Memory - please give me a few guidelines..

[Dave Richardson]

Hi,

I'm speccing out a system for my eldest lad (his money!).

I am probably going with an MSI P965 Platinum Motherboard. Intel Core Duo 6600 too.
No SLI required. Probably going with a 32 bit OS (XP Pro). Games of primary concern.

He is currently using a system based I built for him a few years ago from spare bits - Athlon 1100 and about 256MB RAM in a gigabyte GA-zxr (if memory serves correct) mobo. Any advice about tweaking a few extra percentage points of performance from modern equipment should be filtered through the reality check of the somewhat ancient system he is moving up from and the benefits he will see with even low spec mediocre modern kit.

Can some kind people please review my assumptions about memory so that I do not give my son misleading advice.

I am not interested in overclocking - I believe that overclocking causes more heat and more heat leads to instability and premature component failure. I believe in buying good quality kit that has the potential to be pushed a bit in the overclocking world - but only because I suspect it gives stability and reliabilty at stock settings. Kind of underclocking really I guess.

So, with memory given that there is not an unlimited budget....

Aiming at 800 MHz memory. Aimimg at a matched pair of 1GB each to give 2GB total.

Is it better to go for more memory at lower speed

Is it better to go for cheaper high speed memory or more expensive low speed memory

Is memory advertised as a "pair" always matched.

What price point do we get into memory where all units are factory checked rather than just a few from a batch.

Are some manufacturers inherently bad and some good. If so which?
Last time I looked athis Micron were gods.

I'm in the UK so availability might be an issue. Is Ballistix stuff well rated amongst those that know?

Is memory packed full of little flashy leds just gimmicky or do they serve a purpose. The case will not be a fashion statement with transparent sides?

If I have a choice what voltage should I go for and why - I see advertised at 1.9v and some about 10% higher.

Looking at memory timings is 3-3-3-12 run of the mill, good or poor? Whats the worst spec I should seriously look at.

Are memory prices currently stable rising or falling?


I am primarily interested in real world perception of speed rather tha somewhat artificial speed benchmarks.

I have deliberately not asked for "The best" memory since that is an impossible question to answer - ther is a lot of great stuff out there. I just want to avoid the worst!

Thanks to anyone taking the time to address any of these points - I greatly appreciate your time and opinions.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

That's a lot of questions. I would start by reading some of the latest Anandtech reviews of DDR2 memory and Core2Duo motherboards.

You're going to need DDR2 memory. Timings for DDR2 800 are going to be something like: 4-4-4-12 or 5-5-5-12 and it can be expensive.

I would take a look at Kingston, G.Skill, and Corsair kits as a place to start. I would also consider using something like DDR2 667 or DDR2 533 to save some money.