seller today.  After my third query I was advised that the graphics card is on a long back-order and will not become available until late January 2018.

I have since modified my order to purchase another ASUS graphics card with similar specs for 40 bucks more.  With a bit of luck there will be no further delay and I'll get my components by Monday next week at the latest.

For the third time now I've had to reorder RAM because sellers just aren't getting it right to meet customer needs.  Twice I had a seller under two different names pull my order because they had advertised incorrectly below price, and now I have a seller who informs me that the item I ordered has to come from a supplier and there is no ETA on the part.

I trawled through the website looking for a replacement within my budget, but there was little to choose from.   About 80% of the advertised RAM in my price range was 'order in', meaning an extra week's delay before it these items were in stock.  Add to that the 1 - 5 day turnaround for payment processing and packing, etc, then shipping time,, it meant that I'd not see my RAM until the new year.

In the end I lost patience and bit the bullet with a more expensive 32GB kit... as Corsair Vengeance LPX Black Series @ 2666GHz.  It's costing about $75.00 more, but the reviews and ratings suggest it was a better choice than my next option, which was 32GB (2x16) Team @ 3000MHz.  According to Canuk Hardware and others, the Corsair kit is more durable and not too different in performance, etc.

Oh well, they say it's 3rd time lucky.  

Probably shouldve waited untill after christmas couldve found overstock, and used deals.

Nah, I don't think it would've made a difference.  According to the bloke I spoke with at the current seller, DDR4 RAM, particularly in the lower-end MHz's, is in short supply across Australia, which is driving prices up and causing long delays with order placing and shipping.  So no, I don't think there will be too many overstocks with DDR4, and I certainly won't be putting used anything in this build.... unless I used it.

Apparently there are overstocks of DDR3 RAM, but that's no good to me.  I have all I need of that... 32GB in each of two machines.  Anyway, it is what it is, and I'll be happy when it arrives.

DDR4 ram is expensive here in the US as well.

Yeah, it's in short supply worldwide, apparently.  However, here in Australia, PC builders are slugged to the hilt with import duties, sales tax AND GST [Goods and Services Tax].  In some cases, as much as 60% goes to the taxman.

And it's no good shopping overseas because our resident billionaire, Jerry Harvey, a self-serving bastard retailer, lobbied our government for years to impose taxes on previously non-taxed items from overseas sellers... and recently won.  Now everything we buy from overseas is taxed twice... once by the country of origin, then by Australia on the way in.... all because some bastard billionaire thought he was losing retail dollars.  Can't stand whiny-ass pricks like him, and on principle I refuse to even walk into one of his stores, much less purchase anything from one.

*Rant off*  Again!!!!  

On a happier note, I got an email to say that my RAM has been shipped by Australia Post and could arrive here by tomorrow.  We normally don't get mail on Saturdays, but due to the Christmas period we are getting weekend deliveries until Christmas eve, meaning I may not have to wait until after Xmas.

Have a Merry RAM-filled Christmas!

Thank you,  Same to you, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I must be stupid (shut up Mark).

I have 8 ram slots, and a quad channel board. I can't get the system to boot with any more than 2 ram sticks installed.  6 empty ram slots just bothers me to no end.

Although, I have read that for gaming, over 16 GB ram is overkill.

I was given an Oculus Rift for Christmas. Runs real well on a 24 core system with an 8 GB gfx card. I is happy....

Now why would I do that, and miss out o the opportunity to agree  with you?

As for not being able to populate all your RAM slots, I had the same issue with my Intel i7 4790K rig.... wouldn't boot with all 4 slots populated.  I had no idea at the time as to why my rig would not boot up, but a friend who was visiting explained it, took out 2 of the sticks and fired it up.  I should have watched what he did after that (was busy with another guest) but he went into the BIOS, made some adjustments and rebooted with all 4 sticks in place. 

I imagine there would be some instructions on how to/do it somewhere on the net, it would just be a matter of typing in the right search terms, I expect

So, here are some of the pics I promised.

Firstly the new CPU, GPU and mobo....

These arrived a few days ago and now I'm just awaiting the RAM delivery.  As you can see, I took the mobo and graphics card out of their boxes.... cos I figured 3 unopened boxes weren't all that interesting on their ownsomes.

Next up is the other hardware I'm putting in the box.  Now some of you will think that I'm not going to get it all in there, but I have planned it all out and it'll fit/install very nicely.

The two larger items at top left: First is a 6 bay internal hot swap SSD caddy, and behind it is a USB front bay with 5 x USB3 ports, 2 x USB2 ports.  The 3 items to the far right belong to my SoundBlaster XZR.

