How badly would an A64 be hampered by PC2100 RAM?

[bluemax]

I found someone who has PC2100 1GB sticks for a SUPER price! I sure could use a pair of those because the music software I have planned will use it ALL!

But how badly will an A64 perform with PC2100?
Would an A64 w/ 2100 still be more stable than an AXP @ 166FSB? I don't know if these sticks will overclock at all, let alone to PC2700 speeds!

It's quite a bit cheaper to get two of these sticks than 3x512MB DDR400... I'd like to base a system on that.

 

[KB]

I would say that having more memory is better than having faster memory up to a point. And having stable memory is better than fast memory too. To put it another way it is easier to see the difference when the amount of memory increases as opposed to the increase in the speed of memory.

In the past I found the difference between PC100 and PC133 was not that big so I suspect the difference between DDR266 and DDR400 will not be too significant either. I haven't tested this theory though.

 

[dmw16]

The more RAM the better, but A64s really take advantage of RAM speed since they have an onboard memory controller (at least that was my understanding). If i were you, I'd take the great priced memory and ebay it for a profit (people will buy anything on fleabay). Take the proceeds and get PC3200.

 

[bluemax]

My time is worth something too.... buying something just to ebay it is a pretty lousy option. 😉

Are there any reviews/benchmarks that show the effect of RAM speeds on these processors?

 

[CraigRT]

I don't think you can even run PC2100.

PC2700 might be the minimum... and to run at the correct speed (stock) you need PC3200.

 

[htmlmasterdave]

You can run pretty much any speed of DDR perfectly fine with an Athlon64, afaik even PC1600 is supported.

 

[justinian1978]

I'm running an A64 system on a measly 128MB of PC2100 right now, and it's crawling (mostly because DDR has become extremely scarce in my area). I've had it up to 512MB of PC2100 and saw no difference between that performance and with some PC2700 I had laying around. I personally think that you should upgrade quantity first, then quality in RAM. I think you'll notice a nice boost with the PC2100.

 

[bluemax]

Originally posted by: justinian1978
I'm running an A64 system on a measly 128MB of PC2100 right now, and it's crawling (mostly because DDR has become extremely scarce in my area). I've had it up to 512MB of PC2100 and saw no difference between that performance and with some PC2700 I had laying around. I personally think that you should upgrade quantity first, then quality in RAM. I think you'll notice a nice boost with the PC2100.

Well, Windows is gonna' run fine even on 256MB. I'm talking about TWO GIGS of RAM! 😀 Windows isn't going to get a huge boost, but the music software which can use around 1.5GB will sure benefit!

...so long as the PC2100 RAM speed doesn't drag it down too far. 🙁

If PC2100 is going to kill any benefit of having an A64, I may consider the nForce2+AXP route...... though the A64 looks like money much better spent. The pro-music apps I have in mind are already gearing up for 64-bit processing. One already is!

 

[bluemax]

bump for the evening crowd...

my threads are never popular. 😉 And thazwhy I'll never be "elite". 😛

 

[magomago]

well remember the hit on pc2700 isn't very much for the A64. If the deal is that great why don't you jump on it and try it. If you notice its way to slow later off i'm sure you can pawn it off for just as much as you got it for or perhaps more. I guess trial and error 😉

 

[TerryMathews]

I'm going to go against conventional wisdom and say that the A64 is better off with the slower RAM than say a P4. The lower latency of the onchip memory controller will offset the penalty of the slower RAM.

Now, as to how much the RAM will hamper your system... RAM bandwidth is going to be 33% slower when compared to PC3200 RAM. But if your constantly paging to HD anyway, slow RAM is still going to be a huge improvement, as even PC2100 RAM is several times faster than the fastest RAID 0 array on the planet.

 

[Bateluer]

A64 with PC2100 memory = Hopelessly crippled. Short and simple. 😛

 

[TerryMathews]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
A64 with PC2100 memory = Hopelessly crippled. Short and simple. 😛

No, a system with 512MB of RAM running a program that uses 1.5GB of RAM = Hopelessly crippled.

 

[bluemax]

Originally posted by: TerryMathews

Originally posted by: Bateluer
A64 with PC2100 memory = Hopelessly crippled. Short and simple. 😛

No, a system with 512MB of RAM running a program that uses 1.5GB of RAM = Hopelessly crippled.

Got that right! The more RAM I have, the more intruments I am able to load in. The program will run with 512MB or 1024MB but you can't load ALL the instruments if you do so.
1.0GB to start would be "decent" as it will load pretty much the entire orchestra.
1.5GB would load the orchestra and add piano, harp and pipe organ. 😀
2.0GB would load it all plus have lots of "headroom" for background Windows junk. 😉

IS ECC that big of a deal?

The concensus so far is 60-40 in favour of "slow RAM sucks!" I wish I had something a little more concrete, but no reviewer has even thought of tackling a CPU review with different RAM speeds!
(wink, wink, nudge, nudge, knowhatImean? eh? EH?) 😉


Maybe I could scour FS/T and find 3x512MB of PC2700 on the cheap.

 

[bluemax]

Still no firm data.... 🙁

 

[naruto1988]

i'm going to have to say it will be crippled. go buy yourself a 512 stick of PC3200 RAM.

 

[bluemax]

Originally posted by: naruto1988
i'm going to have to say it will be crippled. go buy yourself a 512 stick of PC3200 RAM.

Maybe you didn't notice I need 2048MB of RAM. 512's will make this difficult...

 

[miketheidiot]

with 2 sticks of 2100 you should be able to get at least 90% of possible perfromance, if not more. It should be comparable to a single channel A64 with a single stick of 3200

 

[otispunkmeyer]

A64 slows down the memory speed when u fill all the slots up anyway

ddr400 will not work if u have all 3 slots full, i think in my asus manual if i put 3 double sided dimms in it says that it will only run at 100Mhz!!! PC1600 so i think goin for 2 gig pc2100 is best bet