2x256mb Vs 2x512mb Overclocking

[Elcs]

After reading the thread by someone or another saying that some games such as UT2k3 and BF1942 can benefit by using 1 GB of RAM, it got me thinking. I had intended to purchase an ABIT NF7-S Rev 2.0, AXP 2100+ or 2500+ Barton and 2x256mb pc3200 for some overclocking but not wanting to buy 512mb now and realising that a few months down the line, i have to get a 512mb stick and populate all 3 memory banks.

How much of a difference will o/c'ing 2 512mb sticks be against 2 256mb sticks?

I believe Thugsrook did some testing to this affect but I cant find it this early in the morning.

 

[THUGSROOK]

actually i only tested 1x 512mb vs 2x 256mb.
i never tested 2x 512mb.

 

[syberscott]

If you look at my sig you'll see my 1 gig of OCed ram. I had no problems with it and I can run prime95 all day with no errors.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: THUGSROOK
actually i only tested 1x 512mb vs 2x 256mb.
i never tested 2x 512mb.

Couldnt remember what you did. Just remembered that you did some tests with 256 and 512mb sticks.

You might want to consider doing this kind of test, might have a lot of bearing on new systems

 

[THUGSROOK]

i run Win98se ~ Win98se cant "use" 1g of ram

i tested all my games and apps and nothing i do takes more then 300mb to run.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: THUGSROOK
i run Win98se ~ Win98se cant "use" 1g of ram

i tested all my games and apps and nothing i do takes more then 300mb to run.

Some people have it made. I prefer 'my' stability on XP over 98 SE.

Thats actually a good reason to get a new machine.

"My machine cannot run Win XP. Its not good enough." Wife falls for it

 

[Mikki]

stability on XP

:Q

 

[Technonut]

Originally posted by: Mikki

stability on XP

:Q

WinXP is much more stable than 98SE can ever hope to be... I still cannot understand why people cling to a 5 year old OS...

 

[bgeh]

Originally posted by: Technonut

Originally posted by: Mikki

stability on XP

:Q

WinXP is much more stable than 98SE can ever hope to be... I still cannot understand why people cling to a 5 year old OS...

i agree......there was a period when i usually got around 5 BSODs a day with Win 98
went straight for Win 2k when it came out and then upgraded to Win XP
the difference is huge.......now no more BSODs daily but i still get the occasional KERNEL_INPAGE_DATA_ERROR BSOD once in a while

 

[oldfart]

There are so many well known, well documented, proven reasons why Win2K/XP are more stable than a Win9X OS. It is a fact, not an opinion. It is not a debatable topic. If you think Win98 is more stable, you are without a doubt "confused" . Memory management is horrible on Win9X. Fat32 is a joke. Ever hear of protected memory space? NTFS? Thats is just a start.

 

[ferrarifreak93]

imo, people still use windows 98 because it's the best and most compatible gaming platform

 

[oldfart]

I have A LOT of games. Dont have a single one that doesn't work. Not one.

I use Win98SE on my 2 kids PCs. They have a couple of old educational games games that dont like Win2K. And yeah, they will Blue Screen. I dont even know what a Win2K BSOD looks like. Never seen one.

 

[SinfulWeeper]

Originally posted by: Technonut

Originally posted by: Mikki

stability on XP

:Q

WinXP is much more stable than 98SE can ever hope to be... I still cannot understand why people cling to a 5 year old OS...

I for one cling to them because of an unethical EULA.
And I do not mean that I can not afford the licenses, I can.

Have you ever read the EULA, or did you just hit the 'Accept' w/o reading it?

 

[oldfart]

If you dont like XP EULA, there is Win2K.

 

[chizow]

There was a time when I used to dual-boot b/c of gaming performance/compatibility until I couldn't get 95/98 drivers for my V5 to work with newer games. That's when I made the switch to Win2K and then XP permanently. Haven't even looked back and don't miss it a bit.

Anyways, back to the RAM issue; I picked up 2x512MB Corsair XMS TwinX just for this reason. Its no big secret that potential OC'ability can decrease as you increase module density and number of banks per dimm. It cost more, but the insurance was worth it IMO to be able to run synchronized DDR400 at low latency timings.

