What can I do with a bunch of old 1GB/512MB DDR2 RAM sticks?

Question

I've been a parts-hoarder for too long, and buy stuff when I shouldn't. As a result, I have a whole bunch of relatively small denominations of RAM lying around. I've got like 10 or 12 SO-DIMM laptop DDR2 sticks at 512MB, about the same amount of desktop DDR2, and a couple of 1GB sticks. They're similar in speed and timing.

My question is: besides eBay/craigslist/giving them away, what good things are there that can I do with all of this RAM? If there was some computer out there with a whole ton slots for consumer (non-ECC) RAM (especially laptop RAM), I could make it pretty powerful, memory wise, using only spare parts. Has anyone done any cool projects with lots of small-unit consumer RAM? How did they turn out?

I guess I could make some low-memory dedicated home servers or small-form-factor machines, but I already have a home server and don't really need too man more computers lying around.

Solution 1

Well... for a desktop, you could purchase a Gigabyte iRam which turns 4 1gb DDR sticks into a 4gb drive. Yes, that's not all that much space, but it is an extremely fast drive. There weren't many (any?) consumer grade motherboards that would utilize a ton of DDR or even DDR2 Ram. You'd only find that in server grade equipment. As far as laptops go, only high end custom equipment would support more than 2 sticks of Ram. Clevo/Sager made units that would use 4 or even 8 sticks of SODIMM Ram... but as has been pointed out, the cost of purchasing equipment just to use the Ram would outweigh any benefits.

For the Newer DDR2, you could use something like the Acard which supports up to 8 sticks of DDR2 (64gb total) and turns it into an SSD.

Solution 2

They make nice keychains, until the chips start falling off.

Solution 3

besides eBay/craigslist/giving them away, what good things are there that can I do with all of this RAM?

They are worthless to any computer that requires DDR3 which has been standard for about 7 years now. There only worth would be to somebody who uses a computer that uses that standard.

If there was some computer out there with a whole ton slots for consumer (non-ECC) RAM (especially laptop RAM), I could make it pretty powerful, memory wise, using only spare parts.

You would have to purchase a motherboard and CPU that supports this memory. If you can find that hardware it likely would cost you 2-3x the cost of current hardware. The memory limits were around 2-4GB at the time DDR2 was used. The kind of hardware you could build most likely would not be worth the money you would put into building it.

I guess I could make some low-memory dedicated home servers or small-form-factor machines, but I already have a home server and don't really need too man more computers lying around.

Sounds like you have no use for this equipment.

Solution 4

You could use a SO-DIMM to DIMM adapter to use the SO-DIMMs in desktop boards, but these typically block an adjacent slot. But there are four slot motherboards with extra spacing between sets of two DIMM slots, and you can use a desktop module in one slot and a SO-DIMM adapter in the other one. This would get you 2GB with 512MB modules.

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Comments

[rob]

"DDR3...has been standard for about 7 years now." Although the standard was under development for many years, DDR3 RAM has only been available on the market since 2007, and didn't start to displace DDR2 until 2-3 years ago.

[Zac B]

Holy heck those are expensive! Great ideas, though. Might stalk eBay for something like those ramdisk units for use as a filesystem read (not write....) cache device.

[Moab]

sounds like he has plenty of spares :-)

[Bon Gart]

Yeah, the Acard are indeed pricy. It's a nice idea though.... and 64gb is definitely more useful than just 4gb... but the other side of that is that in order to get 64gb of SSD, you'd need eight 8gb DDR2 sticks. And honestly... who has THOSE just laying around unused?

[Gabriel Fair]

Holy crap batman! I didn't know this technology existed! I am having a hard time finding newer versions of these products. Is there a standard name that defines this technology?

[Bon Gart]

@GabrielFair "hardware ram drive" will turn up links/images to the iRam, the ACard and a few others. You can create a software ram drive with the system ram... but that's a build of another color.

[Bon Gart]

@GabrielFair "Is there a standard name that defines this technology?" doesn't make me think "I'm familiar with RAM Disks." since the standard name that defines this technology is Hardware RAM Disk or Hardware RAM Drive... and when I tell you this, you say you already know? If you are already familiar with the standard name being Hardware RAM Disk, why ask... and if you didn't know it was called that, why not admit it?