I used to own few PQI usb flash drives (256MB) and never had a problem. It was pretty popular cheap brand some 15 years ago.

Back in 2000/2001 when I worked at a computer shop almost all the SDRAM we sold was Spectek.

Some of the PC-100 sticks would run at 133Mhz.

It was a very good brand back then.

Certainly used TakeMS and PQI back in the day. Seemed legit, can't remember any problems (beyond a friend's Asus A7N8X-E that refused to eat the TakeMS DIMMs, but that board was the pickiest I ever came across, refusing at least four others as well and the DIMMs ran fine in my Gigabyte GA-7NF400L).

V-DATA and VT are a different kettle of fish. The chips I saw with those look like relables, with the original text ground away and the "V-DATA" or "VT" cheaply printed over the result.

dionb wrote:

Certainly used TakeMS and PQI back in the day. Seemed legit, can't remember any problems (beyond a friend's Asus A7N8X-E that refused to eat the TakeMS DIMMs, but that board was the pickiest I ever came across, refusing at least four others as well and the DIMMs ran fine in my Gigabyte GA-7NF400L).

V-DATA and VT are a different kettle of fish. The chips I saw with those look like relables, with the original text ground away and the "V-DATA" or "VT" cheaply printed over the result.

PQI is quite common, but not very active in Europe these days it seems. It manufactures for OEM's and ODM's. http://www.pqigroup.com/oem.aspx?mnuid=1340&modid=189

Looking around on the interwebz takeMS nowadays also produces (or relabels?) SD cards and such. I have a couple SDRAM DIMM's with a Transcend sticker and DRAM IC's with takeMS on them. After some more research I discovered that the brand is owned by Ultron AG https://www.ultron.de/page.php?page=%2Fabout%2F&lang=en

I have also seen VT labeled DRAM IC's on 72-pin SIMM's. It seems that VT stands for Viking Technology, which is a division of Sanmina https://www.vikingtechnology.com/company/

SpecTek is (or has been) a division of Micron: https://www.spectek.com/menus/about.aspx The brand seems no longer to be used though.

I have had no problems with any of my several SpecTek sticks. PQI I have had no issues with either, other brands i haven't seen or at least don't recall to.

I've had a 512MB PC133 Empaq SDRAM module. While it was able to run at CAS2 Turbo mode, despite it was a CL3 one, it didn't last for a long time before it started developing errors. The only thing I know for sure is that Empaq was a German company, since the sticker on my module had "VIA Chipsatz" printed on it. It was cheap and unreliable junk back then, and it's not that better now anyway, but SDRAM sticks have always been quite flaky compared to DDRAM ones, even the ones made by reputable manufacturers.

I used to sell V-Data DDRAM modules at work back when the Pentium 4 was in its heyday, the quality was okay. So far I never stumbled upon a dead module of that company, but it's also true that the computers I put them in were never overclocked and always ran in spec.

Here are two interesting articles about DRAM IC quality grades:

https://industrial.apacer.com/en-ww/NEWS/What … e-DRAM-IC-Grade

''uTT (Untested DRAM): refers to the DRAM ICs without any test after packaging. The quality is usually more doubtful. They are also purchased by downstream DRAM module manufacturers and printed with various trademarks.''

http://www.channelbusiness.in/index.php?optio … d=281&Itemid=83

''Most DRAM manufacturers admit releasing large numbers of UTTs in the market; some even have separate brands for it. For instance, Micron has a brand called Spectek, while Nanya sells it under the Elixir brand and Infineon as Aeneon.''

Just edited the topic title. I didn't know that DRAM manufacturing in China is too new for this topic: https://www.anandtech.com/show/12681/chinese- … dram-fabs-ready Hence, the obscure brands are not Chinese or at least the DRAM IC's weren't manufactured in China.

AVANT = http://www.avanttechnology.com/ Relatively small American DRAM manufacturer. I have a couple of their SDRAM modules in use and they work fine.