RAM.... what do you think?

[Jonny]

I need some RAM for my new rig - Athlon 64 3000+ (Winchester) on an Asus A8V Deluxe mobo.
Should I get 512Mb high quality - e.g. Corsair XMS3200XL Platinum TwinX
\or\
1Gb lower quality, e.g. GeIL 1GB PC3200 Value Dual Channel (Or similar)
They are similar price (GeIL is actually cheaper by a tenner)
What do you guys reckon?

[Rod911]

If you get the Corsair set, you can overclock it and keep the memory at 1:1. However, I've found 1Gb to be quite a nice performance boost these days. Things tend to feel less 'laggy' compared to my other 512Mb setups.

If you do get the Geil set, you can still oc your rig. It's just that you'll have to start using memory dividers to try and keep the memory at its default speed if it can't handle high HTT.

[Timmy!!!]

Have a look at some reviews of the Geil Value Ram, it seems to be an amazing overclocker. I would personally go for the larger amount of Ram as games would play very smoothly with this amount

3Dgameman seemed to like it!

[Jonny]

Yeah, thanks guys, I think the GeIL looks good. Sorry Owen, but don't have the money right now...
Cheers anyway

[mike_w]

Definately 1GB. Faster latencys don't really make that much difference. The other reason for buying expensive RAM is for better overclocking, but that is less important with Athlon 64s - to my knowledge, there is no performance loss by running the RAM and CPU out of sync.

[Rod911]

Latencies don't matter? Check out Anandtech's article. In one instance, TCCD at 9*318 (2.86Ghz) with 2.5-4-3-7-1T timings is equivalent to Winbond UTT at 10*267 (2.67Ghz) with 2-2-2-6-1T timings.

In regards to running your memory async, tighter timings seem to rule the roost.

[mike_w]

Latencies don't matter?

I never said that, just that they don't make that much difference - for me, the performance increase is not enough to warrant the jump in price from decent value RAM to low latency RAM. The money could be spent more effectively e.g. on a better graphics card, CPU or motherboard.

[Zak33]

I'm with mike_w on this....tight timings are nice, but the question asked was 1gig normal of 512 tight times fast stuff....

and I say 1 gig everytime

[johnnr892]

Mike is right, get 1gb and set looser timings rather than 512mb high class 2-2-2-5 ram. The smoothness will outway the choppyness 512mb will give you.

[Jonny]

Cool. Cheers for the advice, guys!