Buying memory described as "generic" is taking a chance. It's got than ominous sound that reminds me of the many times we've been burnt by generic eBuyer memory. You could end up with memory chips by any manufacturer, on any manufacturers PCB. This particular example is A-Data memory, which is available from some companies as branded memory. We have been told, that on ordering "Generic" memory from savastore could result in anything from A-Data to Twinmos. It really is luck of the draw.

The memory itself is really just DDR400 pure and simple, with standard 3-4-4-8 timings and no fancy head spreaders to show for it. This particular memory handled 433MHz with overclocking without any issues at all. This should be enough for a mild overclock, such as using the D.O.T on MSI motherboards.

Although our sample was fine, it really is luck of the draw. Some resellers exhibit what is called "major on 3rd", which is often a major manufacturers chips (such as Samsung or Hynix) on an unknown manufacturers PCB's. These are actually generally quite good, but we would worry about the quality of the gold connections.

At only 10p per MB, this memory really is dirt cheap. Considering they will be covered with a warranty of some sort, it may be worth running the risk. No one wants to spend the free time debugging problems with a computer only to find cheap memory is the cause, but a few hours testing with MemTest86 should alleviate any worries. In saying this, some pricier memory may do little more than put your mind at rest.

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