Also, there might not be any games that need 1GB yet, but there will be. I'm Beta testing a game right now that many of you will be interested in; max commit charge can easily exceed 1GB. Whether or not this is a mem leak or not remains to be seen, but the maps can be enormous.........................

Chiz

 

[Mikki]

I'll definitely agree that WinXP is a very stable OS, but I definitely disagree that it's more stable than Win98. I used XP for a year on my machine and still use it on the wife/kid's machine. I've NEVER had a problem in Windows that wasn't directly related to oc'ing...that's XP or 98. So take that how you want.....

 

[oldfart]

Also, there might not be any games that need 1GB yet, but there will be

BF1942 needs it now. I was playing last night and I had ~ 750 Meg of ram in use out of my 1 Gig.

 

[bgeh]

Originally posted by: Elcs
After reading the thread by someone or another saying that some games such as UT2k3 and BF1942 can benefit by using 1 GB of RAM, it got me thinking. I had intended to purchase an ABIT NF7-S Rev 2.0, AXP 2100+ or 2500+ Barton and 2x256mb pc3200 for some overclocking but not wanting to buy 512mb now and realising that a few months down the line, i have to get a 512mb stick and populate all 3 memory banks.

How much of a difference will o/c'ing 2 512mb sticks be against 2 256mb sticks?

I believe Thugsrook did some testing to this affect but I cant find it this early in the morning.

i have 2x512mb and my chip's running at 2.5GHz

 

[SinfulWeeper]

I own 2K
Much better in terms of stability than 9x ever was
But compatability is an issue at the moment ...
If M$ keeps up the the EULA licensing scheme which I think they will... they will be every bit as bad as the current 'Gator' folded 100 times over. If they do I will still have my 9x series and 2K, but that will be as far as I go. Aparantly I am not the only one who feels that way. Without a doubt, they shot themselves in the left foot.
Personally I hope they do not follow the current course of action or they will shoot themselves in their right foot next.
I from time to time help my brother with his homework on his XP machine, and I admit that it is far more stable... albeit slower than the 9x series because of bloat. None-the-less stability means little to me for my use of computers, if I were a stability/speed freak, I would migrate to the linux arena... might have to do it sooner or later though if their next EULA will go the way I think it will...

But I am getting way too off topic on the subject matter. Sorry Elcs.

 

[bedrocked]

does anyone with a gig of ram turn off your xp paging file w/o any problems ever?

 

[oldfart]

I dont turn off paging. It is still needed.

Back on topic, with 2 sticks of 512, I can run DDR425 on my current setup.

Going back off topic, you can get rid of much of the XP bloat (I cant stand it). Use "classic start menu" and desktop as "maximum performance". That gets rid of most of it. A few more minor tweaks and it looks almost like Win2K.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: oldfart
BF1942 needs it now. I was playing last night and I had ~ 750 Meg of ram in use out of my 1 Gig.

Yep, BF1942 uses 500-600MB (+120-200 depending on OS overhead) depending on the map/mod (DC was the most demanding for me), but you could still get away with 768MB.

does anyone with a gig of ram turn off your xp paging file w/o any problems ever?

I usually don't turn off my paging file regardless of how much RAM I have, but I wanted to test it out seeing that this game could use a full 1GB of RAM. Turned off paging and the game would lock or crash as soon as commit exceeded physical RAM.

 

[SinfulWeeper]

Damn that game uses a lot of memory :Q
When is somebody gunna try out 1GB * 2, or 512MB * 4?... Do 'regular' desktop boards even support that much?

 

[bedrocked]

so do you just set it to let windows handle it instead of the typical ramx1.5 static size? yes i know xp handles memory pretty well.

 

[Elcs]

After reading through the 15 or so posts about which OS is stable and which one isnt, I found very little info Im looking for.

I know every overclock is different especially on memory but it would help if someone posted what their 2x256mb sticks and 2x512mb sticks reached and at what voltage.

If someone has 2 sticks of each, preferably same brand etc. for the purpose of testing then it would be of great importance to add to some of the research that Thugsrook has started.