384 mb PC133 or 256 DDR ? (WinXP)

[Cpt. Duke]

Which would you prefer in your system ?


I'm picking up an ECS motherboard that supports both SDR and DDR and am unsure what to do ...

Thanks a lot

 

[Vette73]

DDR will be much better. But why 384mg's?? Why not a single slab of 256mg or just bump up to the 512mg slab?

 

[Cpt. Duke]

Hi Marlin,

the reason I ask is because I already have 1 x 256 DDR and 2 pieces PC133 (1 x 256, 1 x 128)
What do you think now ?

Ryan

 

[Vette73]

DDR all the way. Win XP run great with 192MG or higher. So 256mg will do just fine.

That and the new boards use DDR, so you would have a slowwer computer with SDRAM, no matter how much you have.

 

[Cpt. Duke]

Thanks Marlin


Anyone else reading this ? What do you think ?

 

[VSEKH]

Your processor will take advantage of the DDR higher bandwidth allowing your overall system to run faster. DDR for sure is better. SDR cannot keep with the faster cpus.

 

[Cpt. Duke]

Thanks VSEKH


I understand that DDR is faster, I guess my real question is ---> is it better to have slightly faster ram, or slightly more ?

 

[VSEKH]

The system will definitely run faster with 256 megs DDR instead of 384 megs of Sdram.

 

[Buz2b]

The system will definitely run faster with 256 megs DDR instead of 384 megs of Sdram.

I don't think, respectfully, that this is true. 384 MB of SDRAM should have enough to overcome the bandwidth advantage of 256 MB DDR. At the very least there would be a negligable difference that would not be noticeable. However, I agree that DDR is the way to go. Why not sell the SDRAM and make more than enough to by another stick of DDR? Start with the 256, which is plenty for XP and add more later. Good plan!

 

[farns]

Yeh DDR is only about 10% faster with an Athlon, maybe 20% in a p4 system if Im not mistaken

 

[Cpt. Duke]

I think I'll try to sell the SDRAM and just move forward ...

thx guys.

 

[sao123]

Actually its more involved than is being discussed here.
Which memory you chose 384 PC133 vs 256 DDR266...

Which WinXP are you using? Home or Pro? Pro has a lot more services running in the backgroung which requires more RAM.
How fast is your hard drive? Ata 33, 66, 100 or 133?
The enhanced bandwidth may not be enough to counterbalance a slow hard drive swap file.
More memory is better if your HardDrive is slower.

Bios Settings
Do you turn on Bios Shadowing and Caching and the 15-16MB Memory Hole?
What video card do you have & What is your Video Aperture size? (How much of your RAM are you alloting for Video Texturing?)
These settings also use up RAM leaving less for your Appz.

Your best bet is 384 of DDR266 if you can afford it, but if not, weigh in all these other important factors.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

Sell the 384MB PC133 and get another 256MB DDR to make it 512MB.