returning to the madness

[Gtroop]

wow, feel like such the n00b. Used to read AT and THG several times a day. Now I haven't read a thing on comps x 3 years...and now I'm trying to upgrade. Somebody shoot me.

Need quick clarification:
1) socket 745 - No dual channel support, right?

2) All Athlon 64's on socket 939 support dual-channel?

3) How do you know which speed memory to buy for a processor? All I see now on the specs sheets on buy sites are "HT 1600" and such. Does this mean that for 939/AM2 sockets you can buy whatever speed DDR/DDR2 (respectively) memory and the processor will adjust multiplier/mem speed/divider to get the proper operating freq?

thanks much. sheesh I feel lame.

 

[Kalmah]

Don't worry about it. Some motherboard say it will support pc5400 ram but then the ram will tell you the mhz instead. (or the other way around)

First of all, dual channel has nothing to do with the processor(as far as we need to know anyways I'm guessing)

Say you have 2 sticks of ram running normally. Their is 1 entrance and exit for the data to be transfered through.

Now say you have 2 sticks of ram on a dual channel board. Each stick of ram has its own entrance and exit for data. (theoretically doubleing speed)

For dual channel to work, you need to have an even number of memory sticks(2,4,6), and the memory should be identical. (best to purchase all at same time)

Basically, if you're buying on newegg, if a motherboard doesn't say dual channel in the description expect it not to be. (I don't know for sure about those socket types, but I doubt every board of those socket types will have no dual channel support)
(memory doesn't have to say anything about dual channel on it, just the motherboard)

As for the memory speed, usually in the description it will say something like this:
ddr2(pc6400)

Which would mean that pc6400 is the fastest ram type you could put in it. (I'm not entirely sure about the mhz of the ram. their is probably a chart floating around that tells you what mhz different pcxxxx ram is)

Did this help?

 

[kingtas]

Originally posted by: Kalmah
Don't worry about it. Some motherboard say it will support pc5400 ram but then the ram will tell you the mhz instead. (or the other way around)

First of all, dual channel has nothing to do with the processor(as far as we need to know anyways I'm guessing)

Say you have 2 sticks of ram running normally. Their is 1 entrance and exit for the data to be transfered through.

Now say you have 2 sticks of ram on a dual channel board. Each stick of ram has its own entrance and exit for data. (theoretically doubleing speed)

For dual channel to work, you need to have an even number of memory sticks(2,4,6), and the memory should be identical. (best to purchase all at same time)

And they must be in the correct slots or they only run in single channel mode.

Basically, if you're buying on newegg, if a motherboard doesn't say dual channel in the description expect it not to be. (I don't know for sure about those socket types, but I doubt every board of those socket types will have no dual channel support)
(memory doesn't have to say anything about dual channel on it, just the motherboard)

As for the memory speed, usually in the description it will say something like this:
ddr2(pc6400)

Which would mean that pc6400 is the fastest ram type you could put in it. (I'm not entirely sure about the mhz of the ram. their is probably a chart floating around that tells you what mhz different pcxxxx ram is)

Did this help?

 

[Gtroop]

thx for the help guys. I guess most 939 solutions support DDR333/400 and AM2 667/800. I guess I should just get the highest one? Although I'm curious as to the performance diff between the 2 diff speeds with the same cpu.

 

[Kalmah]

I'm no sure what this AM2 stuff is. (I'm only familiar with Intel),
But for the ram, ddr400 = pc3200 ram. (why can't they keep this stuff consistant??)

The highest one is probably your best bet. But another thing you should consider is the timings on the ram. (the lower the better)

Have a look at this link. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi...+1052107965&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=147

You'll notice that some of the memory doesn't say anything about timings. I suggest staying away from those or looking into it further to figure it out.(check manufacturers site)

A timing of 2-3-2-5 is better than 2-3-3-6.
You'll have to do some careful comparing to find your best deal for the buck. For running in dual channel I suggest getting the 512mb sticks.

let's say you get 2 1gig sticks... then you have only 2 entrances/exits for data flow.. even though you have 2 gigs of memory..
Now if you get 4 512mb sticks instead.. you have the same amount of memory, but you have 4 entrances/exits for data flow.. making it faster. But if you plan on using more than 2gigs of ram you'll have to get the 1 gig sticks. (which is fine if you get all 4 of them.. just going to be overkill and expensive) Make that decision based on what you want in the long run.