I have an Epox EP-8K7A+ motherboard with a 1.33Ghz Thunderbird. I currently have 256MB DDR PC2100 of memory. I would like to have a total of 1GB of RAM, but there are only two slots for memory. Does anyone know what the best memory i could get (will it take PC2700?) and where is the cheapest place i could buy two 512MB DIMMS?
Need help picking memory...
- Thread starter makor26
- Start date
Having 1gig of Ram will be a waste of money. 256mg is good for most things and 512mg is almost overkill, unless you are running a server and I doubt you are.
Get another 256mg slab and put a Athlon XP cpu in and that will do much better than adding more Ram.
Get another 256mg slab and put a Athlon XP cpu in and that will do much better than adding more Ram.
CaptnKirk
Lifer
- Jul 25, 2002
- 10,053
- 0
- 71
A review of the tech specs for the EP-8K7A+ states that there is a BIOS setting for 100 - 132, and another for 133 - 166. If your board has rhis feature, you will be able to turn it on and enable you system to run the PC2700 DDR RAM. ( 166 X 2 = 333 )
Before you purchase ANY memory, read and understand the article in OCPrices.com about PC2700 memory, it will reveal that there are a lot of counterfit memory systems out there, with Eye-Candy just trying to sucker you in with a marketing ploy. The ONLY memory worth purchasing is Samsing and Crucial. Understand the results.
Most BS memory is getting the factory seconds from Samsung (They don't sell their best to their compeditors) and re-labeling them after covering the Chipset with a copper or aluminum plate called a heatspreader. These tricked up and overclocked turkeys will perform almost as good as the TRUE Samsungs , but at a higher price.
There is a reason that Crucial and Samsung DO NOT put heatspreaders on their own products.
The JEDEC standard, which controls the specification of how silicon DDR memory is made and produced, was written in July of 2000, and there is no such thing as DDR400, DDR533, Etc. the standard is for PC2100 (DDR266) and PC2700 (DDR333). The PC2400 is a made-up marketing gimick, as is PC3000 and PC3200. JEDEC is NOT producing a standard for that, and anything that says it is, is nothing more that overclocked DDR266 or DDR333. Beware of false prophets, they only want your wallet.
You can't get better RAM than the Samsung PC2700 RAM, no matter what the FanBoys think - If they had gotten true quality RAM in the first place, their stuff would run even better than they are bragging about now.
(Don't flame me to protect your egos, read and understand what the facts are - you can even register with JEDEC and read the data yourselves)
Back to your system. Most of the time there is a performance drop when you exceed 768MB of RAM - that does not return to high performance until the RAM total is up to 2048MB. The system actually slows slightly at 1024MB - even though the RAM volume capacity is up. Knowing this - if you put a 512MB in slot #1, and 256MB in slot # 2, your system will be at its peak performance capacity, and playing with the Core and DDR Voltage will deliver your best performance parameters, just don't torch the RAM or CPU.
Best place to buy RAM (Samsung of course) is NewEgg, there may be others, but who do you trust?
Since the Motherboard spec states that this Mobo is a socket A, the biggest bang would be to take the money you saved by getting 768MB instead of 1GB, and buy one of the
XP1600+'s from NewEgg for $ 53 - $ 55. (price is changing almost daily) The 'Green Meanies' - Green ARIOA - Y's are being reported as performing as if they were XP2000+'s or XP2100+'s, and thats without even unlocking them. If the system doesn't explode when you start it, it will at least knock your socks off.
Picard: " Data, whats that out there in CyberSpace ?"
Data: " | / - \ _ / - \ | "
Worf: " Say what ?"
Before you purchase ANY memory, read and understand the article in OCPrices.com about PC2700 memory, it will reveal that there are a lot of counterfit memory systems out there, with Eye-Candy just trying to sucker you in with a marketing ploy. The ONLY memory worth purchasing is Samsing and Crucial. Understand the results.
Most BS memory is getting the factory seconds from Samsung (They don't sell their best to their compeditors) and re-labeling them after covering the Chipset with a copper or aluminum plate called a heatspreader. These tricked up and overclocked turkeys will perform almost as good as the TRUE Samsungs , but at a higher price.
