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Do i need "EXTREME" RAM if i don't overclock at all?

M

memo

Golden Member
I currently have 1 GB of the top of the line Patriot DDR

Cas Latency: 2
Timing: 2-3-2-5-T1

But i don't overclock at all and I want to really swap that (or add) for 2 GB.

Theres essentially 3 flavors to 2GB from Patriot

Cas Latency: 3
Timing: 3-4-4-8
$161.99

Cas Latency: 3
Timing: 3-3-3-8
$179.99

Cas Latency: 2
Timing: 2-3-2-5
$210.99 AFTER MIR

OCZ, Corsair, and Kingston probably have similiar types.

My question to you all is do I need the top of the line stuff if I don't overclock, or can I get by with the "value" RAM? I do game though quite a bit, F.E.A.R. CoD2, AoE3 etc. But if it doesn't really help I'd rather save my money toward a new HDD or something.

Also, if i do add some new ram, would doing 3GB be bad new since the timings are different? All 4 slots being filled could be a problem?

Thanks for the help ladies and gents



 
Go cheap. You only need faster ram is your OC like mad.

Koing
 
Do i need "EXTREME" RAM if i don't overclock at all?
Click to expand...

No, infact, no one really needs it.. With an Athlon64 at least, you really don't even need it for overclocking. Running a divider on the RAM and just raising CPU speed is where 95% of the gain is. CAS2 high performance high bandwidth RAM is a waste of money anymore. I just bought cheap PC3200, no regrets.
 
In test after test that I've seen AMD systems get almost no benefit from high priced RAM. Corsair's ValueRam might perform slightly slower than your Patriot memory but only sophisticated benchmarking software will be able to tell the difference. If you have an Intel system however then its a different story.
 
Originally posted by: petesamprs
Originally posted by: CraigRT
Running a divider on the RAM and just raising CPU speed is where 95% of the gain is.
Click to expand...

Can you explain this more for n00bs (me)
Click to expand...

Start reading on this page:
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Guides/athlon64oc/3.html
There are virtually no gains from upping the memory speed... (as you will see)

Move onto the page after that when you are done and see what happens when the memory stays at 200MHz and the CPU speed is increased. That is where the gains begin.
Click to expand...
 
So to summarize, running a divider on the RAM and raising CPU speed is overclocking. The original poster wasn't interested in OC'ing, but the idea is that even with value RAM you can run a divider and still squeeze more out of your setup.

I would recommend against using 4 DIMMs -- AMD doesn't support the 1T command rate at 4 DIMMS. I haven't personally benchmarked the two against each other, but folks on these forums always seem to rail against dropping to 1T. I think that if you purchased 2x1GB value RAM you'd be stoked for FEAR and so on.
 
Originally posted by: letstalkcisco
So to summarize, running a divider on the RAM and raising CPU speed is overclocking. The original poster wasn't interested in OC'ing, but the idea is that even with value RAM you can run a divider and still squeeze more out of your setup.

I would recommend against using 4 DIMMs -- AMD doesn't support the 1T command rate at 4 DIMMS. I haven't personally benchmarked the two against each other, but folks on these forums always seem to rail against dropping to 1T. I think that if you purchased 2x1GB value RAM you'd be stoked for FEAR and so on.
Click to expand...

can anyone else give some opinions on the 4 DIMMs?
 
1T is grossly overrated as well. To hear most people tell it, running 2T is like your on a 286 or something. There was a thread where a ton of users tested it out on their system here, and proved that in games at least the worst performance hits it gave were around 4%...most being in the range of %1-3. Your memory bandwidth scores will go down a lot, but synthetic benchmarks != actual usage.

And yeah, there's not really any reason to buy extreme ram. It costs twice as much, and offers a tiny performance increase. With the A64, its necessity even in overclocking is dubious at best. But people hold onto the old concept from the athlon XP days that running memory "async" with the FSB (which doesn't actually exist on the A64) causes a big performance hit. When you're overclocking, you're trying to get something for nothing. Saving $100 on the processor by overclocking and then spending another $100 for ultra super ram defeats the entire purpose of the activity.

If you want to spend an extra $100 somewhere, spend it on a video card.
 
Originally posted by: PingSpike
1T is grossly overrated as well. To hear most people tell it, running 2T is like your on a 286 or something. There was a thread where a ton of users tested it out on their system here, and proved that in games at least the worst performance hits it gave were around 4%...most being in the range of %1-3. Your memory bandwidth scores will go down a lot, but synthetic benchmarks != actual usage.
Click to expand...

I agree...

A while back it was thought that running a 2T rate was a big no no. But the truth has been revealed that at 2T the performance loss is very little and unlikely to be noticable. Only in synthetic benchmarks did we see a huge difference.
 
As long as it's good quality RAM with a lifetime warrenty, get it. There was some Corsair ValueSelect 2x1GB on Outpost for about $115 AR. Not sure if it's still around though.
 
If you are going to use your current "top of the line Patriot DDR", I would get another to match it.
Only the hardest of the BF2 players will tell you that you need more than 2GBs. :laugh:
 
Interesting. I don't plan to OC to my Epox 9NPA+ULTRA/X2 4400+ either.

So, do I go with...

Corsair ValueSelect
CL3
PC3200
1GB
$83

GeIL Value Series
CL3 / 3-8-4-4
PC3200
1GB
HEAT SPREADER
$88.77

Patriot
CL2 / 2-3-2-5
PC3200
1GB
HEAT SPREADER
$109.99

OCZ Platinum Series
CL2 / 2-3-2-5
PC3200
1GB
HEAT SPREADER
$123.44

mushkin High Performance
CL2 / 2-3-2
PC3200
1GB
HEAT SPREADER
$127.00
 
Get the Corsair ValueSelect unless you have a DFI board. They don't work well with each other. You should be able to find them for about $75 per 1GB stick.
 
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