Will I see a difference?

[KLC]

I'm building a new system, mostly for photoshop and video editing, no gaming. I'm looking at the ASUS P5K-E or Gigabyte GA-EP35-DSP3 motherboards. Both are Intel 775 with the P35 chipset.

Both motherboards recommend DDR2-1066 but the prices on DDR2-800 are very tempting right now. Given my intended uses, would the slower memory be noticeable?

 

[sutahz]

Nope.

 

[Yellowbeard]

The only way you will notice the difference is if you use the extra memory overhead to OC your CPU past FSB 400 and the memory past DDR800. If you don't plan to OC then buy PC6400.

I have found a stable OC on video editing machines to be very useful and profitable. Time = money.

 

[KLC]

Thanks for the help. When it comes to computers and overclocking I'm generally of the "if it's not broke don't fix it" school, I usually like to leave well enough alone. My personal experience with computers has always been like my experience with home plumbing projects: it's never as easy as it looks and fixing one thing usually means breaking (or at least changing for the worse) two or three other things.

 

[Yellowbeard]

Originally posted by: KLC
My personal experience with computers has always been like my experience with home plumbing projects: it's never as easy as it looks and fixing one thing usually means breaking (or at least changing for the worse) two or three other things.

LOL....yeah, and it always finishes up at about 3am, long after you run out of beer.

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Originally posted by: Yellowbeard
The only way you will notice the difference is if you use the extra memory overhead to OC your CPU past FSB 400 and the memory past DDR800. If you don't plan to OC then buy PC6400.

I have found a stable OC on video editing machines to be very useful and profitable. Time = money.

QFT

 

[Yellowbeard]

A sensible OC under the right circumstances could theoretically save 10 min in a work day. That's an hour per week. 50 or work weeks a year with that time saved is 50 hours. That kind of time is invaluable to spend with your family, take a vacation, frag someone gaming, etc. Or, if you can make it work for you and you are self employed like my wife is, 40 hours worth of extra productivity is a substantial pile of money.

 

[JustaGeek]

Is her memory overclocked...? 😉

 

[Yellowbeard]

Originally posted by: JustaGeek

Is her memory overclocked...? 😉

The specific machine I was referring to was an ASUS P4C 800E Deluxe with a 2.4c at 3.3ghz. The memory was Corsair DDR500 at 267mhz, aka DDR534. It ran that way absolutely trouble free for over 4 years. The MOBO pooped out last year but the memory and the CPU are still rock solid in another machine.

 

[djplayer]

Originally posted by: Yellowbeard
A sensible OC under the right circumstances could theoretically save 10 min in a work day. That's an hour per week. 50 or work weeks a year with that time saved is 50 hours. That kind of time is invaluable to spend with your family, take a vacation, frag someone gaming, etc. Or, if you can make it work for you and you are self employed like my wife is, 40 hours worth of extra productivity is a substantial pile of money.

I'm gonna use that line to justify my costs in computer equipment.. I like it =)

 

[RavenGuard]

More RAM > faster RAM.


Using photoshop or video editing, you will be better off with cheap crappy DDR2 RAM, and lots of it.

In your case, DDR800 is probably more than you need, but it is so cheap, that my advice is to pick up a few of those $30 rebate kits. It honestly doesn't matter if they're "cheap" in both price and make, as long as the timings are not outrageous (and they never are) you should be fine. Basically your biggest factor is $ per GB, and the overall "performance" is probably the least important factor.

 

[Yellowbeard]

Originally posted by: RavenGuard Basically your biggest factor is $ per GB, and the overall "performance" is probably the least important factor.

If he OCs the CPU a good balance of 4gb AND OCability is a good idea. If he can go substantially past FSB400 then he needs memory that can keep up.