Do I really need PC3200?

[PolymerTim]

I'm about to buy a mobo, cpu, RAM upgrade for my computer. I'm trying to keep it to about $300 dollars. I've pretty much decided on the Epox 8RDA+ and the Athlon XP 2500+ Barton so far. That leaves me about $100 - $120 for RAM. I was thinking about just getting a 512MB Kingston PC3200 since that is what the motherboard is rated for.

My question is what is the point in having PC3200 RAM if the mobo FSB is 333? I've never overclocked before and don't know much about it, but I've heard that most people can't quite get to FSB400 without something called a vdd mod (I have no idea what that is, but seems to require soldering, something I'm not comfortable with.)

So I'm willing to try some basic and safe overclocking if I can find a good, simple guide for it. Should I go ahead and get PC3200 to have room to work with or should I just stick with PC2700? If I get PC2700, will I have many options in the way of minor overclocking?

Also, is it usually worth it to get the CL2.0 or does that make much difference. Is there any significant gain in going with something like OCZ's dual channel optimized memory, or should I stick with Kingston HyperX. Since I have a dual channel board, am I better of getting 2 x 256MB chips or 1 x 512MB chip?

I know this is a lot of questions, but I've been reading a lot of articles lately and am just getting overwhelmed in details since I'm not completely up to speed on current technology. Any info or suggestions you guys have realting to any of these questions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[pspada]

Plenty of folks complaining that they can't run their PC2700 at the same speed as they are running the FSB. Go for the PC3200, it's well worth it. Even if you don't overclock, what if you buy a 400Mhz Barton in 6 months?

 

[bgeh]

Originally posted by: pspada
Plenty of folks complaining that they can't run their PC2700 at the same speed as they are running the FSB. Go for the PC3200, it's well worth it. Even if you don't overclock, what if you buy a 400Mhz Barton in 6 months?

true, true. and that applies to the P4 side also. Prescott will have a 800MHz FSB, which PC3200 will be useful

 

[Jeff7181]

With 512 MB PC3200 with Winbond BH-5 chips for under $100, I don't see any reason to get anything else.

 

[PolymerTim]

OK, I'm convinced on the PC3200, but what is a Winbond BH-5 chip? Also do you have any suggestions on brand or whether I should get 2x256 or 1x512 since the mobo uses dual channel.

 

[bgeh]

Originally posted by: PolymerTim
OK, I'm convinced on the PC3200, but what is a Winbond BH-5 chip? Also do you have any suggestions on brand or whether I should get 2x256 or 1x512 since the mobo uses dual channel.

it's a RAM chip. one of the overlcokers favourite's i must add
i recommend going with 1 x 512 and then getting a second 512 stick later on for 1 GB of RAM

 

[pspada]

I'm very happy with my OCZ Performance Series Rev. 2 PC3200. I got it from Hardcorecooling.com.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: PolymerTim
OK, I'm convinced on the PC3200, but what is a Winbond BH-5 chip? Also do you have any suggestions on brand or whether I should get 2x256 or 1x512 since the mobo uses dual channel.

It's kinda personal preference... 1x512 will leave you more room to upgrade in the future, the 2x256 will provide a little bit better performance right now.

As far as why to get PC3200 rather than PC2700... another reason is that you can run your timings extremely tight by running PC3200 (400 Mhz DDR) at PC2700 (333 Mhz DDR) speeds. In effect, you'd be underclocking the RAM, but there's 2 things that effect the speed of the RAM, Mhz, and timings. See the post at the top of this forum to learn about RAM timings... but with PC3200 running at only 333 Mhz, you should be able to run at 5-2-2-2

 

[PolymerTim]

So, assuming I go with the PC3200, the question is how much difference will there be between 2x256 and 1 512? True that the 512 leaves more room for expansion, but I don't upgrade very often and if I have 2x256 then I can add 1x512 later and still have 512 per channel. By the time I upgrade again and need more than 1GB of RAM I imagine it will be a few years (like 6-8) and I'll probably be looking at new motherboard by then. But then maybe I'm underestimating my need for RAM in the future. Also, 2x256 costs at least $15-$25 more than 1x512.

I guess if there isn't a large performance difference between 2x256 and 1x512 then I'll just go ahead with 1x512 and leave more room in my budget for a higher quality RAM. I'll probably be able to get another 512 chip before too long and then get max performance. Does this sound like I'm on the right track?

I've pretty much decided to go with a CL2.0 since I can afford that. Now the question is what brand. The Kingston HyperX looks promising and I've used their memory before. But I must admit that the OCZ Dual Channel Enhanced Latency looks awefully tempting. I think the $120 for the one with the copper spreader is just about at the top of my price range ($135). Model#: OCZ400512ELDCK. The platinum edition at $155 is definitely getting too high.

Let me know what you guys think and if there are any other chips along these lines (and in my budget) that I should be looking at. Thanks.

 

[Jeff7181]

Well, it use to be that 1 stick was always better than 2... but now that there's dual channels, 2 is usually better than one... if you can afford 1 GB, I'd get 1 GB... new programs, games, and versions of Windows will continue to use more RAM than previous versions. If you can only afford 512, then get 512. Either way, I guess 2 sticks is the way to go since you have a dual channel board.

 

[Lyfer]

If you are overclocking or plan on using a Baton 200MHZ/P4 200MHZ FSB cpu, then YES!

 

[dguy6789]

the performance gain form the athlon xp at dual channel is very minimal. In fact, without benchmarks, i would bet money you could not tell the difference, however, on motherboards with fsb to take advantage of the extra bandwith then go for it. will a duron with 200mhz fsb take advantage of ddr 400? you may get 1 - 3 % increase. Go for the 512 now and get another 512 later.

 

[PolymerTim]

Good ideas. Referring back to my original post though, I've already pretty much settled on an Athlon XP 2500+ Barton with a Epox 8RDA+ motherboard. I can't afford 1GB RAM right now with my budget and I'm not likely to upgrade to a 400FSB Barton in the next 6 months. If the enhancement of the dual channel isn't very much (even with OCZ dual channel optimized) then I'll probably just stick with the Kingston HyperX 1x512 CL2.0. Then I can always get another 512 later to take advantage of the dual channel. I still wonder, though, if the OCZ EL DC series really gives any significant performance boost. Anyone know of any tests run on that?

As far as overclocking, I'd like to, but since I've never done it before, I'd have to start with some simple adjustments. From what I've heard, getting the 8RDA+ FSB up to 400 is difficult. I do like Jeffs idea that by having the PC3200 I can probably get the timing a little tighter. That doesn't sound too hard to figure out so I'm reading up on that now.

 

[pspada]

I've heard that many people are unhappy and/or having problems with their HyperX memory, but it might only be overclocking issues.