Need DDR advice: 2x512 for nforce2 box eventually moving to A64 box.

[bupkus]

I don't know the difference in memory needs between the nforce 2 chipset and the chipsets for the Athlon 64.
I can't predict which A64 I will end up with in a month or probably longer.
Please advise.
Thanks.

Edit: So far I've set a price limit of about $200.

 

[ts3433]

Just get 2x512 value PC3200 from Corsair or Mushkin--you'll want this for your Barton running at 200 FSB anyway. If you plan to do heavy overclocking on your A64 and want to run 1:1, look for some cheap stuff using TCCD chips (Patriot CL2 PC3200 and G.skill PC4400 come to mind, but you'd have to spend a bit more). Running a divider on the A64 probably would be OK, though.

 

[bupkus]

I need to learn what a "divider" is all about.

 

[ts3433]

A "divider" is when you overclock your CPU, but run your RAM at a different ratio to the FSB/HTT speed than the normal 1:1. This comes into play when your RAM can't handle the overclock you're trying to get. For example: if you overclock the FSB to 264 MHz, but your RAM can only handle 220 (Corsair Value is often good up to this speed), you can run a 5:6 divider. I've heard running 1:1 on an A64 isn't so important as on other platforms, so you probably don't need to get excessively worried if you can't afford that kind of RAM.

You can find more information like this in the overclocking guide in the CPU/OC forum.

 

[bupkus]

Thanks for the info. Last Black Friday I bought a pair of sticks of Corsair Value from Fry's and I kept getting errors on my pc. I returned for a trade and those did the same. My guess is it's not my pc but Fry's recycling bad memory over and over. I was thinking of some Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2PT for about $200 or Patriot PDC1G3200LLK for a little less.

OCZ4331024PFDC-K is a little more for PC3500 but what's the point if the A64 sets me from from expensive memory? Do most A64 mobos provide this divider feature or is it cpu based?