Is RAM from Aliexpress OK?

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anatokidave

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#257322 25-Sep-2019 23:03

I'm looking at adding some extra sodimm RAM to an old laptop - it currently has 3GB of DDR3 PC3-8500 1066Mhz. - can take up to 2 sticks of 4GB.

Having looked around, I'm figuring that because it's old, it's no longer all that common - so it's a bit pricey given its intended purpose.

I see that this type of RAM is available in Aliexpress at seemingly reasonable prices. I'm surprised at the brands which appear to be available (eg Samsung, etc). Are they legit?

Has anyone had any experience with RAM purchased off AE, or should I stick with repurposed RAM off TM or computer recyclers.

I still use the lappy regularly - it's a dual boot and I use the Linux partition. However, it struggles with anything heavier than Xubuntu these days ...

lNomNoml

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#2324931 25-Sep-2019 23:11

Given what you have said, it doesn't sound like putting extra RAM in will help (sounds more like a CPU/hard drive issue) but if you want to spend the money then by all means, I also personally have never purchased tech from Aliexpress and would recommend you get local instead.

I found it here for $60: https://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/components/memory-ram/8gb/listing-2327187929.htm?rsqid=d9f4a3cb1d6e4f20b49554d017bc7585-003

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#2324933 25-Sep-2019 23:24

I normally grab my ram from Amazon.

NZ pricing is honestly just quite harsh. especially when your after something thing ECC SODIMMs... there just isnt the market size for it to be pulled in at a cheap rate i suppose

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richms

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#2324970 26-Sep-2019 07:14

Ive bought desktop DDR2 from there in the past for my old AMD machines that could do 8 gigs per stick but only with certain ones. Locally they were stupid expensive and it was USD 17 per stick off there. Worked fine till the machine died for other reasons.

Richard rich.ms

noroad

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#2324976 26-Sep-2019 07:30

I have bought ram for old laptops from Ali before and its worked fine every time. SSD I've found is always best bought locally however.

anatokidave

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#2325013 26-Sep-2019 08:58

Thank you for the responses - looks as if AE is an option if I decide to go that way. My price point is very very low, as I'll be retiring the machine within the next 12 months.

Re the comments about the CPU and HDD being limiting factors - yup, they are (muchly!) However, I've noted that when running standard Ubuntu Gnome (18.04 LTS), the CPU is not under stress - but the RAM gets fully utiiised with only a few tabs open in FF, and the machine starts using the HDD as extended memory - very very slow (have been using HTOP to keep an eye on things).

noroad

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#2325089 26-Sep-2019 09:44

anatokidave:

Thank you for the responses - looks as if AE is an option if I decide to go that way. My price point is very very low, as I'll be retiring the machine within the next 12 months.

Re the comments about the CPU and HDD being limiting factors - yup, they are (muchly!) However, I've noted that when running standard Ubuntu Gnome (18.04 LTS), the CPU is not under stress - but the RAM gets fully utiiised with only a few tabs open in FF, and the machine starts using the HDD as extended memory - very very slow (have been using HTOP to keep an eye on things).

I have an old (12 years) HP laptop that I put in a basic SSD and the max 8G memory running W10 that works flawlessly as a backup workstation if I don't have my work laptop. It's got just enough speed to do all the basic workstation stuff.

frankv

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#2325114 26-Sep-2019 10:23

I won't buy computer tech (except Arduino stuff) off Ali Express.

I've previously bought SD cards off them, and they've pretty much universally turned out to be faulty or fake (1GB card "rebadged" as 8GB).

The brands may or may not be legit. Ali Express is full of people faking other people's brands.

In China, there are companies who specialize in repairing faulty boards. There's a possibility that you would be buying RAM that failed the manufacturer's QC, and was acquired by a repair company. If the repair company's QC isn't as rigorous as the manufacturer's, or the fault is intermittent, you'll end up with faulty RAM. Don't be misled by claims of "brand new".

If you do decide to buy form Ali Express, make sure you buy from someone who specialises in RAM or at least PCBs, and has lots of orders and lots of positive feedback for your device.

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cyril7

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#2325154 26-Sep-2019 11:30

Hi, as others have said an extra 1G might help, but an SSD would make goo sense also, at least when it reaches for disk ram its 10x faster than what you have now, basic 120G SSDs from PBTech are <$40 now.

Cyril

cddt

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#2357304 19-Nov-2019 15:31

anatokidave:

Thank you for the responses - looks as if AE is an option if I decide to go that way. My price point is very very low, as I'll be retiring the machine within the next 12 months.

Re the comments about the CPU and HDD being limiting factors - yup, they are (muchly!) However, I've noted that when running standard Ubuntu Gnome (18.04 LTS), the CPU is not under stress - but the RAM gets fully utiiised with only a few tabs open in FF, and the machine starts using the HDD as extended memory - very very slow (have been using HTOP to keep an eye on things).

You could try a distribution with a more lightweight desktop environment. In the 'buntu family, Lubuntu 18.04 might suit. I find it works well with a laptop with 4 GB of memory, leaving plenty of memory for user programs.

There are distributions with even lighter desktop environments (e.g. IceWM), which will fly on any hardware.

To reduce RAM use when using a web browser, install the uBlock Origin extension if you haven't already done so. It rapidly speeds up web pages as most are loaded up with unnecessary bloat and javascript.

Finally, check your swappiness with cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness. The default is 60. I recommend reducing this to about 20, to reduce how eager the OS is to swap to disk. Do this by adding the line vm.swappiness = 20 to /etc/sysctl.conf