Ram, Ram timing, and overclocking

[INGlewood78]

If you don't plan to overclock ur rig...is there any advatage in getting faster rated ram. For example..lets say i have a 333mhz system bus board (i.e. via kt333). I have a choice between ddr2700 or ddr3500...both CAS2. If there any advantage for me to get the ddr3500 if i dont plan to overclock??? And what role does ram timing have in all of this? Thanks in advance

 

[BG4533]

If comparing 2 modules of the same type both ran at PC2700 then you should see no difference. There is often a difference in speed between cheap RAM and high quality stuff, even at the same speeds. Faster RAM will give you more room to upgrade later on if you purchase another board that will run at PC3500 speeds. You may also be able to get lower timings out of the faster RAM. The RAM may be CAS 3 at PC3500, but CAS 2 at PC2700. The timings are basically how many cycles it takes for things to happen in memory. Lower is better. If there isnt a big price difference, then picking up faster memory is probably a wise choice.

Brian

 

[TheCorm]

I have a KT333....I was under the impression that it only officially supports 133mhz (266) FSB and PC2700...

Via's KT series tend to have the model number based on what speed memory it supports rather than the FSB...ie KT333 = 333mhz memory or PC2700, KT133 = 133mhz memory or PC133.

Jamie

 

[INGlewood78]

So basically get the same speed ram as my bus (i.e. kt333 = ddr2700) but make sure the cas lat is low and the timings are low....?

 

[TheCorm]

that would be fine....PC2700 was more expensive than PC2100 by a fair bit when I got my KT333 board so I just settled for PC2700 but nowadays there is either minimum difference or PC2700 is cheaper.

 

[BG4533]

When you purchase PC2700 or any other memory for that matter, it should say CAS or CL 2 or 2.5 or 3. Try to purchase something that says 2. I would look around the forums here to see how the specific memory you are looking at does for other members. Personally I have one stick of Crucial PC2700 Cl2.5 and one stick of OCZ PC3000 (2.5 I think). The crucial will run all of the most aggressive settings if you up its voltage from 2.5v to 2.6-7v. At stock voltage, it will run cl2 with out a problem. The OCZ PC3000 on the otherhand cannot come near the performance of the Crucial. (This is old OCZ bought about 1 year ago, I dont know about the new stuff).