How much of a difference does the 'brand' or RAM make?

[Trey]

On pricewatch, there are places selling 256MB of RAM for 70 bucks. But it is a "generic" brand or the "house brand." Is this stuff worth this ridiculously low price or is it trash?

[Roy]

For me, brand name matters when it comes to the individual chips on a memory stick. Stick manufacturers with "known" names charge extra for the advertising that got you to know the name.

For example, more than half of the price of an Oreck vacuum or Bose loudspeaker goes into advertising. That doesn't make the product good or bad, just more expensive. (In the case of Bose [bozo? http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif], some of their products "feature" acoustical phase distortion!!!)

Of course, name brands do have a reputation to protect, so the quality control is ever so slightly better. I'll settle for generic sticks with a good warranty (except when it comes to serious overclocking requirements).