Are Bad RAM Chips Common?

A semi-Anonymous Coward asks: "I recently built myself a new system using a mainboard which required using registered DDR SDRAM -- the motherboard will not work with unbuffered / unregistered memory, and I wanted the extra integrity provided by registered memory anyway. To my amazement, both the memory I purchased with the board and one of two other sticks I purchased were either defective or simply incapable of working with the board (which is the Chaintech 7KDD, BTW). About how often do people run into defective memory, and do they see them from the 'reputable' manufacturers as often as they do the 'no-name' ones? Now that I've spent a ridiculous amount of money on this, I'm a lot more wary."

Comments

Cheap ram = bad ram

[pr0c]

I do a lot of side work dealing with computer upgrades. I outright give 2 options:

1.) We get cheap stuff and save you money. I make it very clear that it may not work
2.) We get Normally priced ram and be sure its good

Of the few people that did not want to spend the money to get a good brand even with me warning that its a bad idea about 1 in 3 ram chips did NOT work. I've NEVER had a good brand (crucial, kingston etc) fail even 1 time. I dont' gamble on my system I use Corsair XMS and thats what i recommend but anways thats what i've found.

My Rough Stats:
Cheap Memory 30%+ failed Good Memory 0% failed this is only dealing with about 100 experiances in the last few years, i don't do much side work.