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Ram heirarchy

I

imported_intercollector

Member
I'm recently looking to build a new system, and the toughest decision seems to be ram.

I'm looking for a A64 system, but the ram choices are difficult, because it's hard to tell what is the most importance of the three:

Size: 512MB or 1024MB? I don't do much for video or graphics editing, just mostly games. But I do like to run stuff in the background during gaming, so I'm leaning towards 1024MB

Bandwidth: 3200 or 3500 or even higher? The A64 will not use anything higher than PC3200, unless I overclock. So if I overclock to a 220 bus, 3500 should do (want to run at simply 1:1 ratio).

Latency: Cas 2.5? 3? 2? This is where ram seems to really jump in price, when you drop down to Cas-2.

My question is, what order would you put these three criteria? Currently, as show above, this is my criteria. But Latency may be more important, and who knows, I may only need 512MB right now, while prices are high, and then when they drop again, and the newest games come out and require 1GB, then I should upgrade. There's lots else to consider too, like brand (OCZ, GEIL, Kingston, Corsair,Mushkin)?

I've found a fairly cheap deal on some GEIL Dragon 2X512MB set (3500, Cas-2), but I'm a little weiry about it as it seems to be too good to be true. I'm just not sure what to get.
 
My main focus would be on the amount of memory and 1024MBs will be fine for what you want to do. Next would be deciding what your main objective is, do you want to OC the system or leave it stock? If you plan on OCing the system then Speed and Cas Latency really run together. Basically lower CL and faster memory would work best I think. If you plan on leaving the system stock then I would recommend using CL3 and PC3200 for stability.

Just my opinion, if anyone has more to offer please do.

BTW: Name brand is important for a couple of reasons. The PC board used by most Major name brands is 6 layer and this reduces noise degrading and they will handle higher freqs when OCing, better quality components. The warranty is alot better then generic modules, no fuss when exchanging and the replacements usually ship quick.
 
Wow, if not overclocking, I thought it would be the opposite. I'd think that you'd want a lower bandwidth (3200) but with as low CAS settings as possible, to get the best performance at that speed.
 
I think more people are using 1GB rather than 512MB these days due to games like Far Cry and the latest Sim City out now and in anticipation of Doom3 and Half-Life2. Prices at Newegg.com for memory are similar (< $10) for 3200 or 3500, so I would go with 3500. The deal with low latency memory is that you can lower the timings to overclock the memory further without harming the performance noticeably. Just pick up some non-ECC, unbuffered sticks of Corsair, Kingston, or Mushkin. This is what I would probably pick right now, however, I don't shop Newegg anymore since they charge me TN sales tax. ::sigh:: Hope this helps.

Edit: I forgot how the A64 platform's performance is affected by the memory timings. The timings do make a bigger performance differece than with an Athlon XP due to the on-die memory controller. That really doesn't change my choice of product though. Peace.
 
I recommend PC3500 CAS2. Every time somebody has posted a problem with an A64 system that I have read, it was PC3200, and usually CAS3. If you don;t OC, it will be really stable at CAS2, and if you to you can probably get (with 2 sticks) 210-215 on PC3500 CAS2 memory. The Athlon64 really seems to like tight timing memory. I tried some OCZ PC4200 EL (that ran fine at rated speed 2.5,4,4,8 in a nforce2) and would only run at 200, 3-6-6-16 in my Athlon64.

And go for the gig
 
I am looking at some OCZ PC3500 DDR433 512MBx2 CAS2.5 REV.1.1 with timings of 2.5-3-3-7. The problem is that I don't know what these mean and how to compare timings with other RAM chips. Could anyone provide some insight?

Thanks.

These are some of the memory modules I have been eyeing for my now Athlon 64 3000+ system.

Kingston 512MB PC-3200 DDR400 SDRAM (KVR400X64C3/512) x 2 = $300
Corsair Value Select 512MB PC-3200 DDR400 SDRAM x 2 = $330
Corsair XMS TWINX1024-3200 2X512MB PC-3200 DDR400 = $360
Corsair XMS TWINX1024-4000 2X512MB PC-4000 DDR500 = $369
OCZ PC3200 DDR400 512MB CAS2 REV.2 (OCZ400512R2) x 2 = $380
OCZ PC3200 DDR400 512MBx2 CAS2.5 (OCZ4001024PDC-K) = $369
OCZ PC3500 DDR433 512MBx2 CAS2.5 REV.1.1 (OCZ4331024PFDC-K) = $367
 
Since you can;t go too high on the OC, get some PC3500 and tight timings(2-3-3-6 or 2-2-2-6). Especially since you are going to be using 2 512 sticks.
 
So what is the point of having tight timings? Would the timings on the OCZ PC3500 (2.5-3-3-7) be good enough?
 
No, First I tried OCZ PC4200 EL ($390 for a gig on newegg last I looked) with 2.5-4-4-8 advertized timings. I let it run in bois under SPD (system defines timings the way it likes) and it used 2.5-6-6-16 !! (and it would only run at 200 mhz). Then I tried forcing it to 2-3-3-6 like my hyperx and it wouldn;t even boot !

You want 2-3-3-6 or better, Kingston, Mushkin or Corsair in that order of preference.
 
Been looking for the HyperX but cannot find it anywhere...I will keep looking, I don't want to have to resort to buying the stuff online, but if I have to I have to. I was looking at some Kingston memory but the timings are like 3-4-4-8.
 
Also I went to the Kingston website and used their RAM configuration utility and selected the motherboard that I plan on buying and it recommended the Kingston RAM that I have listed. The only problem is as I said before the timings are 3-4-4-8.
 
I have been recommended many different types of RAM but I am not able to find any of the better ones. I have been looking but haven't found anything unfortunately all my choices are the ones I have listed above and the OCZ PC3500 DDR433 512MBx2 CAS2.5 REV.1.1 (OCZ4331024PFDC-K) seems to have the closest timings. I am also checking around so see if I can find some Corsair with tight timings but the chance of that is slim.

Also, I was wondering if anyone had any information on how to interpret the number, like a RAM primer or something. To me this is not only a buying decision but also an opportunity to learn a little something hopefully. 🙂

Thanks.
 
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