RAM It Up Yer Arse
Posted by Jaymz, March 3rd, 2008 in Everything/Nothing, Hardware, Mac, Respect Sakura, Slice of Life, TechNote: This posting has a bunch of links to sites trying to sell you shit. I’m not trying to advertise anything, but just to show the sort of prices floating around. If the notion of linking to a shop’s website is offensive to you, go and fuck right off then you may wish to skip past this post and read something else.
Astute visitors may have noticed that I updated the hardware page a couple of weeks ago, with the purchase of 8GB of RAM for my beloved-yet-sometimes-temperamental Mac Pro. No, that’s not sticks of RAM to bring her up from the default 2GB to 8GB.. that’s 4 sticks of 2GB DIMMs, with the original 1GB DIMM pair slapped aside into a box, awaiting the day I pull my finger out and sell it to someone needy.
Interesting thing of note, was that when I purchased the crap - 800MHz FBDIMMs were impossible to get in this country, so I went to Other World Computing and bought it there. I even threw in the most expensive shipping offered, in order to get it in roughly a week after placing my order. Sure enough, it arrived fairly quickly and without incident - costing me a whopping $600 odd AUD.
Today, I found that ePowerMac, an Australian Mac vendor, are now selling 800MHz FBDIMMs via their website. How do they compare? Well, see for yourself. $900 odd for 4×2GB sticks (I think, their site is a tad confusing in that regard), or a whopping great $1,600 odd for two 4GB sticks. Jesus. However, ePowerMac aren’t the only ones to do this. Just two 2GB 667MHz FBDIMM sticks for the previous Mac Pro models from MacOnline will set you back just shy of $600, and that’s for a grand total of 4GB. Almost what I paid for 8GB from the states… with postage.
But, this isn’t just shops suited for Apple products that are getting in on this. Even my old time favourite PC component store, AusPCMarket, has the price way up the bum. You can do some more price comparisons on Shopbot, with Abit being “a bit more like it”, neglecting the fact that it’s for 667MHz stuff with heatsink spreaders not suitably designed for the Mac Pro’s unique cooling needs. Futhermore, they advertise their stock availability as “Ask”, which often translates to “Months” or “When Hell freezes over” in computer shop lingo, whichever occurs first.
So, that’s the state of RAM here - at least for FBDIMMs, anyways. Maybe there’s some kind of anal importing tax, or there’s some financial reason that I can’t understand which causes it to cost so fucking much, or just maybe they have shitty suppliers who are bending them over a barrel and assraping them - but I fail to see why buying it overseas, and getting the most expensive shipping one can, still works out to be half the goddamn price than what people are trying to pass it off for over here.
Feel free to add your own thoughts to this goddamn shitheap.
3 Responses to “RAM It Up Yer Arse”
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Hello and welcome to Respect Sakura, yet another shitty blog under the premise of being an animu blog, when it's really just about Jaymz's tech leanings, spending habits and crack-inspired ramblings on topics noone cares about. Oh, and that other guy posts stuff sometimes, too.
Please be warned that this site may contain strong language, adult themes, and sexual discussion about characters that may appear underage but are really over 18, and anything that may look or sound illegal really isn't, you just imagined it because your mind is sick and twisted, and it ain't my fault so don't you dare blame that shit on me son.
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The reason for it is probably simply a supply & demand thing. The bulk of people who use FB-DIMMs are either a) using them for a server, or b) macfags.
In the former case, the vast bulk of people with servers that need that sort of RAM are going to have purchased them with the necessary RAM already. Those that didn’t and need to upgrade will get the extra sticks from whatever manufacturer crapped out their server - Dell, HP, whatever.
In the latter case, Macfags will pay whatever the fuck Steve asks them to pay, because he is Steve Jobs and he must be trusted in all things.
So you fall into the very small category that a) isn’t a corporate drone, and b) is a macfag with a brain that won’t pay the Apple Tax on added hardware. There’s not much supply to meet your demand, and so they charge more for it.
I’d much, much rather pay the extra to shop at Aus PC Market, Plus Corporation, SecretNet or eyo rather than the dodgy bastards at MSY or IT Estate.
Aus PC Market may be expensive, but remember the shipping’s included on most stuff.
I shop at AusPCMarket all the time, hence this bit.
Even my old time favourite PC component store, AusPCMarket
Despite their prices being a little higher (especially for bulk ordering), I’ve found them to be very no fuss - especially when dealing with credit cards and online transactions, where most other shops will either deny you of it, charge you a bullshit surcharge, or do so via an unsecured site with a crappy e-mail based CGI form. Hell, when I tried to use my credit card with Dick Smith’s online store, they wanted me to scan photo ID, both sides of my credit card, and have something with my address printed on it, and send that to them via e-mail - and had the gall to say this was all for “my safety” (Protip: e-mail is neither secure nor encrypted without paying lots of money for that form of service).
AusPCMarket gets the thumbs up from me, for providing great and quick service, and not bending me over a barrel for using my preferred payment choice. However, in this instance, they simply don’t have the sort of specialised items I require.