Need help picking out good memory

[Minimite11]

Well, i am going to have an FX-55, and probably an ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe:

I need to pick out some memory that is good for me, and i know i want to get a 1GB stick, and not Dual 512MB because i would like to have that second slot open to add another 1GB stick later on in the future. I do a lot of video editing and website design/coding on my computer, and i am also a pretty hardcore gamer. Now, would getting DDR500 benefit me more, even though my motherboard only supports DDR400, i mean, i have heard that would make the Latency faster, but i am not sure what Latency is really. I know it involves the speed, but what exactly about the speed does it imply, and what do all 4 numbers mean? My main question is really, what do i need to look for most in memory? Is Speed most important, or Cas Latency?

Here is some of the memory i have been looking at, the first link being the one i am most likely going to buy:

http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146549
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227209
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220045
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145560
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146969

PS - i do NOT plan on overclocking anything in my computer (hence why i got an FX-55 and A8N-SLI Deluxe, so if some memory is more expensive because it overclocks better, than please let me know, because i do not want to waste my money on something i wont use

 

[xsilver]

if you can afford it i would get the ballistix too
its ddr 500 meaning that you can run memory frequenices of 250mhz (ddr=500) .... which means overclocking.... but what you can do since the fx-55 is multiplier unlocked is lower the multiplier and increase the fsb so you get the same stock speed but then what you have is fully utilized memory

option 2 is get the same memory and run it at only ddr 400 speeds but tighten up the timings from the stock 3-4-4 to 2,2,2, or 2,3,2 depending on if it will hack it

 

[mwmorph]

get
2 sticks of this for less than $200
CENTON 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) System Memory
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820237109

with AMD64s, you will notice almost increase in speed with faster ram.

also, ddr500 ram is for OVERCLOCKING only.
cas latency i more important, but the difference between cas 2 and cas2.5 is a few (less than 4%) of percent max. now since you have 2gb for the same price with this ram, photoshop will be much faster with 2gb.

pc3200 if you decide to oc is still a better choice. just use a memory divider since amd64s can run async well and overclocing tyour memory nets almost 0% gains in performance versus divder

the difference in oerfirmance in memory speed is VERY small. the difference betweeen 266mhz cas 3 and 400mhz cas 2 is only 1-7% max in all real world programs so no use trying to use ddr500.(in real world benchmarks, not sissoft sandra)
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1475190&enterthread=y

edit: i suggested 2 sticks because dual channel will make up for the performance loss from moving from cas 2 to 2.5 and then some.

 

[MobiusPizza]

Agreed. If you don't care about your pocket of course you can get 2GB of DDR500
But what mwmorph said is right. That's probably the best deal.

ALSO Are you sure you want a FX-55? They doesn't worth the money at all. Get a Venice 3800+ you would do extremely well. FX-55 is twice the money for 5% performance increase. Don't throw money away like that.

If you plan to do hardcore o/c then I have nothing to say. Nevertheless Venice would do pretty good overclock although the multiplier is locked

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: AnnihilatorX
Agreed. If you don't care about your pocket of course you can get 2GB of DDR500
But what mwmorph said is right. That's probably the best deal.

ALSO Are you sure you want a FX-55? They doesn't worth the money at all. Get a Venice 3800+ you would do extremely well. FX-55 is twice the money for 5% performance increase. Don't throw money away like that.

If you plan to do hardcore o/c then I have nothing to say. Nevertheless Venice would do pretty good overclock although the multiplier is locked

venice oc is also good. fx55s are good to 3.0~3.1ghz on air, but so are venices. 2.8 vith no vcore change seems like a great deal(for 3500+ venice).

if you need a chip now though, a 4000+ winchester will save you a few hundred bucks and have the same erformance, built on the .9micron process. only drawback is locked multis(free to go down, but locked upwards)