RitchieTheMerc Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 (edited) OK, so to say it briefly, I recently went for a bit of an upgrade for my PC to play Skyrim: two sticks of DDR3 4GB RAM. I don't really know much about computer specs, and I'm 13, so I kinda had to take the guys word for it when he said about the price: £65. Now, beforehand I had looked on the internet and found the same type of RAM for about £30-£40, but I thought maybe this was some kind of cheapo 'value RAM', so I decided to buy from the store, because the expert knows best, right? Anyway, today I got home and opened up the computer. Turns out the RAM doesn't fit, and my motherboard only supports DDR2 RAM, and only supports up to 4GB of RAM. Fair play, I thought, I'll just take it back and buy 2 sticks of 2GB DDR2 RAM with the money I got back, besides, I already knew that DDR2 RAM was cheaper than DDR3, so I didn't really mind, it was my own fault really for not looking at my motherboard earlier. Anywho, we ring up the guy in the store, and tell him that the RAM doesn't fit, and ask him how much 4GB of RAM (2X2GB) would cost. He says that DDR2 would cost 'about £10 more' than DDR3, because it 'is harder to obtain'. I knew that was total bull, because earlier I had looked up the differences between DDR3 and DDR2, and a lot of people were saying that DDR3 was BETTER than DDR2. So really, it makes no logical sense that 4GB of DDR2 RAM would cost MORE than 8GB of DDR3 RAM, does it? Then I thought, maybe it's to do with quality, but I got quite confused then and just decided to get my money back from the guy, which I'm going to do tomorrow. The question is, did he rip me off? Bare in mind that he did oversell me my ATI Radeon 5450 graphics card; he sold it to me for £60, plus £10 installation. So, did he rip me off? P.S - I know that this doesn't really have anything to do with Skyrim, put I know a lot of you guys are quite computer-spec-savvy :biggrin: Edited October 26, 2011 by RitchieTheMerc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikedepreston Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 No he didn't rip you off because you could've said no. A "rip off" is a confidence trick involving deception or theft, it doesn't apply in retail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Illiad86 Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 (edited) Hmmm well... 2x2GB DDR3 what? (1033, 1600) DDR3 is pretty cheap here...last I checked you could get 4GB of 1033 for $40-50USD. Doesn't 65 quid run around $100USD? That seems like an awful lot. He was right about DDR2 costing more because it is harder to obtain. They stopped making it after DDR3 came out, so you are just getting the last of the inventory. It should be cheaper, but the older the RAM is the more expensive it is, it seems. The installation of your graphics card is ludicrous too...10 quid to put a card in the PCI slot and turn the computer on? Sheesh. Some people need those services because they don't know how to do it...but charging that kind of price for 2 seconds worth of work is just wrong. I really don't trust local/big box stores for computer parts and their so-called "experts". They always over charge you *cough* Best Buy *cough*. If they want you to buy their products, they should be more competitive with online retailers. This is why I don't buy from stores. I research and just buy it on newegg or tigerdirect. I don't know what types of those online stores you have for the UK, but I'm sure there's a good alternative. Edited October 26, 2011 by Illiad86 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikedepreston Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Prices of components is down to economies of scale and supply and demand. If there's less profit margin in DDR2 RAM, then yes it could very well cost more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quetzlsacatanango Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 I don't think it's crazy for DDR2 to cost more, even though it's older and slower. I haven't shopped for it (or any PC parts in about 10 years.. it's a perk :)) but it wouldn't shock me to find that it's harder to get a hold of and the price to go up a bit because of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fisban0 Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 DDR3 is actually newer then DDR2 memory. If you want the technical rundown you can find it at the link below.http://www.anandtech.com/show/2232/2Honestly the store you are going to does sound like a rip off. Sort of. They really shouldn't be charging 75 euros for 4GBs of DDR2 Ram. However, what the guy at the store said is true. DDR2 RAM does generally cost more per GB then DDR3. So the reasoning behind charging more is sound and that probably does reflect the actual store prices. They aren't really ripping you off, they just aren't giving you the best deal as a store. So the price isn't great, but they aren't scamming you. As a side note, you can buy memory from trustworthy online websites for much cheaper then what they are selling it for. If you do decide to return the memory to buy it online instead I would suggest you ask your parents for help. You'll need a credit card and also some caution. Some websites that sell stuff online can be shady. If you want to buy RAM for cheap you could try newegg.com. It's generally considered a trustworthy website. Hope that helps. :biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitchieTheMerc Posted October 26, 2011 Author Share Posted October 26, 2011 DDR3 is actually newer then DDR2 memory. If you want the technical rundown you can find it at the link below.http://www.anandtech.com/show/2232/2Honestly the store you are going to does sound like a rip off. Sort of. They really shouldn't be charging 75 euros for 4GBs of DDR2 Ram. However, what the guy at the store said is true. DDR2 RAM does generally cost more per GB then DDR3. So the reasoning behind charging more is sound and that probably does reflect the actual store prices. They aren't really ripping you off, they just aren't giving you the best deal as a store. So the price isn't great, but they aren't scamming you. As a side note, you can buy memory from trustworthy online websites for much cheaper then what they are selling it for. If you do decide to return the memory to buy it online instead I would suggest you ask your parents for help. You'll need a credit card and also some caution. Some websites that sell stuff online can be shady. If you want to buy RAM for cheap you could try newegg.com. It's generally considered a trustworthy website. Hope that helps. :biggrin: Thanks a lot dude, I've actually heard of newegg.com. I think I'm gonna get the money back from the guy at the store and buy from newegg. Thanks for your help. :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Illiad86 Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 DDR3 is actually newer then DDR2 memory. If you want the technical rundown you can find it at the link below.http://www.anandtech.com/show/2232/2Honestly the store you are going to does sound like a rip off. Sort of. They really shouldn't be charging 75 euros for 4GBs of DDR2 Ram. However, what the guy at the store said is true. DDR2 RAM does generally cost more per GB then DDR3. So the reasoning behind charging more is sound and that probably does reflect the actual store prices. They aren't really ripping you off, they just aren't giving you the best deal as a store. So the price isn't great, but they aren't scamming you. As a side note, you can buy memory from trustworthy online websites for much cheaper then what they are selling it for. If you do decide to return the memory to buy it online instead I would suggest you ask your parents for help. You'll need a credit card and also some caution. Some websites that sell stuff online can be shady. If you want to buy RAM for cheap you could try newegg.com. It's generally considered a trustworthy website. Hope that helps. :biggrin: Thanks a lot dude, I've actually heard of newegg.com. I think I'm gonna get the money back from the guy at the store and buy from newegg. Thanks for your help. :thumbsup: If it's still the same, I believe newegg.com only ships to the US and Canada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csgators Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 (edited) crucial.com Run the system scanner and it will tell you what RAM you need. They are competitive with prices too. Edited October 26, 2011 by csgators Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xaliqen Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 You can almost always find decent RAM online for less money than buying at the store. That said, you definitely need to do a little research and make sure you're buying the right RAM for your machine and check to make sure the RAM is made by a reputable manufacturer (such as Crucial, Kingston or Corsair). Also, keep in mind, it's best to make online purchases at a well-known internet retailer with decent customer support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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