Overclock RAM Confusion

[NightshadowUK]

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!

[herulach]

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

[NightshadowUK]

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.]

[herulach]

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.

[Thorsson]

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.

[herulach]

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.

[NikolaX]

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

[NightshadowUK]

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...

[herulach]

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.

[cj2mrhat]

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.

[NightshadowUK]

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?*

[herulach]

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.

[specofdust]

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.

[Thorsson]

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

[NightshadowUK]

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.

[specofdust]

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.