Best Ram for MSI KT3 Ultra

[GhettoFob]

Hi, I just bought an MSI KT3 Ultra motherboard and an AMD XP 1800+ from newegg. I was wondering what kind of ram would be best for this system? Should I get PC2100, PC2700, 1 512 stick, 2 256 sticks etc..? I'm gonna be using this computer for games, distributed computing and compressing divx movies. Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[drewdogg808]

if you have the $$$, then i would go with 1 512 stick of pc2700 to take full advantage of the chipset and not take up too many dimm slots. go with samsung, cruical, corsair, or mushkin if possible.

 

[GhettoFob]

How much better is the performance of PC 2700 over 2100 and in what kinds of applications would I notice the difference?

 

[GhettoFob]

^

 

[Mem]

Hmmm PC2100 will be fine being the XP 1800+ runs on a 266mhz FSB so using PC2700 ram has no real advantage unless you`re going to overclock big time,Crucial is what I would go with.

I should point out if you use PC2700 ram you will only get few percent improvent in speed at best,so you`ve to decide if it`s worth the extra,some people would say PC2700 ram is more future proof then PC2100 but there`s faster ram coming down the road as always.

 

[Doordie]

I have the same setup. I just got it in the mail. I went with the PC2100.

 

[MTDEW]

MSI KT3 Ultra
Athlon 1900xp
512mb PC2100 (Crucial)
GF3 Ti200 (240/500)

Someday, im gonna pull my pc2700 outta my Intel rig & run benchmarks on my AMD with pc2100 & pc2700, just to see what the difference is, but I doubt it will convince me to buy more pc2700.

Im sure the performance difference isnt that much.

Ah heck, Ill do it now & post my 3dmark 2001se scores with both kinds of ram.

BRB

 

[MTDEW]

No settings were changed in the bios or otherwise, I just swapped 2 x 256 sticks of pc2100 for 2 x 256 sticks of pc2700 ram.

Im using
2 x 256 Crucial PC2100 ram (512mb)
2 x 256 Corsair PC2700ram (512mb)
MSI KT3 Ultra
Athlon 1900Xp (Not OC'ed....1600mhz)
GF3 Ti200 @ 240/500 (Gainward)
40Gb Maxtor 7200rpm
SB Live 5.1
WinXP Pro
Desktop in 32bit color

Ram settings in the bios:(theyre the same for both tests)
SDRAM FREQ - SPD (they show up as DRAM CLK = 266mhz , 333mhz respectively at bootup)
CAS Latency - 2
Precharge - 2T
Pulse Width - 5T
Ras To CAS - 2T
Bank Interleave - 4WAY
Burst Lenght - 4QW
1T Command - ENABLED
Fast Command - ULTRA

PC2100:
DRAM CLK - 266mhz
3D MARK 2001SE - 8382
SANDRA v2002.1.8.59
Mem Bandwidth - 2051 / 1962


PC 2700
DRAM CLK - 333mhz
3D MARK 2001SE - 8529
Sandra v2002.1.8.59
Mem Bandwidth - 2062 / 1987

Of course I rebooted between tests.

Note: I had to up the DDR voltage on the Corsair PC2700 ram to 2.8v to keep it stable with these settings, but the Crucial had no complaints at default voltage.

 

[habba]

thanks for the time you took to produce those results

 

[GhettoFob]

Good stuff, thanks for all the responses. I think I'll grab myself a 512 stick of PC 2100. None of the prices seem too good right now so should I hold off a day or two and see what they have over the weekend? Or would prices just continue to go up like some have said?

 

[GhettoFob]

Originally posted by: GhettoFob
^

 

[GhettoFob]

one more bump for some opinions

 

[SpacemanSpiffVT]

i just built a system with a xp 1800 and epox 8k3a+, i got 2x 256mb of crucial pc2100 ddr, it oc'd to 2700 speeds, too so.. i only paid 80 for the sticks so, go for 2100

 

[GhettoFob]

ok I have it narrowed down to 512MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM SPECIAL $ 129 or 512MB High Perf PC2100 Mushkin CL2 $ 145 . The only noticable difference I could see is that the high perf one has a heat spreader. What exactly does that do and is it worth the extra money?

 

[GhettoFob]

bump for heat spreader question

 

[GhettoFob]

I picked up 2 sticks of PC 2100 PNY 256 meg ram. They had samsung chips on them. $30 each after rebates. I hope they work ok.