-- Memory question... Frequency vs. CAS --

[Battlewaffle]

Hi guys,

I'm new to the forums. Long time Anandtech reader though. I had a question about a memory situation I'm in. After 4 years, I'm upgrading my whole rig. Now my question to you all is strictly of a CPU/memory situation where I have 2 ways that I can go about this, but I'm not sure which way will yield overall faster gaming FPS/benchmark scores. So I'm hoping some of you can enlighten me.

The 2 scenarios I was looking to go with are listed below:

1) Athlon64 3800+ (Venice 90nm Rev E core) which is locked with a 12x multiplier
2) OCZ PC4000 VX Gold 1gig <--this is the 3.4v memory that runs on the DFI lanparty boards. Supposed to be the fastest mem out at any speed. If I go this route. I will run the chip at 2808mhz which will put the fsb at 234mhz true (234x12=2808). The OCZ memory will run this just fine and still be at 2-2-2-8@3.4v

--- The other scenario is ---

1) Athlon64 3200+ (Venice 90nm Rev E core) which is locked with a 10x multiplier
2) OCZ PC5000 EL DFI nF4 Special 1gig <---this will run at 625mhz (312 true) at 3-4-4-10, and again, I'd be OC'd the Athlon to 2.8ghz and that would put the FSB in this case at 280mhz, which this memory will do easily.

OK....now my question is....the two different Athlons in either case will run at 2.8ghz (the new Venice cores are amazing). And I think the chips are identical (as far is HyperTrans 2gig, 512k, etc.)
But my question is which memory scenario will yield better performance. I can run the VX gold OCZ at 234mhz at 2-2-2-8 or I can run the other memory scenario at 280mhz at 3-4-4-10.

I'm just not sure how much difference 234mhz to 280mhz will make vs. the change in the CAS timings. Is FSB more important or CAS timings? Which do you think will yield the best performance?

Thanks for your time in advance

 

[ecvs85]

Link

 

[imported_Kensai]

Welcome to the AT forums!

 

[Battlewaffle]

Thanks for the link. And thanks for the welcome Good to be here.


That link that you posted....if I understand what he's saying.....he's saying that scenario 1 would be better. The lower CAS (LL) memory, vs a higher bus speed on the memory.

Because I've seen the VX Gold benchmarks I believe here on Anandtech and it mentions it as the fastest memory for any speed. So is anandtech saying the VX is the fastest, but that link is saying it all doesn't matter?

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Battlewaffle
Thanks for the link. And thanks for the welcome Good to be here.


That link that you posted....if I understand what he's saying.....he's saying that scenario 1 would be better. The lower CAS (LL) memory, vs a higher bus speed on the memory.

Because I've seen the VX Gold benchmarks I believe here on Anandtech and it mentions it as the fastest memory for any speed. So is anandtech saying the VX is the fastest, but that link is saying it all doesn't matter?

It matters, but the differences are so small in real-world applications (not the highly memory-sensitive ones they use in the AT memory tests) that you should invest the extra cash elsewhere (for instance, a faster CPU or video card). At least for a S939 Athlon64.