2700 or 3200?

[SameerK]

I have 2-256 sticks of 2100 right now (from 2 1/2 years ago, ugh )...planning to get 2-512 sticks of Kingston from CC...I think 2700 would be fine, but would it be worth it to go with 3200?

2700 is $33 AR @ CC for each 512 stick
3200 is $99 @ CC for each 512 stick

I'd use it mainly for encoding video, some gaming, though I was able to play HL2 without too many problems.

 

[BadAcid]

What type of processor / motherboard are you using?
If it's Pentium 4 w/ Hyperthreading or Athlon 64, you'll probably want PC3200
If it's Athlon XP lower than 3200+ or Pentium 4 with 533MHz FSB, PC2700 should be fine

 

[SameerK]

yea, it's a XP 2400+

 

[BurnItDwn]

Unless you have it overclocked, you are running a 166 (double pumped to 333 of course) mhvz FSB, which means PC2700 is ideal. If you have your FSB overclocked to 200 (double pumped to 400) then you will want PC3200.

You may be able to achieve lowwer latency on the pc3200 when running it at pc2700 speed, however, It's certainly not worth the price difference. Go with the PC2700

 

[TankGuys]

Originally posted by: SameerK
I have 2-256 sticks of 2100 right now (from 2 1/2 years ago, ugh )...planning to get 2-512 sticks of Kingston from CC...I think 2700 would be fine, but would it be worth it to go with 3200?

2700 is $33 AR @ CC for each 512 stick
3200 is $99 @ CC for each 512 stick

I'd use it mainly for encoding video, some gaming, though I was able to play HL2 without too many problems.

At those prices, you could get 2 Gig of the 2700 for less than 1 Gig of the 3200 (send the rebate to a friend's house, buy in 2 transactions). Not that you really need 2 gig, but it might help a bit for video encoding, and it would still be cheaper than the 3200.

In any case, go with the 2700 even if you only get 1 gig. The performance increase you would see from the 3200 (basically non-existant since your FSB isn't that fast) would definitely not be worth the price premium.