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General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: SKurj on September 02, 2003, 01:46:12 PM

Title: Ram
Post by: SKurj on September 02, 2003, 01:46:12 PM
Ok in the process of putting together a new system.

All the components have been decided with the exception of RAM..

I am building:
XP2800+
ASUS A7N8X deluxe
DDR 400 ram to cover any future upgrades...

My options (all 512mb sticks buying 2):

Apacer $125 (all CDN prices)
Corsair Extreme $199
Kingston HyperX $199

I am not planning on any overclocking, I might consider eventually adding a 3rd stick as well.

Would it really be worth spending an extra $150 for the "better" stuff?
If I go for the better stuff I cannot afford both sticks at the same time..


SKurj
Title: Re: Ram
Post by: whels on September 02, 2003, 03:00:27 PM
with Ram, i always go with Quality over quantity.
i love crucial, they have PC3200 (DDR 400) for
$99 per 512mb stick.


whels

Quote
Originally posted by SKurj
Ok in the process of putting together a new system.

All the components have been decided with the exception of RAM..

I am building:
XP2800+
ASUS A7N8X deluxe
DDR 400 ram to cover any future upgrades...

My options (all 512mb sticks buying 2):

Apacer $125 (all CDN prices)
Corsair Extreme $199
Kingston HyperX $199

I am not planning on any overclocking, I might consider eventually adding a 3rd stick as well.

Would it really be worth spending an extra $150 for the "better" stuff?
If I go for the better stuff I cannot afford both sticks at the same time..


SKurj
Title: Ram
Post by: Defiance on September 02, 2003, 07:05:59 PM
Corsair outa the choices  my 2c worth
Title: Ram
Post by: capt. apathy on September 02, 2003, 07:22:45 PM
I've had trouble with kingston (twice).  I'd go with crucial (no problems), never tried the other 2
Title: Ram
Post by: blackfalcon4 on September 02, 2003, 08:43:58 PM
Skurj,

 I'd go with crucial ram since you dont need the overhead for overclocking.
 Never had a problem using crucial with the systems I built.

  Just get 2 of the same modules in the lowest cas timing you can get. Forget about the 3rd stick as this will not allow you to use the dual channel option on that mobo.
Title: Ram
Post by: bockko on September 02, 2003, 09:26:05 PM
blackfalcon makes a good point: get low cas 2.5 or 2 if you can afford it, but if you get 3 and don't plan on o/c'ing, don't sweat it. You want to install your ram sticks in two's, slot 1/3, 2/4 to enable the dual channel mode, which is what you are after. if you increas your ram above 2, don't just add 1 -- that will cost performance by turning off the dual ddr mode. Add 2, you will keep your dual mode. Again, running at normal clock speeds the performance penalty of cas 3 is very small, I think I stuck 2.5 in mine, works just fine.
Title: Ram
Post by: Defiance on September 03, 2003, 09:34:06 AM
I don't see Crucial in his options :confused:
Title: Ram
Post by: SKurj on September 03, 2003, 01:39:31 PM
Ok some other options I have found:

Infineon 512, $113
Hynix 512, $113


The Kingston is the only CL2 Ram that I have available from the local guys.  (I won't shop online for this stuff)

I've been using the Apacer SDRam in my current pc for a yr with no problems, actually I've never had problems with memory since I owned my first PC...


SKurj
Title: Ram
Post by: Reschke on September 03, 2003, 02:05:26 PM
Infineon is a good brand to get. I have either run Infineon or Micron/Crucial only in my systems for quite a while. If you buy from someone like Newegg.com they have a really good return policy and will generally cross ship you the RMA part you requested. That keeps return times down as well. I haven't bought memory from an online place other than them so I really can't comment on others. BTW never had a bad stick from Newegg either. Locally I generally only see crap memory come into the stores to keep their costs low. That is a shame also since no one really carries any good memory locally.
Title: Ram
Post by: whels on September 03, 2003, 03:44:34 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Reschke
Infineon is a good brand to get. I have either run Infineon or Micron/Crucial only in my systems for quite a while. If you buy from someone like Newegg.com they have a really good return policy and will generally cross ship you the RMA part you requested. That keeps return times down as well. I haven't bought memory from an online place other than them so I really can't comment on others. BTW never had a bad stick from Newegg either. Locally I generally only see crap memory come into the stores to keep their costs low. That is a shame also since no one really carries any good memory locally.


i usually buy straight from crucial.

whels
Title: Ram
Post by: 214thCavalier on September 03, 2003, 05:37:53 PM
Memory comparisons.

