yet another RAM question

[concernedsophist]

Ok, so I get that most apps will not benefit from having more than 1 gig at this time. 2 gigs could be a waste of money in this case. But would too much ram be a preformance downer?

I am thinking about building another 939 A64 system with 2 gigs, and I have been trying to talk talk myself into saving some money since I might not fully use the extra memory. I'm debating on Geil PC 3200 value RAM by the way, ~$220 for 2x1GB, and no overclocking involved.

So, would a drop in speed from CAS 2.5 in 512 value DIMMs to CAS 3 in 1 gig value DIMMs make a noticable drop in most apps, assuming you would not be accessing the page file very often in either case? Is it going to cost me an extra bill to decrease my system's proformance?

Thanks ahead of time for putting up with us noobs.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

If you really think you're going to need over a gig of ram, then by all means get two 1 gig sticks. CAS latency changing from 2.5 to 3 will be a very small performance change. You'd need to do a benchmark to notice the difference. If you're doing memory intensive apps like 3d rendering, one of the games that benefits from over a gig, or photoshop with large files, then having extra ram to work with (even if it's slightly slower) is a better idea than running out and using virtual ram.

 

[concernedsophist]

Right. My wife is a freelance graphic designer who uses my system once and a while (photoshop and freehand) for compatability purposes with clients (she has a mac that she usually uses). So, that would give me an exuse to upgrade. Besides office work, I will be gaming on it mostly with DOW, HL2, WOW etc. I also want to be prepared for Eldar Scrolls 4 when it comes out.

 

[stevty2889]

Having 2gig of ram will certainly help with photoshop stuff, and MMORGP's seem to be able to use it. I just upgraded to 2gig of ram because Star Wars Galaxies was using the page file when loading areas with a lot of players or buildings, and I was getting bad lag from it, upping the ram took care of it.

 

[Ike0069]

I don't think you'll notice the difference, but Newegg has 2.5 CAS Muskin 1 GB sticks for $121.

 

[imported_Kensai]

If she's gonna be using photoshop, 2 gigs wil be noticeable.

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: Ike0069
I don't think you'll notice the difference, but Newegg has 2.5 CAS Muskin 1 GB sticks for $121.

Just to clarify, I meant that I don't think the cas 2.5 - 3 is that noticable. I would definitely go with 2X1 GB.

 

[concernedsophist]

I will def. go with two DIMMs regardless, to use dual channel and T1.

Cool, I appreciate the input guys.

Thanks Ike, CAS 2.5 for virtually the same price is sweet.

Any opinions on how soon 2 gigs will give an improvment in non-MMORG games?

 

[concernedsophist]

Hey, newegg is out of the 1 gig mushkin sticks. They do have some centon sticks which have CAS 2.5 for around $85 a pop. What about that brand? I have heard the name before, but I don't really know if it is good stuff or not. Any one have some insight?

 

[Zucarita9000]

I think most people here say that more than one gig of ram is worthless because they've never used it. I upgraded to 2GB last week, and let me tell you that the performance gain is significant, more specifically in Photoshop work and multitasking.

 

[qbek]

Originally posted by: concernedsophist
Hey, newegg is out of the 1 gig mushkin sticks. They do have some centon sticks which have CAS 2.5 for around $85 a pop. What about that brand? I have heard the name before, but I don't really know if it is good stuff or not. Any one have some insight?

I recomend you get this from Monarch.
Patriot brand, CAS2, reasonable price.

 

[ribbon13]

Originally posted by: qbek

Originally posted by: concernedsophist
Hey, newegg is out of the 1 gig mushkin sticks. They do have some centon sticks which have CAS 2.5 for around $85 a pop. What about that brand? I have heard the name before, but I don't really know if it is good stuff or not. Any one have some insight?

I recomend you get this from Monarch.
Patriot brand, CAS2, reasonable price.

That is good stuff. Does wonders for a Sims 2 machine.

 

[Ike0069]

Never heard of Centon. You can always try them, and if they don't work you can return them for the Mushkin which might be in stock then.