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512mb XMS or 1GB value ram

S

soulflyfan

Member
Im building a new system soon, and need to know if the benefit of top of the range ram is worth the extra investment.
Is it worth halving the ram in the system for better performance.

Option 1 1 x 512mb PC3700 Corsair XMS CL2
option 2 2 x 512mb PC3200 corsair value CL3

I play lots of games, and the motherboard i will be using isn't dual channel enabled
 
Unless you're planning to overclock just get the gig of value ram. The pc3700 is only cas 3 as well...the timings are actually probably better for the value ram.
 
I'm running 512 mb of xms atm on a k8v/a64 platform. I have been playing with ram timings on this thing for months and can't tell a difference between 2/2/2/5 and 3/4/4/8 in day-to-day use. There is a slight difference in benchmarks of course, about 80 - 100 points in 3dmark 2k1. I just ordered a gig of the 2.5 cas value select from newegg myself, I'll let ya know how it compares.

I don't oc anything btw, all stock and silent.
 
This gets asked again and again (see the search button, top right?).
The answer depends mostly on how much ram you will need and, of course, if you will overclock as stated by other posters.
If you regularly approach 1 gig of memory usage then no 512MB of the most expensive ram in the world will be as good as a gig of decent stuff.
 
If a game plays much smoother with 1 gig of RAM vs. 512 having 512 ram at tighter timings will not solve the problem of lack of ram. Therefore, 1 Gig.
 
Someone on these boards posted that

AMD systems benefits more from low latency ram
INTEL systems are fine with higher latency ram
 
Originally posted by: optimistic
Someone on these boards posted that

AMD systems benefits more from low latency ram
INTEL systems are fine with higher latency ram
Click to expand...

Actually it would make sense for AMD systems to be fine with higher latency ram and take a lesser hit due to the onboard memory controller. On the other hand a 250FSB p4 running at 200mhz memory 2-2-2-5 is faster than 250FSB p4 running at 250mhz memory at 3-4-4-8 indicating that latency timings affect the intel solution much more. However, in the real world even after taking into the account the effect of latencies for both platforms, it will probably not make a noticeable difference.
 
yeah the XMS memory (infact the whole corsair product line) has been highly overpriced imo for over 8 months (also the last 256mb pc3200 module i bought from them was defective)
there are some good value memories out there with BH-5, ch-6, chips, the new hynix chips, and others
don't pay more than you have to
 
The timings are important, if you overclock. However, there has been a strong coorelation between slow timings and poor quality memory. Not the coorelation = causation or anything - but it is more likely youll have a stick die on you with 3-3-4 timings than 2-2-2 (assuming you arent doing anything you shouldnt be doing with the stick).

Thats just my opinion.

Yeah, memory has been on the increase again lately. Price Fixing 2004 here we come- Maybe the memory guys will do a better job of covering it up this year.

Kristopher
 
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