With a 2.8c you will be better off with DDR400 memory running faster timing.

http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.html?i=1849

http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.html?i=1853

and

http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.html?i=1849
Title: Ram
Post by: SKurj on September 03, 2003, 07:18:49 PM
Thanks 214thCavalier

From reading that article they found that whichever sticks were using Hynix chips gave the better performance...

As I can get the Hynix even if it is probably their "cheaper" stuff, I will likely buy it.  Its also the cheapest..


SKurj
Title: Ram
Post by: Sox62 on September 04, 2003, 12:15:49 PM
I have the same mobo,and I use Kingston Hyper X 3500.

I chose this because when I purchased the board,there were some issues with Corsair memory.It's most likely been cleared up,but it's worth checking into.


Whatever you choose,make sure you purchase CL2 latency.Cl2.5,or CL3 will give you a significant performance hit.
Title: Ram
Post by: 214thCavalier on September 04, 2003, 12:45:30 PM
But if your cpu is a 2.4 or 2.6 and your going to overclock then your better going with the CL3 DDR500 rated memory.
The extra overclock you are likely to achieve with these cpu's more than makes up for the reduction from CL2 to 3.

And the latest Corsair chips run fine although they apparently do not overclock as well.
Title: Ram
Post by: Sox62 on September 04, 2003, 12:54:56 PM
Quote
Originally posted by 214thCavalier
But if your cpu is a 2.4 or 2.6 and your going to overclock then your better going with the CL3 DDR500 rated memory.
The extra overclock you are likely to achieve with these cpu's more than makes up for the reduction from CL2 to 3.

And the latest Corsair chips run fine although they apparently do not overclock as well.


If you run the same setup as me,and overclock the same speed memory that's CL3,and I overclock my CL2,you really think it will be outperformed?.

Whether or not you plan to overclock,you'll see a performance hit with the CL3 vs the CL2.
Title: Ram
Post by: SKurj on September 04, 2003, 10:57:50 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Sox62
Whether or not you plan to overclock,you'll see a performance hit with the CL3 vs the CL2.


But $150 worth?

Will I see a difference of 5fps or 20fps?  for 5 or 10 .. $150 isn't worth it..


SKurj
Title: Ram
Post by: Sox62 on September 05, 2003, 12:32:38 AM
I just checked Newegg.

512 MB's of Kingston Hyper X PC3200 CL3 is $101.

512 MB's of Kingston Hyper X PC3500 CL2 is $125.

Where is the $150 difference?

And PC 3200 is the minimum you want to run with this motherboard.Any slower and the memory will be slower than the FSB of the motherboard,making the system even slower.

If he is going to buy a gig of memory,the extra $50 dollars for the CL2 3500 is worth it imho.He'll be running between 5-10% faster,and the CL2 3500 leaves a lot of headroom to overclock.
Title: Ram
Post by: SKurj on September 05, 2003, 01:31:22 PM
Where I shop (i do not shop online for this stuff i buy local)

$125 x 2  = 250, Apacer CL3 ram  DDR400  (i can get ram for as low as $113 ea if i wish to drive abit further)

$199 x 2 = 398,  CL2 ram DDR400

These are canadian dollars.


SKurj
Title: Ram
Post by: Sox62 on September 06, 2003, 11:03:34 AM
Ok,just call me stupid-I never noticed your location...duh.

 I prefer to shop local also,except for mobo's,ram,and cpu's.The price difference is just too great for me.

You really ought to consider newegg and see how much you might save on Kingston or Corsair.They're reputable,and I have purchased two mobo's and two cpu's from them and haven't had a problem.

Either way,good luck.I didn't mean to start an argument,and for that I apologize.