Memory Questions

[eljaye925]

Hi,

I'm putting together a computer, my first, which is going to be on a 845PE board. The 845PE supports PC2700(333).

Is it better to use 1 stick of 512mb or 2 of 256mb?

Is there any reason to spend a little more for PC3200?

Is the Corsair CMX512-2700C2 the best memory I can get and more importantly is it neccessary to have the best ram?

Thanks

LJ

 

[Lord Evermore]

If you're not overclocking, then getting a good brand of memory is fine, you don't need to pay the quadruple prices for Corsair. Crucial or Kingston memory are both good brands. Crucial can be set to slightly faster timings to get a slight performance increase (so can Kingston I'm sure, but I use Crucial myself), but if you can get something that's only slightly more expensive that's rated for faster timings, then you can get that and set even better timings; just don't go paying more than 10 to 15% more, because you're not going to get that much performance increase from faster timings.

Getting PC3200 memory won't be worth it without overclocking, since the memory will only be running at 333MHz; at best you can set the most agressive timings possible at 333MHz, but the price increase isn't worth the performance increase. I'd say find some PC2700 that's a good price and if you can find PC3200 that isn't very much more and has the same timings (2.5-3-3 is what you should be looking for) then get the PC3200 and set the most aggressive timings at 333MHz.

There's no performance difference between two 256MB modules and one 512MB module, but with a 512MB module you leave a more open upgrade path for later (though you most likely will never ever run into a need to have more than 512MB installed, and could still put another 512MB module in with two 256MB modules, and when are you likely to need more than 1GB of memory?); go with whatever gives you the best price for the total memory count (don't forget shipping charges).

 

[Kingofcomputer]

Better to buy 1 stick of 512MB PC3200.
If your motherboard's bios allow to set memory timing, you can run PC3200 at PC2700 cas2.
Kingston Valueram PC3200 is a good buy, cheap.

 

[Ilmater]

Samsung (ONLY true Samsung chips on a true Samsung PCB)
Corsair XMS
Mushkin
Crucial
Kingston
TwinMos
Geil (fairly new and not completely proven, but I've had great luck with them)
OCZ (used to have some problems, but seem to have completely redeemed themselves)

In order, those are my picks from best to worst RAM. The Samsung is sometimes hard to be completely sure of, so I usually get Corsair (NOT the ValueRAM). While OCZ is last, they could quickly move to first as long as I continue to hear nothing but good things about them. Their prices are good, and as long as the quality is consistent (and so far, as long as they've been under new ownership, it has) they'll become the RAM of choice. From Samsung to Kingston, though, you really cannot go wrong. All are really good quality.

The only reason to buy PC3200 RAM (though not a bad reason) is so that you are pretty much assured of running at PC2700 with the most aggressive timings. However, most of these (most definitely the Samsung, Corsair XMS, and Mushkin) will be able to run at PC2700 with the most aggressive timings, especially if you're willing to raise the DRAM voltage a little. The other reason to either buy high-quality PC2700 or PC3200 is that running it at PC2700 with the most aggressive timings won't stress the RAM as much. If the stick is stressed and runs hot, it could lead to possible instabilities and a shorter life of the stick.

I would recommend buying two sticks if you don't mind the extra cost. If you get any board with dual-channel DDR in the future, you'll need two identical sticks to take advantage of it. I also agree with Lord Evermore in that you'll never need 512MB of RAM unless you do a lot of video encoding or CAD work.

Edit: Let me rephrase my first sentence. Those aren't my picks from best to worst, they're my pick from best to worst of brands I would actually buy from. I don't think there is any other brand I'd consider buying. Don't buy generic as you could get burned. I don't mean to say that Geil or OCZ are the worst sticks of RAM out there, they're just not at the top of my list as the RAM that I'd buy.

 

[eljaye925]

Thanks for the responses.

I was about to spend $160 for a 512 stick of XMS Corsair. I think I'll check prices on some of these other brands mentioned.

I'm still up in the air about 1 stick vs 2 stick. I'll never need more than 512.

Ilmater, with this comment are you saying that if I get a new board down the road that supports dual-channel DDR, I could use this memory? I thought dual-channel was a specific type of ram that requires a specific board/chipset?

"I would recommend buying two sticks if you don't mind the extra cost. If you get any board with dual-channel DDR in the future, you'll need two identical sticks to take advantage of it. "

Thanks

LJ

 

[Smilin]

The deciding factors in one stick or two:

2 sticks can sometimes be cheaper than a single of double size.
2 sticks are essential if you have a motherboard that supports dual-channel memory (I don't believe yours does)
1 stick is better for overclocking - fewer parts to fail basically.
1 stick is better if you are concerned about upgrading and running out of slots (which you stated your are not).

There. My $0.02 for what it's worth.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Ah, but two sticks are better in the event of failure, since you only then have to pay to replace one (assuming that you can't get it RMA'd), or you don't have any downtime while waiting for the replacement to arrive (which is why Crucial is great, less than one day for shipping). Of course, more chips/modules means a greater chance of any one part failing.

As for dual channel, the memory used is the exact same DDR memory used in single-channel. Pentium4 dual-channel controllers access the memory at the same time, as if it were a single 128bit wide data path (SDRAM is 64bit wide; the same thing is done with RDRAM dual-channel controllers, but RDRAM is 16bit wide). nForce dual-channel is a little different, it accesses the memory using two memory controllers so that one controller is reading or writing from memory, while the other is preparing for the next memory operation; this helps to reduce latencies since the next operation is ready to go instead of having to wait for the memory controller to prepare it.