I've been reading and trying to understand the issues involved in making a memory selection. I've learned that much depends on the motherboard and processor you buy and your intentions regarding overclocking. I've also learned that the fastest memory and the fastest timings command the largest price. That along with several other issues have kept my choice up in the air. One is the matter of single and double sided and the number of banks. For example alot of people are recommending Kingston HX (I think). My understanding, and I'm not exactly sure I've understood what I've read right, is that it is single sided and performs best in four banks. I'm talking dual channel 800 matched pairs here. Double sided Ram is faster and fastest of all also in two pairs. Is this correct, and if so do you know what % the difference is? Also to get fast 222 timings at 800 you pay more. How much faster is 2 compared to 2.5 or 3 in percent, do you know? Until I can get more info on the 215 dollar Athlon 64 that's just coming out, I have decided on the also just released asus sis 655t or something or other board. Anandtech just reviewed that and the price is a reasonable hundred bucks. I wanted to get a P4 2.6 for that and go for and overclock to 3. I think I need FSB of 466 to do that if I've got this all correct. How is 466 at 2 compared to 3 percent wise if you might know? The system is for a family member and price is a factor. Top notch stuff looks th be maybe 283 to 350 and 400 a gig. That is a bit expensive. The 283 was for a brand on the Christmas wish list on the Home page.
I would appreciate it if somebody could break down the % speed gains and losses vs costs in buying Ram of these various kinds. I'm trying to get as big a kick up from a 1900 266 Soyo system as I can without breaking a bank or making the upgrade not worthwhile. The person is already worried that 1900 Athlon to 2.6 Intel isn't a big enough jump. That's why I thought I'd go for 3.
Thanks for any advise. I hope the parameters are reasonably clear. Spending less for a decent bump without sacrificing too too much, especially in terms of percent.
I would appreciate it if somebody could break down the % speed gains and losses vs costs in buying Ram of these various kinds. I'm trying to get as big a kick up from a 1900 266 Soyo system as I can without breaking a bank or making the upgrade not worthwhile. The person is already worried that 1900 Athlon to 2.6 Intel isn't a big enough jump. That's why I thought I'd go for 3.
Thanks for any advise. I hope the parameters are reasonably clear. Spending less for a decent bump without sacrificing too too much, especially in terms of percent.
Ok.....I'm gonna give this a shot. It looks like you're looking for the best "bang for the buck" solution for this family member. Now, my first question is this......what is this system going to be used for? Will it be a general purpose system? A gaming system? Video editing? Another question....the 1900 266 Soyo system that you are talking about.....is it a 1900+(1.6ghz) or 1900 mhz? If it's a 1900+(1.6ghz), I'd say the P4 2.6 would be a nice upgrade, especially once you overclock it some. As far as memory goes, you are probably right about getting the best performance out of using all four dimm slots. The question is, how much is this really going to weigh on your system? If you get 2 512 sticks of ram rather than 4 sticks or 2 512 sticks rather than 4 256 sticks, is this going to be a big problem? There WILL be a performance difference but to a normal user who doesn't expect bleeding edge memory timings and squeezing every last frame out of a game......I don't think your family member will be dissatisfied at all. That is the same with the ram timings as well. Yes, it would be nice to have the lowest and fastest timings but unless the person is an extremist......chances are the 2.5 cas latency ram will do just as fine of a job. I can't give you a performance percent on the different cas latencies of ram in a system as I really don't know. I do know that there will be a difference but the performance difference could very possibly be negated depending on how much more the ram costs. As far as ram goes, I think you would be able to do quite well with the PC3700(233 fsb) That should equal up to what you need as the P4 "C" chips use an 800mhz fsb(200x4) so raising them to 233x4 should be in spec with PC3700. If you want to go higher, you could probably spring for some PC4000 or maybe even higher but that stuff will be QUITE expensive. If all you're going for is 3ghz, the PC3700 should be right in line with what you need. If you're gonna try to go higher than that, you might still be able to use the PC3700 but the overclocking of ram is like anything else.....you might hit it and you might not. Of course, this is if you use a 1:1 timing on your system. If you use 5:4 then you might be able to use a lower ram like PC3200(ddr 200) but I think your best and fastest will be the 1:1 ratio. I very well may get flamed over this as I'm not nearly as knowledgeable as I should be on these subjects as I know more about the AMD side since that's what I have. Good luck and keep us posted on what you decide. 
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