The others are:

2 x PCI 4x SATA3 cards, to be mounted on the PCIE to PCI adapter

1 x PCIE 5 x USB3 card w. 2 internals;

1 x PCIE video capture card;

2 x PCIE x 4 PCIE riser;

1 x PCIE x 2 20 pin USB3 adapter;

1 x PCIE IDE adapter;

2 x IDE to SATA adapters;

1 x PCIE to PCI x 2 adapter;

1 x Crucial 525GB M.2 SSD;

1 x PCIE riser expansion card x 4 USB3;

I x PCI Winfast TV tuner card [still undecided on it, though].

Theres's also 4 x 120/2 x 240GB SSDs; plus 2 x 525GB SSDs and 15 HDDs of varying sizes.  Some of those HDDs are in fact IDE, as may be evident by the IDE converters in the pic.  I thought 'why the hell not use 'em'.  They've been packed away doing nothing for so long, and I have a big enough case to accommodate them, so why not.

Waste not want not, that's what they say.  

So this is the big beastie as it is with the Intel gear still installed.... just the HDDs have been removed.  I thought it'd be nice to show a before and after shot

The pics were done on Shaunna's iPhone 7 and aren't too bad considering the poor light, etc.

Something else, too!  In having a look recently at the updated Cosmos II, I'm so glad I got mine when I did.  Apparently the original is to be phased out and replaced with versions I think are nowhere near as good visually, aesthetically.  Yeah, there are some nice innovations, but the entire look has lost class and isn't as sleek looking.  Sorry CoolerMaster, but I'm sticking with the one I have.

Starkers, is your Crucial M.2 SSD NVMe? If not, you ought to consider saving your pennies to get one. NVMe uses PCIe lanes, up to 4 and has a theoretical data rate of 32Gb/ sec compared to SATA based SSD's which are 6Gb/sec.

Also, check out your M.2 slots. They are not always the same; some motherboards have one (NVMe) that connects directly to the CPU.

As well, sometimes you have to configure the slot to be 4X rather than the default 2X in the BIOS.

Speaking of the BIOS, you should install your OS in the new UEFI format rather than the old BIOS format; it's a bit faster booting and copying files and is a bit more secure among other things. There's a few videos on YouTube showing you how (using a USB stick and copying your OS onto it along with Intel Rapid Storage Technology). 

Yeah, I think so!  Not absolutely sure just now, being I purchased it a while ago, but I have an idea that I opted for one stated in the specs it had data transfers of up to 32GB.  I'll have a look in the morning, though, to be sure, to be sure.  If not, it's a likely purchase in the nearish future.

Thanks for the BIOS tip, and changing from 2 lanes to 4, I appreciate it.  It's something that I would not have thought of during setup.  As for installing the OS under a UEFI BIOS, I've been doing that since Win 8 and have continued through Win 10.  There are some who reckon it's not a good idea [MS Back-doors and Big Brother, etc], but I've not had any issues running with it, so will continue to do so.

No, unfortunately not.  I was looking at a NVMe M.2 at the time, but decided on the Crucial 525 GB instead because it came inside budget restrictions.  Thing is, it won't go to waste because I could easily install it in my Level 10 rig when I decide to purchase a NVMe SSD for the new build somewhere down the track.

On another note, I copped some criticism from an Intel fanboi about switching back to AMD.  He said it was a foolish move and a step or three down from the i7 4790K. 

Well that was his opinion, but the store owner, who also has a Ryzen 1700, soon shut that part of the conversation down, previously having a 4790K and switching to the Ryzen 1700 as well.  According to him, his [now] slightly overclocked Ryzen 1700 beats his 4790K hands down, in gaming, workstation commands and multi-media events.

After listening to that I'm not too perturbed about not waiting and going with a Ryzen 1800X or a Threadripper instead, thought I'd have been waiting a hell of a lot longer, had I done so.   I mightn't have the latest and greatest available, not that I could afforded it anyway, but the Ryzen 1700; the ASUS mobo; the RAM and graphics card will certainly meet all my needs and expectations..... and then there's all those add-ins, making it the go-to PC I always wanted.

Well my RAM arrived today and now I will begin rebuilding this magnificent beastie.  However, because this will be my last build, and I want it to be top notch, posting pics of the end result will take a while since I've ordered various accessories [colour coded cable ties, routers; conduits; fans and lighting] to give it a truly professional look. Some of those items are coming from China, etc, so I may not get them until early in the new year.

Anyway, I've gone for a red and black colour scheme... again, and it will look fabulous [if I do say so myself]. With all that I'm adding to the previous setup, there will be a lot more leads and cables, so my plan is to have them well ordered and locked in place so there's absolutely nothing loose to interfere with airflow, etc.

Yeah, I know, many will say 'why bother, when the case is closed nobody will see it', but I'll know what's going on inside.... and I am a bit of a perfectionist.  Besides, I want bragging rights for one of the tidiest builds, LoL.  I mean, just look at the pic of the previous build.... tidy as and yet completely functional.  Yes, it's going to take me longer to complete, but that's not important.  So what if it takes me a day or so longer due to a bit of trial and error, as long as I get the result I want.

Now bugger off and let me get to work.