Nforce2 Ultra - Dual PC2100 Benchmarks?

[nemiAMD]

Good-Day Everyone!

I'm looking at a performance boost for my current system and I am trying to find out
1) If Nforce 2 Ultra boards support PC2100 (266Mhz) DDR Ram
2) If there are any benchmarks of their performance vs. Single Channel PC2100 and Single / Dual Channel PC3200 ?

I'm asking because I have an AMD XP-M processor (in desktop packaging) Running at 2.133 Ghz at 266Mhz FSB on a Via KT266A MB with 2 x 256Mb sticks of PC2100.

I recently got a GeForce 6800 AGP card and finding the CPU/Memory/FSB a bottle neck, so I'm looking at the Nforce2 MB's for approx. $60 and considering them as a cheap performance boost. I know the XP-M CPU I have is a Barton core and should work very well at 400Mhz FSB, and since I have two 256Mb sticks of PC2100 I could run them dual channel to keep the 400Mhz FBS satisfied...

...any thoughts?

 

[ts3433]

PC2100 will work on an NF2 mobo.

There's a misunderstanding here, though. Firstly, dual channel doesn't really do anything for performance on the AXP unless you use NF2 IGP onboard video. Secondly, it doesn't effectively double the speed of your RAM at all. You need PC3200 to run synchronously with a 200MHz FSB. (Since you're gaming, I'd get more RAM anyway--2x512MB is about standard now.) Value RAM from Corsair/Crucial/Mushkin is fine.

 

[nemiAMD]

Originally posted by: ts3433
PC2100 will work on an NF2 mobo.

There's a misunderstanding here, though. Firstly, dual channel doesn't really do anything for performance on the AXP unless you use NF2 IGP onboard video. Secondly, it doesn't effectively double the speed of your RAM at all. You need PC3200 to run synchronously with a 200MHz FSB. (Since you're gaming, I'd get more RAM anyway--2x512MB is about standard now.) Value RAM from Corsair/Crucial/Mushkin is fine.

Umm... the Nforce-2-ultra-400-gb has dual channel ram support and NO inbuilt graphics...
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuch...ts/showdoc.aspx?i=2051

So can anyoen with that style MB set thier ram to PC2100 speeds , with dual channel ON anddo a Sisoft-sandra benchmark test?

 

[ts3433]

Originally posted by: nemiAMD
Umm... the Nforce-2-ultra-400-gb has dual channel ram support and NO inbuilt graphics...
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuch...ts/showdoc.aspx?i=2051

So can anyoen with that style MB set thier ram to PC2100 speeds , with dual channel ON anddo a Sisoft-sandra benchmark test?

I know that. I was simply saying that dual channel doesn't do anything for you unless you are using that particular integrated graphics solution. The AXP's 64-bit FSB can't utilize a 128-bit data stream. With the NF2 IGP, the extra bandwidth is actually put to use because it goes to the GPU.

By the way, a Sandra benchmark is not going to be very accurate at all. For an example of this, check Zebo's A64 memory tests and observe how it overstates the gains of fast memory.

 

[Relaxin]

I'm running a Gigabyte GA-7n400 Pro2 Rev2 with an XP 1800 and 2x 256MB 2100's right now. I'm seriously crippling this mobo with the slow parts but that's my budget. Still in the middle of installing WinXP and tuning, etc. Just replaced a Gigabyte GA-7VAX (KT-400) with leaky caps and trying to slowly upg. everything else (GFMX420 vid, too.) Haven't experienced any probs . . . yet.

You're gonna need RAM that rides the same bus speed as your processor so slower RAM in dual channel with a faster bus processor isn't gonna work unless the RAM will overclock like crazy.

There will be a small performance increase going from single channel 2100 to dual channel 2100 but it's almost negligable. Objectively I would say that my system seems to be a hair bit snappier all around but still not by much.

 

[imported_fatal]

Usung dual chanel memory will increase peformance but the increase is very small and unnoticable. You DO NOT need integrated graphics to use it, just 2 sticks of compatible memory