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2 GB total of 4 sticks X 512MB?

edmundoab

edmundoab

Diamond Member
I was thinking of building a system that would last me a good 3 years down the road especially on RAM capabilities.
So I wanted a 2GB total performance ram
but could not find a TWINX match pair of 2GB with 2-2-2-5 timings.

Planning to get a DFI NF4 Ultra Motherboard
Do u guys think its a good idea to have 4 sticks of ram?
i know I gotta bump the voltage higher to make them all stable.
sigh..
can't decide and still confused..
Or should I just be modest and go for a 1GB kit and wait for a 2GB Kit to come out in the future?
 
If you install 4 sticks of RAM, your memory speed will drop to 333 on that board with the current A64 CPU's. You can wait until the E0 steppings come out if you want to run at 400. However, even if you do get the E0 stepping CPU's, there is no way that you will be able to maintain 2-2-2-5 timings with 4 sticks of memory. You'd probably have to drop the timings to 2.5-3-3-7. You're probably better off getting 2x 1GB and running at 400, regardless of which CPU stepping you get.
 
Yes 2 X 1GB is what I wanted initially,
but i cannot find a pair that can touch 2-2-2-5 timings stock

all the 1GB sticks aren't 2-2-2-5 , correct me if I am wrong
worst come to worst.
I'll just stick to 2 sticks of 512 MB and wait for better RAMs to be manufactured
sigh
 
Originally posted by: OCZ John
If you install 4 sticks of RAM, your memory speed will drop to 333 on that board with the current A64 CPU's. You can wait until the E0 steppings come out if you want to run at 400. However, even if you do get the E0 stepping CPU's, there is no way that you will be able to maintain 2-2-2-5 timings with 4 sticks of memory. You'd probably have to drop the timings to 2.5-3-3-7. You're probably better off getting 2x 1GB and running at 400, regardless of which CPU stepping you get.
Click to expand...


I'm sure that you know more about this than me, but I thought the FSB can stay at 200. The command rate needs to be lowered to 2T

That's what anand thinks anyway...
 
Dont worry about timings. Unless you are overclocking your memory, timings will do NOTHING for you performance wise. 333Mhz 2GB of ram is better than 1.5GB of 400.
 
Originally posted by: cbehnken
Originally posted by: OCZ John
If you install 4 sticks of RAM, your memory speed will drop to 333 on that board with the current A64 CPU's. You can wait until the E0 steppings come out if you want to run at 400. However, even if you do get the E0 stepping CPU's, there is no way that you will be able to maintain 2-2-2-5 timings with 4 sticks of memory. You'd probably have to drop the timings to 2.5-3-3-7. You're probably better off getting 2x 1GB and running at 400, regardless of which CPU stepping you get.
Click to expand...


I'm sure that you know more about this than me, but I thought the FSB can stay at 200. The command rate needs to be lowered to 2T

That's what anand thinks anyway...
Click to expand...


Lowering to 2T is probably worse than running 166 1T. Why do you need more than 1GB anyways? Look at your total page file usage under heavy load (like gaming) and see if you go over 1024MB. I doubt you will.
 
Originally posted by: dguy6789
Dont worry about timings. Unless you are overclocking your memory, timings will do NOTHING for you performance wise. 333Mhz 2GB of ram is better than 1.5GB of 400.
Click to expand...

dguy, this is a false statement dude.

If you want performance, then 1.5 GB of 400 RAM is definitely better.

 
Any way you go about it 2gb will have a performance hit compared to 1gb in most desktop apps and games.

Unless you know that you need 2gb for heavy video encoding, CAD, Graphics Design, Software development etc... stick with 1gb. By the time 2gb is utilized in standard desktop apps and games there will be better ram options available.

If your requirements demand 2gb or more of ram, you would be better served with a dual opertron workstation board anyway.
 
There will be a performance hit?

Well, like I have said in my previous post, that I do not want to upgrade for the next 2 to 3 years.
and I know its gonna touch 2GB by then.
But if it is true that I may suffer a performance hit.

Then yes, I agree I rather stick to 1 GB TWINX
The Corsair 2-3-3-6 Looks about the best deal I can get with one stick of 1GB each

But I've been getting mixed responses on whether to go for 2GB.
Need more feedback to help me decide.
Planning for the Future.
 
