Ram question as well

[OCedHrt]

I really am confusing myself with what ram to buy I found 512x2 PC3200 CL2.0 2-2-3-6 house brand ram for $219 and have had some responses from people saying that these run as claimed. Then, there's Buffalo PC3200 Winbond CH-5 CL2.5 for $104 each at newegg. And TwinMOS PC3200 Winbond (CH-5 I presume since CL2.5 as well) for $99. Then there's the Kingston 512 PC3200 for $69 AR I currently have a Kingston PC2700 Winbond BH-6 doing PC3200 at 2-3-3-6 2T at 2.7v prime stable (2.6 is not prime stable ><) I tried looking for some KingMAX PC3200 CL2.5 TinyBGA modules but couldn't find anything except at a store in Canada that doesn't even do online orders (though they have an online catalog). The funny thing is, only 2 out of the 6 or so resellers listed on KingMAX's site even sell KingMAX products. Anyways, what do you guys think I should do? Buy the Kingston PC3200 and plug it in with my PC2700 and hope they'll both run at PC3200 at CL2.5? I planning on building a low-end system at the end of this year from mainly spare parts and so if I do get 2 sticks of 512 I will be using my current ram as the spare. But my immediate goal is to get 1 GB into this sytem because this game I'm playing is lagging from ram->page swapping ><. Someone please help me! I've been at this for 5 hours straight and my head is gonna explode!

 

[jhurst]

The two sticks you mentioned will not run in dual channel....if thats what you were planning on doing. I would definitely go dual channel though, ALOT quicker than standard.

Next, you will get a major performance boost going with PC3200 as opposed to PC2700.......it will cost you more, especially with ram prices these days.

I found this link ZipZoomFly Kingston PC2700 512mb CAS2.5 which i think is the RAM that you currently have.....a much cheaper solution, although you wont get as good of performance compared to PC3200

Bad time to buy RAM....prices are really up right now (I paid $215 for 1GB [2x512] of Kingston HyperX PC4000 a few weeks ago)

 

[OCedHrt]

It won't be dual channel since i have a KT600. But I want 1 GB lol. I can get the PC2700 from Kingston for cheap AR as well, but it would be different from mine since I've had mine for a while and it is Winbond BH-6 which easily breaks 400 mhz. At zipzoomfly its actually $92 for the 512..thats not much cheaper considering its at most $219 for 512x2. Oh, and the 2600+ is at default speed but different multi/fsb obviously so I can get 200x10 in-sync with the ram. But what are the chances that the PC3200 Kingston value ram combined with my super PC2700 lol have at running both at PC3200? The 200+ for the CL2 timings seem a bit expensive for me when I can get 2 CL3 ones for < $140..

 

[jhurst]

I would imagine that would work. I have run PC4000 (CL3-8-4-4) and PC3200 (CL2-6-3-3)in my system at the same time. I just had to run them both at the CL3 timings.

 

[maluckey]

Have you considered the KHX2700/512? It's mostly all BH-5, which is as fast/faster timed than BH-6, and far better matched than the CH-5 chipped youar are considering. Just make sure that the KHX2700/512 is 2.5v 2-2-2-5-2 and 1T if you want the BH-5 chipped stuff.

Most all of the KHX3000/512 is also BH-5, and it is a bit cheaper than the KHX2700/512 modules out there.

 

[OCedHrt]

Hmm..but where would I be able to confirm that they are indeed BH-5? This would not be possible ordering from Kingston's website..all the ones listed there are actually all CL2.5 hmmm..and if I go down to the store (only one close enough would be officemax) it would be probably $100 a stick since there doesn't seem to be a deal there atm.

 

[maluckey]

I see your point. You want guarantees. With these, there is no absolute guarantee. Kingston does not tell you up front which is which. All they do is guarantee the settings at the rated speed.

I was lucky twice, with my KHX2700/512 and got DW-50 (which is relabeled BH-5). I paid 30 dollars more than the KHX3000/512, but I figured at the worst, the odds were that out of four attempts, three would be BH-5, and the remaining non-BH-5 could be sold off at Value-Ram prices to cut my losses. It didn't come to that, so I was lucky.

Corsair still has some that is guaranteed to be BH-5 $$$$. You will likely die of sticker shock though. That's why I say to try the Kingston if you don't mind playing the odds to save big bucks.