Budget Low Latency 667 DDR2

[obvious]

You know how chipset timings get relaxed due to 'strapping' when you push your RAM speeds up. Well I'm planning to work with this and save money at the same time.

I'll be sticking to 667Mhz RAM speed in the BIOS but will use ultra low latency DDR2. Of course it doesn't have to be 667 rated it could be 800, 1000 or whatever but I'm looking for the lowest timings (at 667mhz) at the best price.

Ideally the RAM will be on this validation list. The board is an Abit I90HD

A lot of people hit an FSB wall/hole where performance drops considerably even though RAM speed is increased so I'm hoping to get an equivalent performance simply by going for tight timings and having the benefit of a good 'strap'.

What I'm looking for are suggestions for which 1GB modules to use and any thoughts on the idea. Maybe I should get cheap 800 and underclock it? I've been searching for about 5 or 6 hours non stop and it's getting confusing. :S

Oh, it should also benefit from drawing less power and generating less heat this way as well so I can use a less beefy power supply


Cheers.

[GSte]

What kinda price range you looking at? Are you after 2GB?

[obvious]

Yes, 2GB and I should of course have mentioned the processor which will be an E4400 which is 800MHz, 10x, 2.0GHz stock.

For the benefit of 1:1 I'm going to be running RAM at 800 rather than the 667 I mentioned above.

I'm new to this quad pumping malarky and have managed to confuse myself now :S

Any advice appreciated.

[BUFF]

Ballistix 5300 C3 or perhaps more in keeping with the mobo colour scheme Adata DDR2 800 CL4.0 Extreme.
Both should be around £112 for 2Gb if you look around

[aidanjt]

In benchmarks DDR2 memory shows that bandwidth is favoured over timings if you compare modules on the same pricing.

[obvious]

Thanks BUFF I'll take alook at those now.

aidanjt - I could well be wrong but I thought that although the memory benchmarks will of course be quicker at higher clocks, there's a system performance penalty to be paid due to North Bridge strapping :- http://www.overclock.net/intel-mothe...p965-975x.html

Edit:- I'd actually bought some BL12864AA663 (which I can always flog if it's not suitable) from ebay and then thought I'd made a bad mistake due to it being 667 but the DDR2 list of 'fatbody' chips seems encouraging.

[Clunk]

Thats an ATI chipset, do they work the same as the intel chipsets that you are comapring them to?

From my recent tests on 965, cas4 is the fastest up to 400fsb, and afterwards, it doesnt matter what you set the ram to, you take a huge drop in bandwidth right up to about 460fsb, where cas4 is still the fastest.

Similar story with 680i, only the dividers werent stable enough to do an accurate test, but cas4 was indeed fastest again, then cas5 then cas3.

[BUFF]

From my recent tests on 965, cas4 is the fastest up to 400fsb, and afterwards, it doesnt matter what you set the ram to, you take a huge drop in bandwidth right up to about 460fsb, where cas4 is still the fastest.

presumably on a 965 that switches to the 1333 strap at 400fsb?

[Clunk]

No mate, as I understand it, the 1333 strap comes in at around 333fsb and changes to the 1600 strap at anything past 400fsb

[obvious]

BUFF, I dont know if you've got any contacts with Abit who could clarify the strapping situation with the i90HD/RX1250?

Clunk, I'm less sure now. The more I know the less I understand etc etc.

Cheers
Paul

Edit: Just logged in to Abit USA forums for the first time since 2003. My last Abit board was a BP6. It's been a while but good to be back.