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OK? a lil cheaper here -> http://www.axentmicro.com/huzrb/partdetails~af~gle~mp~CMX10243200C2.htm
 
yes gaming
but im trying not to have to upgrade for the next 2 to 3 years

because I'll be moving out of the US
and corsair ram cost a bomb at where i live..

 
yeah 2 Gigs of 2-3-3-6
well, I can live with it
after all i can still try to test if it would run on 2-3-2-7 or even 2-2-2-7 since i am going to use a NF4 board

wow.. thats a whooping $536.66,
ok, need to consider further LOL

 
Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
Any way you go about it 2gb will have a performance hit compared to 1gb in most desktop apps and games.

Unless you know that you need 2gb for heavy video encoding, CAD, Graphics Design, Software development etc... stick with 1gb. By the time 2gb is utilized in standard desktop apps and games there will be better ram options available.

If your requirements demand 2gb or more of ram, you would be better served with a dual opertron workstation board anyway.
Click to expand...

Yep, I tried running 2 GB and the performance hit actually was noticeable - the system was screaming fast but I had some skipping in DVDs and CPU/memory-intensive operations in Photoshop and things like that weren't as quick. I backed down to 1 GB and I'll keep the other stix as spares.
 
hmm, from the sounds of it,
leaning back to 1 GB isn't such a bad choice eh?

sigh over $500 just for ram..
and I know I won't be needing it until much much later
 
you simply can't get 2-2-2-5 AND 2GB right now, no matter how you slice it. I'd say the best you can do is find some good 1GB sticks, and use those. For example, for like $475, you can get 2x1GB of Crucial Ballistix PC4000. They are rated at CAS 3, but a) Ballistix modules usually hit better timings on the A64 platform and b) They are rated at CAS 3 at DDR500, so they should be able to hit 2.5 or 2 at DDR400. Otherwise, wait for Rev E0 chips, so then you can use 4 sticks, but you're still not gonna hit CAS 2. Unfortunately, DDR is nearing its density peak, and companies are already starting to have to step back their timings to even hit 1GB sticks. Larger densities are gonna require DDR2 and DDR3, which is designed to accomodate bigger sticks such as 2 and 4 GB.

Anyways, why do you need 2GB? For gaming and what not, more than 1GB is practically useless, and is often slower due to the lowered memory speed, timings, and 2T command rate. Unless you are using a high end engineering workstation, you won't really need the extra RAM, and if you do, you should really be looking into a dual CPU opteron platform.
 
yeah I see your point of view on that.

and since i can't get 2-2-2-5. Just not worth the money to spend on.
i'd rather channel the money to the video card budget then 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Wicked2010
Originally posted by: dguy6789
Dont worry about timings. Unless you are overclocking your memory, timings will do NOTHING for you performance wise. 333Mhz 2GB of ram is better than 1.5GB of 400.
Click to expand...

dguy, this is a false statement dude.

If you want performance, then 1.5 GB of 400 RAM is definitely better.
Click to expand...

The system won't even post with 1.5 GB if he's going to be running 3x 512MB. The best bet for him would be to get 2x 1GB.
 
We're already seeing games that run optimally with 2GB of RAM like Doom3 and all future games based off the Doom3 engine.🙂
 
don't forget, the DRAM market is supposed to see large price drops over the next few months - this makes it an extremely bad idea to buy more than you need right now. After all, 1GB sticks of GOOD overclocking memory might be $150 in june or so, so you can always grab some of those, and if memory is really so expensive where you are going, why not sell your old sticks to pay for the new ones? After all, I bet someone there is willing to pay decent money for them considering how much it might cost them to buy online. And if you decide to just get another 2 sticks of 512, the price will be going down, not up.

Also, do you have any benchmarks to back up the "games are optimized for 2GB" theory, screwface? I have yet to see games run any faster with 2GB. In fact, I read a comprehensive test of several games and application benchmarks on the A64 platform, comparing the performance of systems with 1GB, 2GB, 3GB, and 4GB of memory to see how it affective things. The results were that 1GB was just as fast as 2GB in just about every case save for a few engineering apps, with 3GB and 4GB actually being quite a bit slower due to reduced speed and terrible timings. Can't find the article, I'll have to look for it later, i guess. Anyways, the only game I can think of that might take advantage of 2GB memory might be Ultra mode of Doom3, since the mode is written to take advantage of 512MB of VIDEO RAM, let alone system RAM. And considering Doom3 sucks, and future games based on it aren't yet available, I see no reason to spend an extra couple of hundred dollars in order to be ready for good Doom3 games when they come.

Anyways, my recommendation is that if you're not gonna be able to take advantage of the memory NOW, then don't buy it. Every day it sits unused in your PC, that's wasted money. By the time you need more memory, the upgrade should be quite cheap and will hopefully have all the problems I've mentioned solved.
 
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