Buy RAM speed you need with low latency or faster cheaper RAM and hope it has low latency?

[Hulk]

I'm curious about this. Say you want to run PC3200 speed at low latencies. Would it be cheaper to buy really good low latency PC3200 or cheaper PC4000 that might have low latency at PC3200 speed? Anybody ever tested this and come up with some guidelines?

 

[Zebo]

Read any ram review like this:

Notice chart on the page high... FSB is always best perfromance.
http://www.anandtech.com/memor...oc.aspx?i=2226&p=9

 

[Hulk]

I'm sorry, I didn't write my question very well.


You could buy this PC4000 stick for $100
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=20-156-012&depa=1
it's rated Cas 3 at PC4000 speed

Or this PC3200, CAS 2 stick for $114
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=20-145-416&depa=1


The question is how to compare the latency of these sticks at PC3200 speed?
Of course these are just two examples, but I'm talking about low latency slower RAM vs. higher latency faster RAM. Which is the better buy?

 

[paramdog]

well its a tough question...but it all depends on the brand of the memory. for example the crucial ballistix memory works really well with amd64 939 becuase its made by micron chips and not the samsung chips. Buying this ram of pc3200 is def a better buy than some junk pc4000 or even a corsair xms series pc4000. Sometimes there is jus better memory for better boards/cpu's. i love my ballistix ram i have the pc4000 ballistix(i chose to get it over the pc3200 because i was gonna overclock), and so far im getting exceptional performance with it on my 3500+ cpu and Neo2 platinum board.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: Hulk
I'm sorry, I didn't write my question very well.


You could buy this PC4000 stick for $100
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=20-156-012&depa=1
it's rated Cas 3 at PC4000 speed

Or this PC3200, CAS 2 stick for $114
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=20-145-416&depa=1


The question is how to compare the latency of these sticks at PC3200 speed?
Of course these are just two examples, but I'm talking about low latency slower RAM vs. higher latency faster RAM. Which is the better buy?

If I understand your question, would the PC 4000 be able to run at cas 2.0 (2-2-2-5) if set to FSB 200?. I've been wondering about that too.

 

[Concillian]

My experience with Kingmax is just as the reviews at newegg are... mixed.

I have 5 sticks of Kingmax memory:
PC3200 CAS 2.5 -- will not do PC3200 at CAS 2.5, even at 2.8 volts.
2xPC3500 CAS 2.5 256MB -- runs well in single and dual channel 2.5-3-2 @205 MHz
2xPC3500 CAS 2.5 512MB -- DOES NOT RUN in dual channel, I can repeatably corrupt my BIOS if I try running these in dual channel. The run okay in single channel 2.5-3-2 at 205 MHz.

2 for 5 isn't very good. Compound that with the fact that when I've contacted support I've never received a response, and I cannot recommend Kingmax at all. If those are your choices, choose the Corsair. At least they'll stand behind their product.

If you read the reviews at newegg, you'll see that nobody talks about 2-2-2 at PC3200 from that PC4000 Kingmax, the best reported was 2-3-3 at PC3200, but most are reporting CAS 2.5. Probably similar to my PC3500 Kingmax, the 512 MB sticks will do 2-3-3 at PC3200, but they are on the verge of instability at 2.8v, but the 256 MB sticks will only do 2.5-3-3.

 

[Hulk]

Thanks for the info guys. Perhaps Anand will start testing some of the higher rated memory at lower speeds to check CAS latency.

1000 posts! And it only took 5 years.

I'm golden baby!

 

[iwantanewcomputer]

congrats on 1000. my kingston hyperx pc 3700 3-4-4-8 will do 2.5-3-3-5 at pc400, no post at anything lower.