Customer Reviews

512MB PC3200 DDR 400MHZ 184PIN DIMM CL3 UNBUFF NON-ECC

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Update: Make sure you read the comments below before buying for your ASA5505. This item is only confirmed to work with earlier model ASA5505. Check your ASA5505 hardware revision first.

Bought this specifically for a low cost alternative for the ASA 8.3 minimum upgrade requirements of 512MB RAM on a Cisco 5505. Worked on the first try. Yes, ASA 8.3 will load and run with 256MB, but it displays a warning on the CLI and ASDM that not all advanced features will work. Well, for under $30 you can sidestep the issue. I did try with a 512MB DDR Unbuffered ECC stick with no joy. The 5505 just displays a red light and seems to absolutely require non-ECC (the cheap stuff ;)) RAM. This unit installs flawlessly with no modification to the shell/cage even though it is a little taller than the original 5505 256MB RAM chip. Also, I believe (have read, but did not try) that you can put a 1GB UB non-ECC DDR stick in the 5505, but it will only recognize the first 512MB.

After using the internet to identify which "stick" my computer would accept, I purchased this one. It was delivered as promised.

I shut my computer off, opened it up. It fit right into my computers mother board and after turning everything back on, the improvement was immediately noticeable.

No complaints.

The only thing I could say is that I needed, my computer has a good video chip from ATI but the problem was the memory it uses for display is shared memory from RAM. Once I upgrade it the computer works a lot better and faster so I waste less time to do same jobs.

Purchased this RAM upgrade for a Cisco ASA5505. This is the third aftermarket RAM upgrade and the ONLY one that works properly. The first upgrade (not purchased from Amazon or Crucial) sent the unit into a constant reboot cycle so it was completely unusable. The second upgrade (also not purchased from Amazon or Crucial) appeared to work but made certain functions, such as loading the config after launching ASDM or saving the config after changes in ASDM, somewhat slow. Also, with the second aftermarket upgrade, certain changes to the config in ASDM would cause the device to reboot and lose all the changes up to that point. It also would go into a reboot cycle for 3-10 times before actually booting successfully on rare occasions. In other words, the second upgrade appeared to work just fine but made the code seem unstable. After installing the Crucial RAM in this review, the unit was completely stable and all actions, from booting to reconfiguration, seemed to happen much quicker. Regarding the background of the device, older ASA5505 devices come with 256MB RAM. This is not enough to install 8.3 code or greater. There were significant improvements in 8.3 (and now 8.4) that make the upgrade highly recommended. Please note that if performing a code upgrade on a production unit you will want to read the Cisco release notes VERY CAREFULLY! Especially if upgrading from 7.x code to 8.3 or 8.4. All in all, I'm very happy with this RAM upgrade and ordered another three DIMMs to upgrade three more ASA5505 devices.

Update 2/27/2011: Tried 2nd RAM upgrade in another Cisco ASA5505 and after the unit heats up and you try to reboot, all lights on the device start to blink and it never boots. Let it cool down and it works again. Bottom line: The ASA5505 seems to be VERY particular about the RAM used in it. I have two more of the same RAM upgrades on order. I'll test and update this review after I receive them. I guess it's possible I just received a bad stick of RAM.

Item was delivered in a timely manner, installed it then booted up machine, it recognized the change in memory, all worked well.

I installed this memory module into my motherboard and it immediately gave my system a much needed boost. I've had it installed for several weeks now and its doing its job very well.

Good product and the price was right. It did make my PC a little unstable initially but everything seems fine now. Good stuff, I'd buy more.

I searched through thousands of entries for 3(!) days looking for a cheap memory upgrade for my faithful old Dell XPS. There were LOTS of 'off-brands'; but I finally found a CRUCIAL! I suspect it was overlooked because it has the word 'UNBUFF' in the description; all the others omit that word. I looked it up. All are unbuffered except those that are buffered and they'er NOT backward compatible.

I tried 2 different sticks of this memory and neither would Let MY ASA boot.. All the lights were flashing..
No slam against the memory.. From the previous review I thought it would work..

I had bought this to upgrade my Cisco ASA 5505 to run the lastest software... From reading all the reviews it seems that I had finally found a cheap alternative to buying "Cisco" RAM. The issue that I have with the RAM is after I installed it (It installed just fine) is the ASA boots up fine but when I reboot it, it wont come back up. I need to pull the power for about 30 seconds and then plug it back in then it comes up just fine with no issues. I am able to work around this issue as it's not used for anything other than studying for a certification with a command "clear configuration all" and that takes it back new. If you run an ASA and this is in a production environment, spend the extra money and get the Cisco stuff...

I would like to make clear though that this is common on the ASA's and the RAM works as stated and if its the right type of memory that you need then dont hesitate to buy this but would avoid it only if you are going to put it in an ASA.