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Hey everyone, I was wondering which RAM would give me more flexibility if I wished to overclock (not massively, just something nice) a S939 AMD64 3000+ Venice...
Corsair TWINX1024-3200XL
or Corsair TWINX1024-4400C2
Also, I'm a complete newbie at overclocking and after reading up I'm still a little confused over this low latency malarkey and where it fits in with the actual RAM speed ratings (PC3200/DDR400 etc...) so if anyone could explain it to me in laymen's terms, I'm be forever grateful! :p
BAsically get the 3200, the timings at DDR 400 (stock for A64) are tighter, although i dare say the 4400 would do the same, the point being that A youll never ever get your board to DDR550 in any casual fashion, so you may as well save the cash. Personally id go for 2 gigs of something cheaper
Any suggestions as to what I should get for cheaper? Preferably from Scan as it's just up the road.
[NOTE: I plan on getting an Asus A8N-SLi Premium.]
Id go for value select as you probably wont notice even the slightest bit of difference performance wise (tight timings will net you maybe 1-5% in memory intensive benchmarks. And you can always use a divider to keep your mem at ddr400 while upping the cpu speed.
That's a bit illogical really. If you really think that timings aren't important (which looks odd in light of your sig) then it's better to get the RAM that's guaranteed to clock at a higher level.
I didnt say i dont think timings are important, i mean, if i where buying now and it were a choice between 2gb of value and 1gb of ballistix id go for 2 gig every time, timings really dont make that much of a difference, nor does ram speed (at least on a64s) it helps, but not a lot.
Go for Geil 2 Gb, they are cheap and good.
I use 4400c2 but it is still in nforce2 , so i am running 200 (2-2-2-7)
But soon upgrade on x2 3800+ 939 , then it will be fun to bump them to more DDR :)
So if I get 2GB of Value Select (shopping at Scan remember), I'll still be able to push the AMD64 a lil' bit?
Also, for the hell of it, here's what I plan on getting:
AMD64 3000+ Venice
Asus A8N-SLi Premium
*Insert RAM here...*
256MB XFX GF6800GT
250GB Samsung SpinPoint P120S
480W Tagan 2Force
Water cooling is out of the question... for now...
Youll be able to push it just as far, you just need to use a multiplier to keep the ram at a lower speed (maybe, you might get lucky). Looks like a good system.
Depending on your motherboards memory dividers - if you are going to get a athlon 3000 and overclock it I'd would recommend mild overclocking ram such as ddr433. I run my venice 3000 at 2.2ghz with corsair value select at a dd333 divider = 204mhz. If I want to run the cpu at 2.4ghz (267x9) I have to use the next divider (ddr266) which leaves the ram running at around 170mhz = not as good as it could be. Personally I'd pay a bit extra for a 3200 - that way you'd be able to run it at 2.4ghz (240x10) with value ram at a ddr333 divider = 200mhz memory speed. Then you could spend the extra money on a 2gb kit instead of 1gb of performance ram.
Cheers guys! :)
As Scan have changed their stock I'm leaning towards the 3200+ OEM but should I go for 2GB VS or 1GB TwinX.
Would there be much of a difference between a single and two GB? I was always lead to believe 1GB was ample.
*EDIT: I've just seen the 3500+ OEM on Scan for £140, worth it do you think?*
1gb is loads for most things, but having played battlefield on a machine with 2 gb theres no contest, its so much smoother, and i dare say the same will be true for quake 4, and any unreal 3 engine game.
I'd go for more over "faster" too to be honest. I'm seen plenty of real life tests that actually implied that all my time spent getting my RAM just that extra 10Mhz or just those slightly tighter timings was fairly well wasted. There really isn't a huge difference once you get to the 3200 standard and above.
But if you do go for "fast" ram, get stuff that can do tight timings over high FSB's, tight timings are more important on an AMD system, suposedly.
But sometimes you can get fast memory at not so expensive (OK not Value, but still keen) prices:
http://techgage.com/review.php?id=3065
Ahh, now that is tempting... we once again get it hard in the UK though, $320 in the US but £230 over here. I may just wait for a month or so, to see what the price does.
hahaha, £230 on ram??
Ok mate, goto http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/ and go into their ram threads. Then read.
Last time I was there they'd discovered ram that could go upto 270 @2.2.2.5 for about £30 for a 256MB stick. I myself bought some second hand stuff that does 250@2.2.2.5 for about £70.
Spending anything over about 200 on ram(and it'd need to be 2GB for anything after 150) is crazy in my mind. It can always almost be done cheaper.
Thanks specofdust, I've done some reading on the forums and it's led to this question:
Will using the BIOS memory divider on Corsair's Value Select lead to me having a :rant: at the RAM speed?
I don't see why it would. Athlon XP systems hated dividers, but AMD A64 and Intel systems dont mind them. I'm not fully sure I understand what you mean though, if you could clarify you're question, that'd be great :)
If you mean will using a divider effect your RAM speeds, then no, I dont see why it would :)
Haha, sorry man. I was led to believe that altering the divider lowered your memory speed so you could achieve a better CPU overclock... I'm not 100% though. The previous question was asking if the lowered RAM speed would make a system noticeably slower?
Using value RAM means having to use a divider. What ole spec is not saying is that this means underclocking your RAM for most speeds (the alternative would be to loweryour CPU OC instead).
Thus the difference between the two systems is not best looked at in terms of what the speed difference is at stock, coz yeah it's only the odd FPS or so, but at what the difference is when you ramp the speed up.
At Scan's today only you can pick up these for £191.47: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/produ...oductID=284445
The value RAM costs £163.08:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=217959
I doubt whether £28 anywhere else will get you as much of a performance boost.
Ok, I may be missing something obvious here.
But running your ram at 200FSB is pretty much all you need.
The advantages of having your ram at 240 over 200 are highly questionable for games, and many other things.
This means if you want a high CPU clock speed you'll need to use a divider, but it doesn't mean you need to underclock your ram, or anything like that :o
Ah, I see you don't understand how the memory divider works. :heckle:
Some boards are very specific about the dividers, but the ASUS A8N just lets you set a maximum speed.
As you like xstremesytems forums, I suggest you read this thread:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...ad.php?t=41595
Now hopefully you'll realise that you don't often hit 200 when you use a divider, although you may not be that far away, depending on how many dividers the board has.
Alright, thanks for your help guys, I think I'm gonna go with these sexy little things. From what little I know about RAM Thorsson's recommendation was a good one and the price isn't too killer, although obviously I'd like them to be included in another today only! :D
Laugh away, no shame here, I just say what I know, I did say I could be missing something :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Thorsson
Anyway, hope you get stuff that works well for you nightshadowUK :)
I still think spending lots on ram is unneccesary, but, spend you're money as you will :)
I'm not one of these money wasting types but I'm just working on the fact I'll be totally gutted if I buy my lovely new rig only to find I can't overclock as I wished because I saved £40 or so on RAM. Your help is still very much appreciated. :)
Good man, what makes you happy is what you want :)
Good luck with it all, and let us know how you get on with it all :)
Most boards have the ram divider listed as max memory overclock or something along those lines. Its still a divider, its just worded differently, for example setting max memory overlcock to 166mhz doesnt mean thats how fast your ram runs, it means thats how fast your ram would be if HT was set to 200.Quote:
Originally Posted by Thorsson