There is a reason that Crucial and Samsung DO NOT put heatspreaders on their own products.
The JEDEC standard, which controls the specification of how silicon DDR memory is made and produced, was written in July of 2000, and there is no such thing as DDR400, DDR533, Etc. the standard is for PC2100 (DDR266) and PC2700 (DDR333). The PC2400 is a made-up marketing gimick, as is PC3000 and PC3200. JEDEC is NOT producing a standard for that, and anything that says it is, is nothing more that overclocked DDR266 or DDR333. Beware of false prophets, they only want your wallet.
You can't get better RAM than the Samsung PC2700 RAM, no matter what the FanBoys think - If they had gotten true quality RAM in the first place, their stuff would run even better than they are bragging about now.
(Don't flame me to protect your egos, read and understand what the facts are - you can even register with JEDEC and read the data yourselves)
Back to your system. Most of the time there is a performance drop when you exceed 768MB of RAM - that does not return to high performance until the RAM total is up to 2048MB. The system actually slows slightly at 1024MB - even though the RAM volume capacity is up. Knowing this - if you put a 512MB in slot #1, and 256MB in slot # 2, your system will be at its peak performance capacity, and playing with the Core and DDR Voltage will deliver your best performance parameters, just don't torch the RAM or CPU.
Best place to buy RAM (Samsung of course) is NewEgg, there may be others, but who do you trust?
Since the Motherboard spec states that this Mobo is a socket A, the biggest bang would be to take the money you saved by getting 768MB instead of 1GB, and buy one of the
XP1600+'s from NewEgg for $ 53 - $ 55. (price is changing almost daily) The 'Green Meanies' - Green ARIOA - Y's are being reported as performing as if they were XP2000+'s or XP2100+'s, and thats without even unlocking them. If the system doesn't explode when you start it, it will at least knock your socks off.
Picard: " Data, whats that out there in CyberSpace ?"
Data: " | / - \ _ / - \ | "
Worf: " Say what ?"
Damn Captn got alot of time on your hands to do research 
About your situation makor I agree with marlin 100% do what he says. Get an XP 2400+ if you can afford it and another stick of 256mb.
About your situation makor I agree with marlin 100% do what he says. Get an XP 2400+ if you can afford it and another stick of 256mb.
768MB of memory is a fine #.
On one system with "only" 512MB - if I do a search, it slows way down about 3/4ths of the way through the search.
Also, in doing a directory compare for files match &/or update, this also slows waaay down with 512MB of memory. Admittedly, this may entail 50-75,000 files or more. It is better to be able to run this in memory as opposed to thrashing on the disk in the paging file.
Just my $.02
On one system with "only" 512MB - if I do a search, it slows way down about 3/4ths of the way through the search.
Also, in doing a directory compare for files match &/or update, this also slows waaay down with 512MB of memory. Admittedly, this may entail 50-75,000 files or more. It is better to be able to run this in memory as opposed to thrashing on the disk in the paging file.
Just my $.02
CaptnKirk
Lifer
- Jul 25, 2002
- 10,053
- 0
- 71
L'Zard,
I sport build performance computers for my relatives and friends, do the research up front to avoid aggravations. There is so much stuff out there, some really great, some questionable, and a lot in between.
My work history dictates deep involvement in the technological aspects of systems and mandatory performance. (Not personal computers by the way, much more sophisticated - things where compromise is catostrophic in nature in a failure senario)
I try to pass knowledge and experience to those who wish to learn. I've learned enough the hard way, and I hope to help others avoid judgment errors.
This is not a knock at you, just want you to know I'm trying to help - Yes, the cheapest way out is another stick of PC2100 RAM,
the DDR266 @ 256MB, which takes Makor to the magic number of 768MB, but if his board will support the 166 feature and let his memory set jump up to the PC2700 ( DDR333 ) thats not only a RAM capacity improvement, but a perfromance gain of 25% in
RAM function. At NewEgg a 512MB stick of PC2700 costs $ 155, and a 256MB stick of PC2700 costs $ 69, thats $ 224. The PC2100 RAM for DDR266 is only about $ 5 less, not cost effective for the increase in performance potential realized if moved up to DDR333. Two sticks of 512 would be $ 310 and the difference from 310 - 224 = 86 more than justifies the purchase price of the XP1600+ @ $ 55, as these CPUs seem to be the hottest deal out there today.
