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Help with Memory Selection

Stuxnet

Diamond Member
I've been building my own PCs for some time now, but one thing I never had the patience (or resolve) to really get comfortable with was the art of memory selection. As you can see in my sig, I'm currently running with 1GB of Kingston's PC2700 ValueRAM. For BF2, I'm going to upgrade to 2GB. I bought my PC2700 sticks (2 x 512) about two years ago for an Asus P4PE, and I figured this was as good a time as any to abandon them and move up to PC3200 (the highest my Gigabyte mobo will support, I believe).

That said, I know JACK about memory timings and I have no interest in overclocking even though I know my system is quite capable of it. What memory would you fine folks recommend and in what configuration? I just want dependability/stability and performance. Should I get 2 x 1024 or should I use all 4 slots and go 4 x 512? What should the timings look like?

Thanks
 
Since you won't be overclocking, I would suggest 2x1024 of value RAM from a reputable manufacturer (OCZ, Gskill, Corsair, etc.). Using all four slots will force you to run your memory at a 2T command rate, which will decrease performance somewhat.

Some people will tell you that command rate is a large factor and others will tell you that it negligible, but all agree that it has some impact on performance.

Latency doesn't have a huge effect on A64s as you can see here.
This is why most people will recommend value RAM for amd processors.

Edit: I believe these would work well.
 
Go with PC3200 if you're not going to overclock. The Corsair Value select PC3200 line (2.5CAS) should work well but you will need 4 x 512MB, and the system will run at DDR333 at 2T. That's okay, because you can bump up the FSB from 200MHz to 208MHz to negate the effect of the RAM running at DDR333/2T. Leave all other settings at default.

If you have $ to burn, the go with 2 x 1024MB PC3200 RAM. The system will run at DDR400 at 1T.
 
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