1GB Performance vs. 2GB Value

[videoclone]

Corsair TwinX 2GB Dual channel C2 ram is around the same price at low timings

High-performance memory tested for use in dual-channnel motherboards
2-3-3-6 running @ DDR400Mhz PC3200 2X 1Gb sticks

Beats both of the two you listed. well in value for money anyways.

 

[Aries64]

Originally posted by: videoclone
Corsair TwinX 2GB Dual channel C2 ram is around the same price at low timings

High-performance memory tested for use in dual-channnel motherboards
2-3-3-6 running @ DDR400Mhz PC3200 2X 1Gb sticks

Beats both of the two you listed. well in value for money anyways.

videoclone, what two memory kits are you talking about and who are you talking to? Not me, as I only mentioned the Mushkin HP3200 2GB Dual Pack. Are you talking to rise4310? rise4310 was the last poster before you, but rise4310's post mentioned the same RAM as me and listed two of the speeds hes' run his RAM at (2-3-2-7 @225 and 2.5-3-3-8 @250). 2-3-2-7 @225 is definitely faster than 2-3-3-6 at 200MHz - I'm not sure about 2.5-3-3-8 @250, depends on the CPU speed. Since when is 2-3-3-6 1T at 200MHz (DDR400) faster than 2-3-2-6 1T at 208Mhz (DDR416), or the Mushkin HP3200's rated 2-3-2-6 1T at 200MHz (DDR400)?

I didn't spend alot of time looking at pricing, but it appears that the Corsair TWINX2048-3200C2 is more expensive than the Mushkin HP3200 2GB Dual Pack. How is the Corsair at a (very slight) lower rated speed a better value for money when it costs more than the (very slightly) faster Mushkin? Mushkin is a Tier 1 vendor just like Corsair. Please enlighten me on that.

I'm also curious, where did you get the specs on the "Corsair TwinX 2GB Dual channel C2 ram" from? According to Corsair's web site the TWINX2048-3200C2 is rated at 2-3-3-6 on Intel platforms (while not a huge difference the Mushkin HP3200 rating of 2-3-2-6 is faster than 2-3-3-6). On AMD systems the TWINX2048-3200C2 is rated at 2.5-3-3-6. The Mushkin ran on AMD at 2-3-2-6 1T at 208Mhz (obviously faster than 2-3-3-6 1T at 200Mhz).

Of course, each system and mobo is different so someone may always "get lucky" and be able to run at faster than the rated speeds on an individual systems. But since that is "hit & miss" just like overclocking I like to be conservative and go off manufacturer ratings "to be safe".

EDIT: Corrected Mushkin HP3200 2GB Dual Pack rating to "2-3-2-6 1T" at end of my first paragraph.

 

[Bona Fide]

Funny...I had been looking at the C2 memory as well. My plans for my CPU (3700+ SD) include trying to get it up to around 2.8ghz. I will most likely go with your settings, rise, because they seem nice. 11x250 seems like a good place to start, and it's very good to know that the Mushkin memory can keep up with minimum loosening of timings. All that for $16 more...definitely worth it.

Thank you guys so much for the help

 

[ProviaFan]

The succinct answer is that if your applications require 2GB of RAM to avoid swapping, then 1GB of RAM with faster timings will simply not be an acceptable substitute. I don't game much, but there's no denying that Photoshop flies on 2GB (unless you start working on huge stitched panos or 8000DPI drum scans of 8x10 transparencies).

 

[rise]

lol aries, i didn't even know where to start with that post.

bona fide, the muskies are really looking better everyday. over at xs they have a 2x1gig results thread and no-one can touch cl2.5 over 240. ocz is the closest, who use the same chip in their 1 gig plat from what i hear.

 

[Aries64]

Originally posted by: Bona Fide
Funny...I had been looking at the C2 memory as well. My plans for my CPU (3700+ SD) include trying to get it up to around 2.8ghz. I will most likely go with your settings, rise, because they seem nice. 11x250 seems like a good place to start, and it's very good to know that the Mushkin memory can keep up with minimum loosening of timings. All that for $16 more...definitely worth it.

Thank you guys so much for the help

No problemo, Bona Fide. I didn't mention it before, but the reason I decided to go to 2x1024MB instead of using 4x512MB of my PC3500 Level II Mushkin is that the K8N Neo2 and the K8N Neo4 boards will not run 4x512MB at DDR400 at 1T. The K8N Neo2 defaults to DDR333 at 2T. The K8N Neo4s' will run 4x512MB at DDR400 but at 2T.

