More RAM vs Higher Frequency? (3gb ddr333 vs 2gb ddr400)

[doucheface321]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum, but I've been reading THG for years. I'll try not to ramble...

Here's what I have:
2x 512mb Corsair XMS DDR333 2-3-3-7 (three years old)
2x 1gb Corsair XMS DDR400 2-3-3-6 (brand new)

Asus a8n32
Athlon64 3200+ Venice

I've been able to run all four sticks succesfully (0 errors in 12+ hrs of memtest) with the following timings:
DDR333 3-3-3-8 (all settings=Auto)
DDR333 2-3-3-6 (CL=2, Tras=6, all else=Auto)
DDR366 2-4-4-6 (CL=2, Tras=6, clock=183mhz, all else=Auto)

Of course, since I'm using 4 DIMMs, I'm forced to run at 2T instead of 1T. (The only time my system wouldn't boot was when I tried to run at 1T.)

I could probably get tighter timings, but if I'm going to overclock the DDR333 sticks up to 366 or even 400 I might as well just take them out and overclock the DDR400 ones to 433 or 450. Obviously, whatever I do, the DDR333 sticks will limit the potential of the DDR400 ones.

So my main question is: Is it worth sacrificing higher clock speeds and tighter timings for more total memory?

My most stressful applications are Maya for 3D rendering and Adobe Premire Pro for video editing. Otherwise, I just rip/burn CDs/DVDs on occation and watch movies. I haven't played a game in years.

What do you all think? Although I am posting this question with my situation in mind, I am interested in starting a general discussion as well. What situations do you think would call for what configurations? Thanks in advance to anyone who responds.

 

[TabrisDarkPeace]

My most stressful applications are Maya for 3D rendering and Adobe Premire Pro for video editing. Otherwise, I just rip/burn CDs/DVDs on occation and watch movies. I haven't played a game in years.

Neither of those applications are timing sensitive, and even running at 433 MHz you are unlikely to see much gain.

However with video encoding 3 GB 'might' help over 2 GB, depending on the size of source files, how many preview clips you work with, etc (eg: Having all the scenes you want to preview in RAM is fast).

Those applications are CPU heavy, and can be quantity of RAM heavy. Adove Premiere Pro can offload some tasks to certain GPUs, I suspect Maya also uses Open GL / Direct 3D for much of its rendering.

After doing some work, what does Peak Commit Charge in Task Manager / Performance tab rise to ?, if it is only 1,500,000 KB or so then adding more RAM isn't going to help much.

 

[doucheface321]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the input. I think I'll see if I can get all four sticks up to DDR400 just for fun and then try it out with just the 2gb and see what I can do. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again