Have fun, play nice.
I sport build performance computers for my relatives and friends, do the research up front to avoid aggravations. There is so much stuff out there, some really great, some questionable, and a lot in between.
My work history dictates deep involvement in the technological aspects of systems and mandatory performance. (Not personal computers by the way, much more sophisticated - things where compromise is catostrophic in nature in a failure senario)
I try to pass knowledge and experience to those who wish to learn. I've learned enough the hard way, and I hope to help others avoid judgment errors.
This is not a knock at you, just want you to know I'm trying to help - Yes, the cheapest way out is another stick of PC2100 RAM,
the DDR266 @ 256MB, which takes Makor to the magic number of 768MB, but if his board will support the 166 feature and let his memory set jump up to the PC2700 ( DDR333 ) thats not only a RAM capacity improvement, but a perfromance gain of 25% in
RAM function. At NewEgg a 512MB stick of PC2700 costs $ 155, and a 256MB stick of PC2700 costs $ 69, thats $ 224. The PC2100 RAM for DDR266 is only about $ 5 less, not cost effective for the increase in performance potential realized if moved up to DDR333. Two sticks of 512 would be $ 310 and the difference from 310 - 224 = 86 more than justifies the purchase price of the XP1600+ @ $ 55, as these CPUs seem to be the hottest deal out there today.
Have fun, play nice.
Can you provide some references for this. I am very curious about it, since I have always been of the opinion that my money would be best put into additional RAM. I was seriously considering 1GB with 2 512MB sticks at DDR333.
sorry but that's wrong to a certain level
I'm a graphic designer and I deal with huge files in photoshop...512mb is not even close to being enough for me. People doing CAD/print design/3D can back me up!
Originally posted by: vm
sorry but that's wrong to a certain level
I'm a graphic designer and I deal with huge files in photoshop...512mb is not even close to being enough for me. People doing CAD/print design/3D can back me up!
I agree, but for most gamers and at home users, anything over 512 is overkill. I only have a Gig as it is a Dual Cpu system, and I do VB and other programs that can take advantage of Dual CPU's and lots of ram(like what you do
)And if you have Windows 9X (95,98,or ME) then anything over 512 will cause problems unless you change a line of code.
If you have Win NT (NT, 2000, or XP) then I think the limit is either 4 gig , or maybe no linit.
But for MOST users 256mg is good for now, 512 is more than enough now and might carry you later if you keep your computer for a while.
Unless you are like VM, then....
1 GIG IS NOT ENOUGH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVER !!!!!!!
CaptnKirk
Lifer
- Jul 25, 2002
- 10,053
- 0
- 71
Crucial used to have a memory analysis chart on their memory evaluation website that showed how performance increased until 768 was reached, then retreated slightly, and the performance did not increase until 2048 was reached. This was a SPEED performance, not a VOLUME capacity. I could not locate it the last time I looked.
My ABIT is advertised as a 4GB with 4 slots to accept 1GB each, but that would waste the 4th bank, as it can only actually support 3.5GB. I have recently converted from 768MB PC2100 Crucial to 512MB PC2700 Samsung, and internet downloads are slightly slower, could be a result of the less memory volume. I am going to build volume back up by adding 512MB at a time, and see if the 4th bank can run without ALL the memory being E.C.C. Registered. Nobody has been able to tell me if it would, but if you mix the buffered and unbuffered, it will run as E.C.C. not supported. Comments anyone?
My system can perform as a server if I need to.
My ABIT is advertised as a 4GB with 4 slots to accept 1GB each, but that would waste the 4th bank, as it can only actually support 3.5GB. I have recently converted from 768MB PC2100 Crucial to 512MB PC2700 Samsung, and internet downloads are slightly slower, could be a result of the less memory volume. I am going to build volume back up by adding 512MB at a time, and see if the 4th bank can run without ALL the memory being E.C.C. Registered. Nobody has been able to tell me if it would, but if you mix the buffered and unbuffered, it will run as E.C.C. not supported. Comments anyone?
My system can perform as a server if I need to.
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