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RAM for new high-end system

Z

Zogglet

Junior Member
I'm building a new system this summer primarily for gaming and 3d rendering/animation. These are the main components I've picked out.

Enermax (CS3171LB3A)
Abit AV8-3rd EYE
eVGA nVIDIA GeForce 6800GT 256MB
AMD Athlon 64 FX-55
Maxtor Ultra16 250GB

I'm stuck on what kind of RAM to get. I know that I want 1GB though. I've heard that Corsair is a popular brand, but do you guys have any suggestions?
 
With the gear you've listing that you're going to get. Do you think if you get better ram than the corsair you're going to get 1 more FPS?

I don't know. You might!
 
By this summer you'll have lots of new CPU choices to think about, and memory choices may or may not benefit from different things once dual core is out.

EDIT: oh, and before you buy an FX-55, check this article out unless you have money to burn.
 
Ram is severely overrated on this forum.

Going from the absolute best $250 a stick modules to the $35 after rebate stuff is literally about 4% difference in real performance.
 
Originally posted by: Acanthus
Ram is severely overrated on this forum.

Going from the absolute best $250 a stick modules to the $35 after rebate stuff is literally about 4% difference in real performance.
Click to expand...

True, but when 1GB of 2-3-2 RAM is only $15 more than quality 2.5-3-3, it is a much better deal. Just last week, the Geil and Patriot RAM was under $120 (they probably still are, too lazy to check). For only $15 more, why not. When I built my PC, my mushkin was $135 and the Geil was over $170! That was only 2 months ago.

Also, the FX-55 is kinda overrated. It is definately the performance leader, but not by too much. You may want to wait a week or so and pick up a venice chip (3200+) and OC it to 2.6GHZ. It will be a bit faster than an FX-55 due to the higher FSB and SSE3 support. Obviously you could OC the FX-55 further, but at a much steeper price...
 
With 3D rendering, I would say that a good low latency RAM (2-2-2-5) would defineatly speed up your rendering times.

The memory latencies are a small boost in overall performance, but when you're rendering something, there are a ton of memory operations going on at once. Rendering will agregate those small performance gains into quite considerable differences.
 
By this summer you'll have lots of new CPU choices to think about, and memory choices may or may not benefit from different things once dual core is out.
EDIT: oh, and before you buy an FX-55, check this article out unless you have money to burn.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I figured that by this summer the FX-55 will have gotten a lot cheaper; that's basically why I plan on getting it.
 
With 3D rendering, I would say that a good low latency RAM (2-2-2-5) would defineatly speed up your rendering times.
Click to expand...
Thanks for confirming that. I read that that is a good latency for what I'm going to do. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: SrGuapo
Originally posted by: Acanthus
Ram is severely overrated on this forum.

Going from the absolute best $250 a stick modules to the $35 after rebate stuff is literally about 4% difference in real performance.
Click to expand...

True, but when 1GB of 2-3-2 RAM is only $15 more than quality 2.5-3-3, it is a much better deal. Just last week, the Geil and Patriot RAM was under $120 (they probably still are, too lazy to check). For only $15 more, why not. When I built my PC, my mushkin was $135 and the Geil was over $170! That was only 2 months ago.

Also, the FX-55 is kinda overrated. It is definately the performance leader, but not by too much. You may want to wait a week or so and pick up a venice chip (3200+) and OC it to 2.6GHZ. It will be a bit faster than an FX-55 due to the higher FSB and SSE3 support. Obviously you could OC the FX-55 further, but at a much steeper price...
Click to expand...


Patriot 512MB modules are under $40...
 
Originally posted by: V00D00
With 3D rendering, I would say that a good low latency RAM (2-2-2-5) would defineatly speed up your rendering times.

The memory latencies are a small boost in overall performance, but when you're rendering something, there are a ton of memory operations going on at once. Rendering will agregate those small performance gains into quite considerable differences.
Click to expand...


Link? I have never seen memory timings over PC3200 make any difference more than 6% in rendering.

You have to ask yourself, is a 450% price markup REALLY worth 5% more speed?
 
Originally posted by: Zogglet
RAM for new high-end system
What's the best choice?
Click to expand...
The topic didn't ask what was the "best choice" for a "value system". 😛

It was, what's the "best choice" for memory, being used in a "high-end system".


 
Originally posted by: Blain
Originally posted by: Zogglet
RAM for new high-end system
What's the best choice?
Click to expand...
The topic didn't ask what was the "best choice" for a "value system". 😛

It was, what's the "best choice" for memory, being used in a "high-end system".
Click to expand...


And i would say since timings dont matter, MORE MEMORY would be far more valuable than TIGHT TIMINGS.

Especially for rendering...
 
I would go with Corsair XMS. That's what I have in my system and I haven't had any problems. I think one of the bigger differences between cheap RAM and higher performance more expensive RAM isn't the performance difference but the reliability. More expensive RAM is normally more reliable. Case in point. A couple weeks ago I built a computer for my parents. I got them some inexpensive OCZ (supposed to be good right?) RAM. The system would randomly reboot during startup. This weekend I ran Memtest for 7+ hours and had more than 84,000 errors in that time. I'm now exchanging it for some Corsair or Crucial.
 
Can I ask you guys a question?

I've decided to get the Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe, and I was going to go w/ Corsair Value Select (2x512), but now I'm not so sure if that's such a good choice. Any recommendation?

My spec (or will be):
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe,
3500+ or 3500/3800 (Venice)
X850 XT
2 x Raptor WD740GD.

Thanks

j.
 
Since you're getting an FX-55, I say you should waste some more money and buy some Corsair Xperts (the $350 pair with TCCD chips).
 
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