Time to upgrade my RAM!

[LEKO]

Hi Anand's TechGurus,

I'm fairly new here, actually I read AnandTech a lot, but I never posted here. I was more active in other forums, but I made the switch. I think Anand community is ready to take me!


Ok, seriously, here is my current system setup:

MOBO: Giga-byte K7NF-9 (nForce4 based)
CPU: Athlon X2 3800+ @ 2.4GHz
MEMORY: 2 x 512Megs DDR400 (Generic RAM base on infenion chips)
GPU: MSI 6600GT 256Megs
PSU: Antec TruePower 380Watts (Version 1)

I already choose my future GPU, the famous and incredible nVidia 8800GT 512Megs, I may also consider the ATI Radeon HD 3770 512Megs... But the 8800GT seems to have the edge (power, performance, noise).

For the RAM, I want to get 2 Gigs and I'm pretty sure that I would have to set my motherboard to 2T if buy 2 more 512Megs memory stick and I would put my system at risk: compatibility issue between the 2 type of memory stick. What do you think about that?

And if you would have to buy 2 x 1Gigs of DDR400 today, what would you buy? I don't the stick to overclock madly, but I would prefer CAS2.0 (or 2.5). I know that nForce based mobos can be pain in the *** when it comes to memory compatibility/stability.

Thanks!

 

[o1die]

I have 4 sticks of pc3200 in my asrock board, and set it to 2T and cas 2.5. It still performs ok. Best price I got was 2 512 sticks of corsair for $50 after rebate.

 

[NoelS]

Leko,

I agree with o1die on the Corsair, and now you can buy 2 GB pretty cheap with a MIR. No reason that either Corsair or OCZ DDR 400 wouldn't be OK, so go for the best value...

Noel

 

[Spikesoldier]

cas latency doesnt have much of a performance hit on the K8 since it uses an on die memory controller, so if you are considering paying a premium for it i think that you would be disappointed. instead, aiming for higher memory bandwidth would be a better goal, along with keeping a 1T command rate if you can.

but then again the K8 isnt starved for memory bandwidth compared to other chips, and does well even with the memory running asynchronously, and doesnt suffer as much with a memory clock lower than the HTT clock.

i would just throw in another 2x 512's in there of any valueram ddr400 i could find. if you have single sided sticks, i would suggest trying to find two more single sided sticks to match, same if you have double sided, try to match.