The only confirmed way (per MSI's manuals) to run 2GBs' at DDR400 1T in these boards is to run 2x1024. I'm not a big overclocker - thats why I buy the high-end chips because I'm guaranteed speed. Since my Mushkin PC3500 Level II (4 1GB Dual Packs) has served me well and all reviews have been good I decided to try the new HP3200 2GB Dual Pack.

 

[rise]

let us know how they work out. i'm interested to see how more of these perform. i don't know what timing options you have on your board but i'll post you an a64 tweaker pic of mine if you want.

 

[Aries64]

Originally posted by: rise4310
let us know how they work out. i'm interested to see how more of these perform. i don't know what timing options you have on your board but i'll post you an a64 tweaker pic of mine if you want.

Will do rise4310. Like I said - I'm not a bif overclocker, but I am running 1GB of my PC3500 Level II Mushkin at 2-3-3-7 1T on my K8N Neo2 board. Although the memory automatically runs at 200MHz at 2-2-2-5 1T (when memory speeds are set to "Auto" in the BIOS) and it is stable while gaming, the system will hang or crash to a Blue screen after running Prime 95 for a short period sometimes.

Mushkin actually had a disclaimer on their web site stating that the PC3500 Level II may need to be run at 2-3-3-7 1T for stable running on the K8N Neo2 board before production of this great RAM was discontinued last year.

Right now I'm running my PC3500 Level II at 2-3-3-7 1T at 207MHz at 2.7V. Its Prime Stable for 48 hours that way. As long as I can run my new 2GB HP3200 at 2-3-2-6 1T at 208MHz at now more than 2.8V I'll be happy. I'll have the extra memory I want to be able to run Battlefield 2 without a lot of drive accesses at the same memory speed I have now.

I'll let you know how the memory runs/what sppeds I get when I get it installed and tested. Now I just have to see how teh ATI/Nvidia/Crossfire/SLI scenario plays out in a few months before I commit to a new mobo and videocard(s), and power supply.

 

[entropy1982]

Originally posted by: evilbix
If you're running an intel rig, I'd go for the 2 x 512mb.

If you're running an amd rig, I'd go for the 2 x 1gb

Intel chips improve greatly from tighter timings. AMD doesn't seem to benefit the same. Lots of tests have been done and there is such a small performance gain from performance memory on A64's. Generic memory had a less than 1% performance boost on operations that were testing only the memory. In games it normally did not affect the fps by more than 3 or 4 fps at most (in games like quake 3 where you're scoring in the hundreds). I remember seeing a huge post on this one, some guy did a really specific test. Try searching for it, unfortunately I do not remember the name at all.

BUT.. If you overclock on the AMD system I'd hands down go for the performance memory. You'd be able to achieve much higher speeds with it. But then again.. you could always just buy memory rated at higher speeds instead of guessing how fast you're gonna get that to go.

evilbix: I plan on OCing my 3200+ Venice (2.0ghz stock) to about 2.7ghz so from what i understand i need the RAM to run at around 270MHZ. So am i forced to go with 1 gig of performance RAM? What kind of RAM should i get exactly?

If any could help me with these i woudl greatly appreciate it

Thanks

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: entropy1982

Originally posted by: evilbix
If you're running an intel rig, I'd go for the 2 x 512mb.

If you're running an amd rig, I'd go for the 2 x 1gb

Intel chips improve greatly from tighter timings. AMD doesn't seem to benefit the same. Lots of tests have been done and there is such a small performance gain from performance memory on A64's. Generic memory had a less than 1% performance boost on operations that were testing only the memory. In games it normally did not affect the fps by more than 3 or 4 fps at most (in games like quake 3 where you're scoring in the hundreds). I remember seeing a huge post on this one, some guy did a really specific test. Try searching for it, unfortunately I do not remember the name at all.

BUT.. If you overclock on the AMD system I'd hands down go for the performance memory. You'd be able to achieve much higher speeds with it. But then again.. you could always just buy memory rated at higher speeds instead of guessing how fast you're gonna get that to go.

evilbix: I plan on OCing my 3200+ Venice (2.0ghz stock) to about 2.7ghz so from what i understand i need the RAM to run at around 270MHZ. So am i forced to go with 1 gig of performance RAM? What kind of RAM should i get exactly?

