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Help me Choose! 4GB or 2GB? Cas 4 or 5?`

L

lebe0024

Golden Member
There are a lot of good RAM deals at newegg, and I'm building a new computer. I have windows XP pro 32bit, a new Asus P5Q-E, and an E8500.

1. Should I get 4gigs even though I'll only be able to use 3 until I upgrade to 64 bit vista?

2. Should I get a cas 5 kit that uses only 1.8 or 1.9 volts? Or should I get a cas 4 kit that requires 2.1 volts? There are two corsair kits that are about the same price after rebate. Does the CAS 4 ram add a lot of heat?

3. If I only do moderate overclocking, should I get something faster than DDR2-800? a 400MHz FSB should put my E8500 at 3.8GHZ. Are these chips hitting much higher at stock voltage? I don't really want to use more voltage than stock.
 
I'm in a similar situation.
I'm building a new PC & will put Vista 64-bit edition.
The CPU I currently have is a Q6700, but i'm thinking of downgrading to an E8xxx & overclock the snot out of it.
I currently have some Corsair XMS2 ram that'll do 4-4-4-12 @ 2.1V...as a matter of fact, I think I ran it at those speeds @ 2.0V. I'm no expert, but I don't believe the CAS latency has anything to do with the heat...it's the voltage.
If your not going to run any faster than a 400MHz FSB, I think i'd just stick w/the DDR2-800 & find something that has some tight timings at the lowest voltage possible & try to keep your other voltages stock, if possible.
 
I'd strongly suggest the 2 x 2gb kit and if the price is close get the CAS4 version as it should offer a bit more OCing room. With our cooling at 2.1v heat is not an issue. Just make sure you have good airflow in the case.
 
also a good option, but with shipping it's almost the same price, and the only stick of mushkin I ever bought just died on me (PC3500 black label II, and I don't have mu receipt anymore). Every stick of corsair I ever bought is still going strong 🙂

Also, is 5-4-4 that much better than 5-5-5? I think the CAS is most important, and the corsiar has the flexability of running 5-5-5 @ 1.8 or 4-4-4 at 2.1.
 
None of the timings they list are really that important. The difference in real world performance is three fifths of diddly squat.
 
Ack, now I'm worried that the CAS 4 corsairs are going to be too tall. I'll be using the ASUS P5Q-E and a scythe ninja. The tall ram might interfere with the heatsink or it's fan.
 
It's close but they will fit. Depending on the board spacing from the socket to the RAM slots, you may have to use the 2nd pair of slots.
 
Originally posted by: Tullphan
I'm in a similar situation.
I'm building a new PC & will put Vista 64-bit edition.
The CPU I currently have is a Q6700, but i'm thinking of downgrading to an E8xxx & overclock the snot out of it.
I currently have some Corsair XMS2 ram that'll do 4-4-4-12 @ 2.1V...as a matter of fact, I think I ran it at those speeds @ 2.0V. I'm no expert, but I don't believe the CAS latency has anything to do with the heat...it's the voltage.
If your not going to run any faster than a 400MHz FSB, I think i'd just stick w/the DDR2-800 & find something that has some tight timings at the lowest voltage possible & try to keep your other voltages stock, if possible.
Click to expand...

I think the 8500 has a 9.5 multiplier, right? That means that at 400 Mhz FSB, you would be at 3.8 GHZ. So, if you want to shoot for an overclock higher than that (like up in the 4 GHZ range) you might consider DDR2 1066. Then again my DDR2 800 will actually do a little over 900 so it would work - but if you want to be sure...you would have to spend the extra $$$.
 
Originally posted by: Ratman6161
Originally posted by: Tullphan
I'm in a similar situation.
I'm building a new PC & will put Vista 64-bit edition.
The CPU I currently have is a Q6700, but i'm thinking of downgrading to an E8xxx & overclock the snot out of it.
I currently have some Corsair XMS2 ram that'll do 4-4-4-12 @ 2.1V...as a matter of fact, I think I ran it at those speeds @ 2.0V. I'm no expert, but I don't believe the CAS latency has anything to do with the heat...it's the voltage.
If your not going to run any faster than a 400MHz FSB, I think i'd just stick w/the DDR2-800 & find something that has some tight timings at the lowest voltage possible & try to keep your other voltages stock, if possible.
Click to expand...

I think the 8500 has a 9.5 multiplier, right? That means that at 400 Mhz FSB, you would be at 3.8 GHZ. So, if you want to shoot for an overclock higher than that (like up in the 4 GHZ range) you might consider DDR2 1066. Then again my DDR2 800 will actually do a little over 900 so it would work - but if you want to be sure...you would have to spend the extra $$$.
Click to expand...

Although DDR2-1000 is a happy medium that's nearly as fast as DDR2-1066 for only a little more than DDR2-800.
 
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