We should call the fake stick "NAM" for "no access memory." Then you can tell your kids that they couldn't possibly understand, man, because they weren't _there_.
They couldn't possibly understand NAM, man
RAM kits are now sold with one fake RAM stick alongside a real one
21–30 of 195 posts
Re: RAM kits are now sold with one fake RAM stick alongside a real one
#22I'm confused, could someone help me clarify: is this just one stick of RAM, and one stick of absolutely nothing, purely for aesthetics? I can't even see inside my CPU, why would I care if there's an empty slot? Why would I pay for a piece of plastic to fill that slot that doesn't do anything?
From the read, it seems like… A scam?
Re: RAM kits are now sold with one fake RAM stick alongside a real one
#23I don't get it. Isn't 2x8gb faster than 1x16gb since it will run in dual channel? And shouldn't smaller capacity sticks be cheaper since they can use lower density chips?
Up to a certain point and It’s actually very dependent on the CPU.
Take Epyc processors. On certain ones, after certain RAM amount, populating all the slots causes the cpu to kick the RAM speed to a lower tier.
You’re then limited to capacities of two sticks.
Weird, but it has to do with power requirements. Abutting above the threshold had to be buffered, which increases latency.
Re: RAM kits are now sold with one fake RAM stick alongside a real one
#24I'm confused, could someone help me clarify: is this just one stick of RAM, and one stick of absolutely nothing, purely for aesthetics? I can't even see inside my CPU, why would I care if there's an empty slot? Why would I pay for a piece of plastic to fill that slot that doesn't do anything? From the read, it seems like… A scam?
Meanwhile lots of people in the PC building community have cases with glass panels on the side, and go to a lot of effort to make the inside look a certain way. This includes things like custom sleeved cables, perfect cable management, RGB on various things.
I also have a glass panneled side to my computer, but the only RGB on it is on the graphics card waterblock, everything else is just jet black (fans, ZMT water cooling tubing, radiators etc. etc.)
Re: RAM kits are now sold with one fake RAM stick alongside a real one
#25I'm confused, could someone help me clarify: is this just one stick of RAM, and one stick of absolutely nothing, purely for aesthetics? I can't even see inside my CPU, why would I care if there's an empty slot? Why would I pay for a piece of plastic to fill that slot that doesn't do anything? From the read, it seems like… A scam?
[deleted]
Re: RAM kits are now sold with one fake RAM stick alongside a real one
#26This article seems a bit dramatic in it's title? People have purchased "blank" RAM for years for the aesthetic of it. I do not personally see the point, but I also don't have motherboards with unpopulated RAM slots. If a company wants to sell a kit that is 50/50, I am not sure that is actually a problem.
First time hearing about this, it's pretty dramatic for me. I grew up in times when computers were off-white and we liked it.
Modding has been a thing for 20+ years though, people spend money for aesthetic purposes only.
Re: RAM kits are now sold with one fake RAM stick alongside a real one
#27Re: RAM kits are now sold with one fake RAM stick alongside a real one
#28This article seems a bit dramatic in it's title? People have purchased "blank" RAM for years for the aesthetic of it. I do not personally see the point, but I also don't have motherboards with unpopulated RAM slots. If a company wants to sell a kit that is 50/50, I am not sure that is actually a problem.
First time hearing about this, it's pretty dramatic for me. I grew up in times when computers were off-white and we liked it.
I think that says more about you than the ecosystem at large, people been modding computers for decades at this point, hardly new that some people seem to care more about looks than actually features/functionality/specifications :)
Personally I'm with you (but black), my entire desktop is just one color, and if a component is available in RGB and non-RGB and the difference isn't too big, I pay extra for that non-RGB version (which doesn't make sense it's even the case, but here we are).
I guess you could argue that we're all obsessed with the looks, some that all RAM slots are occupied, some that RGB is everywhere, some that the PC case should be off-white and slowly morph into beige, others that everything should be minimally black.
Re: RAM kits are now sold with one fake RAM stick alongside a real one
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
And stuffing your PC case with various disco lights doesn't affect its performance either. But an evidently large portion of gamers are, well, special people.
It does, however, open up your computer to fun security bugs that were totally unnecessary, but you know, you gotta make your computer look like modern art. https://www.pcgamesn.com/asus-gigabyte-security-flaws-secure...
Aesthetics are more important for some people than The 0.01% percent chance of an obscure, 8 year old security annomaly. I think those computers look horrible, but they are harmless.
Re: RAM kits are now sold with one fake RAM stick alongside a real one
#30I'm confused, could someone help me clarify: is this just one stick of RAM, and one stick of absolutely nothing, purely for aesthetics? I can't even see inside my CPU, why would I care if there's an empty slot? Why would I pay for a piece of plastic to fill that slot that doesn't do anything? From the read, it seems like… A scam?
> I can't even see inside my CPU, why would I care if there's an empty slot?
Then, you’re not the target audience.
> Why would I pay for a piece of plastic to fill that slot that doesn't do anything?
It doesn’t do nothing. FTA: “Their sole purpose is cosmetic, though. While they light up and synchronize with your existing RGB ecosystem, they don't contribute to your computer’s memory capacity or performance.”
This is for people with transparent PC cases and memory sticks with RGB LED lighting. For example, see https://v-color.net/collections/prism-pro-rgb-memory-voclor/...:
“RGB SOFTWARE SYNCHRONIZATION SUPPORT
Dynamic RGB lighting control synchronized across main leading M/B such as RGB FUSION, MSI Mystic Light Sync, AURA Sync, POLYCHROME Sync etc. Customize lighting profiles or assign colors to each LEDs to create your own spectacular look.“