Advice on picking RAM?

Hello,

I just picked up a refurb Compaq Presario with Vista Premium that I would like to use as my media center. I'll be using it to watch digitized movies and to stream live tv/recordings from a DVR machine upstairs via Orb.

The Presario came with 1 GB RAM, and I'd like to increase that to a 4GB kit (though I realize I'll probably only see the benefit of 3.3GB of that RAM)

I'm really just looking for a quality, but inexpensive 4GB kit.
I found a kit that's $20 after rebate, but it's a SLI-Ready kit.
(OCZ SLI-Ready Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory )

I know that "SLI-Ready" is for running two graphics cards, typically for gaming, which I'll never do. (I'll never "overclock" or anything like that, especially since I have no idea what that entails)

So my question is, is there any reason I wouldn't want to use these in a standard system as described above?

Thanks for your help!

 

Not really I guess, though there is probably cheaper RAM available.
For example Corsair has Valueselect RAM that costs about $40/4GB pre-rebate (don't know how much the rebate is then).
Also check the latencies, they are usually CL4 or CL5. CL4 is better.

 

There are a couple of reasons. The first one you have already stated: you don't overclock and you don't know how to. That is fine, you don't have to for your needs, however, SLI-ready memory often requires that you make changes to BIOS settings in ways that are very similar to what you do when you over-clock. For example, you may need to change the DRAM voltage and you may need to set your memory timings. A prebuilt Compaq system will lock you out of those BIOS options, meaning you will not be able to configure the right values to get the most out of your RAM.

Which in short means that you have paid for a high-end sportscar version of RAM, that will never be going any faster than 45 mph, because you have it in a system that slows it down and limits it. If the SLI-ready memory is rated at a different voltage than the industry standard it should still be able to run at the slower values, but I have seen situations where performance RAM refuses to run stable or even to boot, unless it is configured right.

SLI is not just graphics, and the bottom line is that if you are not going to overclock, you don't need overclocking memory.

Hope it helped.