Corsair or generic? 1gb or 2? for my build (details inside)

[cgcaver]

Here's what I have now:

GeForce FX 5700 256mb
P4 2.8ghz 800
1gb generic pc3200 (cant find a brand name)
P4TSE-D2 Biostart mb
30gb 5400rpm WD PATA

Here's what I've bought for my new system:

Video = Geforce FX 7800-SH gt 256
Motherboard = MSI K8N Neo4-F Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4
CPU = AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939
HDD = [2x] Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM (Plan on doing RAID 0)
PSU = TTGI Super-Flower PS-TT-550SS-4fans 550W


Now I need some RAM for my new system. I use my computer for gaming, and honestly, the system I've had was never really impressive. I always thought I woulda gotten more performance outta it for the $$ that I spent on it at the time of build. It just never seemed "right" to me. Most of my time is spent playing mainly DAOC, but sometimes some BF2, and HL2 mods. Don't underestimate DAOC, it can be a pretty taxing game with all the settings cranked up and in a highly populated area. I usually also have AVG, AIM, and Outlook Express runnin in the background as well.

Im lookin for pc3200 of course. Now, I've been told by a couple of ppl that 2gb of RAM is a waste. That I'll be fine with 1gb. I have 1gb now and I certainly thought I could use an upgrade, but my bottleneck may not be the RAM at all... I dunno. Thoughts?

Also... I've built 4-5 systems for myself, and I've never really splurged on good name-brand RAM. But the more I hear ppl talk about it, the more I wanna buy Corsair. I know it's always been good, but I was never really convinced it was worth it. Is Cas2 worth it, or is the Value Select 2.5 good enough? Thoughts?

Basically, here are my options, which would you recommend and why:

1gb (2x 512mb) Generic RAM = $61
1gb (2x 512mb) Corsair Value Select = $74
1gb (2x 512mb) Corsair XMS = $133
2gb (2x 1024mb) Generic RAM = $122
2gb (2x 1024mb) Corsair Value Select = $148
2gb (2x 1024mb) Corsair XMS = $266

 

[pickxx]

Personally i would go with 1GB of good Ram....
clicky

That is the RAM i tell most people to get....it will OC up to 250-260 with 2-2-2-5 timings with a little extra juice that DFI boards can give.

but if you want to keep your MSI K8N and not get the DFI Ultra-D Socket 939 then i would say buy OCZ platinum Rev2 they overclock amazingly at voltages your board can do but can't keep the timings.....but will run pretty good timings up around 250-260.

I dont see the point in 2gb of RAM unless you are bulding a machine specfically for BF2/FEAR and you have a slower gpu....with a 7800GT it would be like a 5% gain for 2GB....but the 2GB kits dont OC as well so your cpu is lower speed, and so you will probably end up loosing more then 5% if you want to OC. See what i mean?

because 2GB kits dont OC well, you wont get as high of an OC....and 1GB of good quality OCable ram will do you very well.

 

[fishmahn]

I agree with Pickxx. (and I'm lazy so I'm taking the easy way)

The problem with your old system was the graphics card - the GF 5xxx series just wasn't that good. The rest was ok.

Mike.