RAM

[Confusednewbie1552]

What ram should I get? I want 1 GB (2X 512 is also acceptable). I want it to be very fast and I will be overclocking 0-400 mhrz. I willl be getting and AMD Athlon 3200+ (newcastle version). My motherboards might be either the MSI K8n NEO Platinum or the ASUS K8N-E Deluxe.

 

[imported_nitrus]

This is my dream ram. Very overclockable and uses new technology.

ram

 

[Wahsapa]

go with the asus. just search for how many problems people are having with the msi. and nitrus was dead on with the ram

 

[Tostada]

New technology? How is Corsair PC3200 2-2-2 better than the Mushkin PC3200 2-2-2 which has been around for a long time already?

 

[Danzilla]

expensive ram too. Might as well be rambus (pricewise).

 

[Confusednewbie1552]

Is the OCZ that AnandTech keeps recommending better than the corsair?

 

[Confusednewbie1552]

Bump

 

[Confusednewbie1552]

Can anyone help me?

 

[imported_nitrus]

mushkin uses bh6 ram which is now extinct. corsair uses new samsung chips that is rated by samsung for use @ ddr500. when overclocked to ddr500 corsair can run a cas of 2.5, mushkin @ 3.0. im not sure about OCZ but corsair has a really good RMA policy and it cost less due to availability. corsair 300, mushkin 371, ocz 297.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Confusednewbie1552
What ram should I get? I want 1 GB (2X 512 is also acceptable). I want it to be very fast and I will be overclocking 0-400 mhrz. I willl be getting and AMD Athlon 3200+ (newcastle version). My motherboards might be either the MSI K8n NEO Platinum or the ASUS K8N-E Deluxe.

$300 here. Or $120 at Fry's for the PC3200 RAM, this week, after rebate. If you don't increase the CPU bus, but instead just increase the multiplier, the difference in performance should be zero, especially on AMD boxes where memory speed isn't a major factor.

So why spend the extra $180? (Serious question - reviews state memory isn't a significant issue, particularly on AMD XP CPUs. We're talking about an incremental improvement here, aren't we? Benchmarks!)

http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20040119/index-12.html

and

http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20040119/index-07.html
(Note that for a given CPU, performance difference with 'fast' RAM and 'slow' ram is not even 1%. It's about .5% - that's half of one percent. )

http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20040119/index-09.html#application_benchmarks
Here's where we see the biggest difference - for a P4, 20% difference while compressing; for the AMD XP chips, about 4% or so difference. For AMD 64, there is very little difference, typically.

Not something to get excited about. That extra $180 would buy a faster CPU or a faster graphics card, and either of those would be significantly faster. (For example, Radeon 9200SE -> Radeon x800 is a major, measurable jump in speed).

All IMHO, of course, but benchmarks seem to back it up.

 

[Blain]

See...

 

[Chopstick217]

I would stick with either Corsair XMS, Mushkin, OCz or Kingston Hyper X.