Read this before using 4 512 sticks of RAM.

[CheesePoofs]

Originally posted by: Shenkoa

Originally posted by: deadseasquirrel

Originally posted by: Shenkoa
3D Mark03 is an @$$ hat because its more of a measurement of your video card's performance.

.... which is exactly the point. 3d gaming performance depends on your video card's performance a whole lot more than whether your ram is running 1T or 2. Benchmark some actual games and you will see there is extremely little (or even no) performance loss with 2T.

The same cant be said with older games such as quake 3 or UT, where your CPU means the most.

The point is, if you can avoid running at 2T then do so by all means.

except with the older games like Q3 and UT you get so many FPS that the small fps difference from 1T to 2T doesn't matter at all, and is not noticable in the slightest except when benchmarking.

 

[Mr Bob]

Is this issue affecting me? http://s5.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0PN4S7YZ25UDM0HIIO6EZ6NSEZ running the Corsair Valueselect cas 2.5

 

[deadseasquirrel]

Originally posted by: Mr Bob
Is this issue affecting me? http://s5.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0PN4S7YZ25UDM0HIIO6EZ6NSEZ running the Corsair Valueselect cas 2.5

Not sure what you mean by "affecting"....

It's odd that you have so many high-end parts in your system (the X2, raid, 2GB, etc), yet you pair them with a low-end GPU. That's affecting your system more than any 2T memory config would.

But, yes, if you're running 4 x 512MB, your ram is running at 2T. As you can see in this thread and others, the performance loss from doing so is negligible.

 

[Mr Bob]

"It's odd that you have so many high-end parts in your system (the X2, raid, 2GB, etc), yet you pair them with a low-end GPU"
- Not everyone is a gamer. The video card isn't low end, it is in the middle market. Why spend $500 on a video card to play Need for Speed, Doom3, Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, Age of Empires? I see no reason.

"But, yes, if you're running 4 x 512MB, your ram is running at 2T. As you can see in this thread and others, the performance loss from doing so is negligible."
- How do I find this out? I ran CPU-Z and couldn't see anything at all regarding 2T or 1T.

 

[CheesePoofs]

If you're running 4 sticks of ram, you are running at 2T timings, but if you want to double check download A64 Tweaker. It will list every single memory option you ever wanted to see and then some. 2T timings are listed under the "2T timing" field, they are either enabled or disabled.

 

[Mr Bob]

Should I get the one from Short-Media.com ?

One problem I have is that my motherboard doesn't like 4 sticks of 512mb DDR400, it actually runs at DDR333. I already tossed away the packaging for it, but it might have been a better idea to grab 2 1GB sticks instead. I thought that ram was a lot better with 2.5cas, than 3 cas, so that's why I picked the 512 sticks.

 

[CheesePoofs]

The one what from short-media.com?

With 4 sticks on the older cores the memory speed was lowered to DDR333. Just change it back to DDR400 in the bios and you should be all set.

 

[Mr Bob]

You said to get A64Tweaker, I was wondering if it is the one from Short-Media.com

I did a google search, doesn't appear to list a source for the program.

 

[videogames101]

honestly, if you have 2x512 it's just not worth the cost of getting 2x1gig. It is SOOOOO much cheaper to get another 2x512 and see a perfomance GAIN over just 2x512, and have a very small amount of performance less thyen 2x1gig. 100$ vs 200$, hmmmmmm

 

[CheesePoofs]

Originally posted by: Mr Bob
You said to get A64Tweaker, I was wondering if it is the one from Short-Media.com

I did a google search, doesn't appear to list a source for the program.

Ah, I gotcha. Thats the right A64 Tweaker.

 

[Mr Bob]

Getting single 1gb sticks usually only will cost $20-$30 per stick.

Here is a screenshot of A64 Tweaker, it shows that 2T is enabled, nothing about 1T > http://s24.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0YWOT8QACW9W02DOMUU2G8CB7D

 

[CheesePoofs]

You either have 1T or 2T on, not both. Just like you can't have a CAS latency of 2 and 3, it is either 2 or 3.

2T isn't really that bad, the only thing that you should change is yoru memory speed, which is currently 166mhz. Its probably best to do that in the bios though, not in A64 Tweaker.

1gb sticks are more than $20-30 more. The cheapest 2x1gb set on newegg is just around $200, while a 2x512mb kit can be found for about $80. If someone already has 2x512 and is looking to move to 2gb ram, they can probably sell their sticks for ~$50, meaning 1gb will cost them $150. Thats $70 more than just getting another 2x512 sticks.

 

[Mr Bob]

"2T isn't really that bad, the only thing that you should change is yoru memory speed, which is currently 166mhz. Its probably best to do that in the bios though, not in A64 Tweaker."
- According to my MB's website, I can only run up to DDR333 > http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K8N_Neo4_Platinum&class=mb

Any comments on this? I don't want to mess with my memory if the MB can't handle it.

 

[CheesePoofs]

Officially, it probably does not support DDR400 with 4 sticks of ram, but your chip can handle it. Even the older chips with a worse memory controller could handle it. There is nothing that can be damaged by changing the memory speed to DDR400, the worst that will happen will be that your computer becomes unstable and you have to reset the memory speed back to DDR333.