I finally got myself a ReadyNAS 'Ultra 4 Plus' after what seems like an eternity.Got it for what I thought at the time was a decent price around two weeks ago for £418 and no it's dropped again to £375. Bummer!Anyway I'm thinking about upgrading the memory to 4GB, but what do I get?I come accross several branded 4GB modules which are as follows:Corsair 4GB, 200-Pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800MHz) - (VS4GSDS800D2) - £63.76Crucial 4GB, 200-Pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800MHz) - (CT51264AC800) - £80-39Crucial 4GB, 200-Pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 (667MHz) - (CT51264AC667) - £82.30Patriot 4GB, 200-Pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800MHz) - (PSD24G8002S) - £66.24G.Skill 4GB, 200-Pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 (667MHz) - (F2-5300CL5S-4GBSQ) £71.54The prices listed above are from independant retailers as opposed to the manufacturers store price.Also found on a certain auction site:Hynix 4GB, 200-Pin DDR2 PC2-6400 (800MHz) - (HMP351S6AFR8C-S6) - £44.00Still a bit more expensive than across the pond in the US I guess, but these seem to be the best delivered prices I can find for branded modules from known online retailers in the UK.I did find some "KomputerBay" branded modules which were cheaper, but seem to get mixed reviews.I understand that some of the above are in fact "PC2-6400 (800MHz)", but can I assume this won't impact on performance and the module will just operate at the lower speed?Also, if anyone knows of a different reliable brand and model # available in the UK, feel free to add them here.--Thanks guys

as a follow-up, in case anyone's interested...My Ultra 4 seems happy with the G.Skill 2GB module (F2-6400CL5-2GBSQ), CL5, 800MHz, not sure if it's rank 1 or 2 (dmidecode reports the 'Memory Total Width' as 64bit which I suspect means its single rank, even though the chips are physically on both sides of the SODIMM... also note the Ultra 4 only runs it at 667 MHz according to 'dmidecode', even though both RAM and CPU support 800 MHz)Oddly, dmidecode also reports that my maximum memory capacity is 2GB, despite others saying they've used 4GB in the Ultra 4. Not sure if this is perhaps a BIOS version issue (which is reported variously as Version: 080016, Release Date: 05/19/2010, BIOS Revision: 8.16, System Version: 05/19/2010 ReadyNAS-NVX-V2 V1.8 ) or if there's actually different hardware configurations with only some supporting 4GB, or if dmidecode is just wrong. For now though, 2GB was a lot cheaper, was actually available, and seems to have resolved my swapping-to-disk issues.Other possibly useful info, CPU is "Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU D410 @ 1.66GHz", which according to the specs and/or datasheet, has the memory controller built-in (no northbridge) and ought to support 4GB total RAM at 800 MHz (it looks like it supports 2 or maybe 4 ranks each up to 2GB, which is probably why no one's reported issues with any particular RAM modules not working). So I suspect dmidecode is wrong or I'm misunderstanding it.

Thanks for that dbott67How does Patriot measure up in the world of RAM though?I can't say I've heard of them. That being said, they may be one of the better module manufacturers.Anyone know the preferred order of RAM manufaturers?CRUCIALKINGSTONCORSAIRPATRIOTHYNIXSAMSUNG

They seem to be pretty prevalent on this side of the pond and likely fall within the same group as Kingston Crucial & Corsair. You should feel pretty safe going with the Crucial PC2-5300.

Well, I ended up taking a chance on the Corsair 4GB module on Amazon:Corsair 4GB, 200-Pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800MHz) - (VS4GSDS800D2)The above module is currently £63.76 (RRP £161.55 apparently). :shock: Installed within minutes and ran 3 memory tests on it over about 15 hours with no errors.Is that good or should more tests be ran before putting faith in the memory?Advice welcomed.

Ultra 4 Plus Memory Upgrade Advice Needed

36 Replies

dbott67

Guide

May 21, 2011

Although many folks have upgraded the RAM in their devices without issue, it should be mentioned that this is something that is no longer supported by Netgear. If you decide to upgrade, you should keep the old memory module to swap back in the event of problems. Having said that, TecknoJnky had success with PC2-5300:

TeknoJnky wrote:
working so far
Model:	ReadyNAS Ultra 4 [X-RAID2]
Firmware:	RAIDiator 4.2.16-T25 
Memory:	3968 MB [DDR2]
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820220495

Patriot 4GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Laptop Memory Model PSD24G6672S

69.99

Ripperoo
Aspirant
May 21, 2011
Thanks for that dbott67

How does Patriot measure up in the world of RAM though?

I can't say I've heard of them. That being said, they may be one of the better module manufacturers.

Anyone know the preferred order of RAM manufaturers?

CRUCIAL
KINGSTON
CORSAIR
PATRIOT
HYNIX
SAMSUNG
dbott67
Guide
May 21, 2011
They seem to be pretty prevalent on this side of the pond and likely fall within the same group as Kingston Crucial & Corsair.

You should feel pretty safe going with the Crucial PC2-5300.
Ripperoo
Aspirant
May 26, 2011
Well, I ended up taking a chance on the Corsair 4GB module on Amazon:
Corsair 4GB, 200-Pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800MHz) - (VS4GSDS800D2)

The above module is currently £63.76 (RRP £161.55 apparently). :shock:

Installed within minutes and ran 3 memory tests on it over about 15 hours with no errors.

Is that good or should more tests be ran before putting faith in the memory?

Advice welcomed.
dbott67
Guide
May 26, 2011
Personally, I would feel pretty confident. The jedis recommend running the memtest at least twice (apparently memtest only has an 85% success rate for flagging bad memory - faq.php#Is_there_a_way_I_can_verify_if_my_memory_is_good%3F).

Just keep an eye on the system and be prepared to swap the old memory back in the event of problems. Any problems may not necessarily be caused by the new memory, however, being able to swap back would help eliminate/isolate the problem.

-Dave
Ripperoo
Aspirant
May 26, 2011
Hey Dave
dbott67 wrote:
Just keep an eye on the system and be prepared to swap the old memory back in the event of problems.

Thanks, I will do.
zom414
Aspirant
Jul 26, 2011
Sorry to reply to an old thread but I've not been here for a while (always the same when your kit is working :) ).

What sort of performance gains would there be with using 4GB? I currently have 1GB in my Ultra 4.
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired
Jul 26, 2011
If you're not running memory intensive add-ons there's no point upgrading the memory.
samuk
Aspirant
Oct 19, 2011
what would you say is a memory intensive plugin?
dbott67
Guide
Oct 19, 2011
From FAQ: http://www.readynas.com/kb/faq/performance/will_increasing_the_amount_of_memory_in_the_readynas_improve_performance

...indexing a large number of media files [like Slim server or other media streaming apps], running rsync backups, or accessing large folders, you will see improvements.