If any could help me with these i woudl greatly appreciate it

Thanks

When it comes to oc'ing, you can use memory dividers. That allows you to use 1gb or 2gb, performance or value. And if you read Zebo's sticky at the top of the forum, there is hardly any performance lost.

 

[sonoma1993]

my system is 2gb (4x512) of corsair twinx 3200ddr memory. Some of the games id played. love the extra memory. Id played star wars galaxies and everquest 2. they run alot smoother with 2gb compare to 1gb or less.

 

[entropy1982]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: entropy1982

Originally posted by: evilbix
If you're running an intel rig, I'd go for the 2 x 512mb.

If you're running an amd rig, I'd go for the 2 x 1gb

Intel chips improve greatly from tighter timings. AMD doesn't seem to benefit the same. Lots of tests have been done and there is such a small performance gain from performance memory on A64's. Generic memory had a less than 1% performance boost on operations that were testing only the memory. In games it normally did not affect the fps by more than 3 or 4 fps at most (in games like quake 3 where you're scoring in the hundreds). I remember seeing a huge post on this one, some guy did a really specific test. Try searching for it, unfortunately I do not remember the name at all.

BUT.. If you overclock on the AMD system I'd hands down go for the performance memory. You'd be able to achieve much higher speeds with it. But then again.. you could always just buy memory rated at higher speeds instead of guessing how fast you're gonna get that to go.

evilbix: I plan on OCing my 3200+ Venice (2.0ghz stock) to about 2.7ghz so from what i understand i need the RAM to run at around 270MHZ. So am i forced to go with 1 gig of performance RAM? What kind of RAM should i get exactly?

If any could help me with these i woudl greatly appreciate it

Thanks

When it comes to oc'ing, you can use memory dividers. That allows you to use 1gb or 2gb, performance or value. And if you read Zebo's sticky at the top of the forum, there is hardly any performance lost.

Caveman, sorry for my ignorance but can you explain what I would do with the dividers exactly in my situation (overclocking to 2700 from 2000), i guess i just don't know exactly how dividers work.
Also, I wasn't sure what you meant, are you saying i could get 2GB of ram (take up all 4 slots) and still not lose performance?

Thanks

 

[Bona Fide]

Dividers decrease your RAM speed. For example:

CPU Clock - 2500mhz
FSB - 250mhz
Multi - 10x
RAM Divider - 5:4

For every 5mhz in the CPU, the RAM will get 4mhz. So it gets 80% of the FSB, or 200mhz. That will be DDR400. There are several different divider ratios, and you just gotta find out your optimum, based on your CPU and RAM.

 

[Aries64]

Originally posted by: rise4310
let us know how they work out. i'm interested to see how more of these perform. i don't know what timing options you have on your board but i'll post you an a64 tweaker pic of mine if you want.

Got some dissapointing news from Mushkin yesterday (7/12). The HP3200 2G Dual Pack is backordered. It seems Mushkin is out of stock of the memory chips they use to assemble HP3200 modules and will not have them for "at least a week".

I'll post a follow-up after I receive my mudules and have tested them under Prime 95 at speed.

 

[rise]

thats disappointing. check over at tiger? they had some on sale last week so they may be stocking. i know some drop ship right from mushkin but etailers may have them in stock.

 

[Jojo1971]

:thumbsup:

go with the 2gb

 

[Aries64]

Originally posted by: rise4310
thats disappointing. check over at tiger? they had some on sale last week so they may be stocking. i know some drop ship right from mushkin but etailers may have them in stock.

Yeah, - actually Tank Guys sjows them "In Stock" but I don't know if they're "really" in stock or if the memory would be drop-shipped from Mushkin (in which case I might as well wait and get it directly from Mushkin) since Mushkin will ship Next Day for free to me when they get the memory back in stock.

I might call Tank Guys and Newegg tomorrow and see if either of them actually has stock. I'm not really hard for the memory right now, just be nice to have that extra gig running at same speed and timings as the 1GB PC3500 Level II Dual Pack I have now.

 

[furballi]

2GB. If you system requires more than 1GB of RAM, then the 2GB of Value RAM will be much faster than 1GB of expensive RAM.

 

[CraigRT]

I went to upgrade to 2GB of Kingston valueRAM but my system rejected it... so here I am sitting at 1GB still... looks like I'm stuck at 1 gig until I get my new 939 system eventually.

crap.