Tom's Hardware > Forum > Motherboards & Memory > Memory > 2 gig fast or 4 gig slow memory for a conroe pc question.

2 gig fast or 4 gig slow memory for a conroe pc question.

Forum Motherboards & Memory : Memory - 2 gig fast or 4 gig slow memory for a conroe pc question.

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cuppachar   07-19-2006 at 05:09:13 PM

Hi all. Quick question. I want to build a Conroe system and know roughly which components to buy all except for the memory which I find somewhat confusing.
Would I be better buying the top of the range 2x1GB Corsair XMS2-6400C3 memory sticks or 2x1GB Corsair XMS2-6400C4 or 2x1GB Corsair XMS2-6400PRO. The last two are substancially cheaper.
OR
Would I be better buy 4 gig of the cheaper ram even though the timings are slower?
I wouldnt want to overclock necessarily but it strikes me that 4 gigs would make a faster machine than 2 gigs of faster memory.
Thanks in advance.
ps. The review of that memory is found following this link.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2 [...] ngs/1.html

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zebaca   07-19-2006 at 05:22:08 PM
- 0 +

I BELIEVE THAT WHEN NOT OCING THE CONROE MEMORY REALLY DOES NOT MATTER TOO MUCH AS FAR AS TIMINGS I READ IT SOMEWHERE BUT I CAN NOT RECALL WHERE... PERHAPS SOMEONE IN HERE WILL HAVE THE INFO.

I THINK I WOULD GO WITH 4 GB MEMORY...

Reply to zebaca
Heyyou27   07-19-2006 at 05:31:42 PM
- 0 +

Core 2 Duo currently only has a 1066MHz bus, so any memory over 533MHz DDR2 will get bottlenecked. Unless you plan on overclocking a lot, get the 4GB of cheaper DDR2; Vista will thank you for it.

Reply to Heyyou27
cuppachar   07-19-2006 at 08:07:21 PM
- 0 +

Thanks for that heyyou problem answered. One more thing though, if the bottleneck occurs at the 533mhz figure which memory should I realistically be buying - corsair, corsair value, crucial? Theres so much of this stuff out there that I don't want to let the system down but I also don't want to create a week link or bottleneck that I might regret later.
Thanks for the prompt reply.

Reply to cuppachar
zebaca   07-19-2006 at 08:08:36 PM
- 0 +

I AM BUILDING MY CONROE SYSTEM AND GOING WITH PC6400 DDR2 WHICH I BELIEVE IS 800 MHZ.....

Reply to zebaca
uber_g   07-19-2006 at 08:44:18 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

I AM BUILDING MY CONROE SYSTEM AND GOING WITH PC6400 DDR2 WHICH I BELIEVE IS 800 MHZ.....



http://www.mogizmo.com/images/gizmo/a_das_keyboard_main3.gif

plz

Reply to uber_g
waylander   07-19-2006 at 09:02:15 PM
- 0 +

OMG PLEASE TO BE TURNING OFF TEH CAPS.

Reply to waylander
Heyyou27   07-19-2006 at 09:04:28 PM
- 0 +

Corsair value select is generally very good and reasonably priced; 4GB of that in your new Conroe system will scream.

Reply to Heyyou27
waylander   07-19-2006 at 09:17:40 PM
- 0 +

OMG PLEASE TO BE TURNING OFF TEH CAPS.

Reply to waylander
bmouring   07-19-2006 at 09:20:49 PM
- 0 +

If you go with 4GB, make sure to go with the 64-bit version of Vista (unless Microsoft vastly revamped how the 32-bit kernel accesses and partitions memory).

For those who think PAE saves the day, just reading an introduction to how it actually works would make you think otherwise. It is a dirty hack at best.

Reply to bmouring
yourmothersanastronaut   07-19-2006 at 09:22:26 PM
- 0 +

I would get 2GB of the faster stuff. 4GB is really not necessary, and it will be slower memory that you won't even be able to fully utilize.

If you find need 4GB, get another set of the same 2 x 1GB kit you bought originally. And 32-bit operating systems won't be able to use all 4GB, anyway.

Reply to yourmothersanastronaut
Heyyou27   07-19-2006 at 09:51:12 PM
- 0 +

But with Vista on it's way and the fact that all Core 2 Duos have a 1066MHz FSB, the fastest memory will gain almost nothing.

Reply to Heyyou27
htoonthura   07-19-2006 at 09:59:37 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

Hi all. Quick question. I want to build a Conroe system and know roughly which components to buy all except for the memory which I find somewhat confusing.
Would I be better buying the top of the range 2x1GB Corsair XMS2-6400C3 memory sticks or 2x1GB Corsair XMS2-6400C4 or 2x1GB Corsair XMS2-6400PRO. The last two are substancially cheaper.
OR
Would I be better buy 4 gig of the cheaper ram even though the timings are slower?
I wouldnt want to overclock necessarily but it strikes me that 4 gigs would make a faster machine than 2 gigs of faster memory.
Thanks in advance.
ps. The review of that memory is found following this link.

http://www.bit-
tech.net/hardware/2006/07/18/core_2_duo_memory_timings/1.html



Hello

i would rather go with 2 gb of fast memory than slow 4 gb. In an ideal situation , it is always better to have 4 gb of fast memory. But in reality, it costs a lot. Besides , i do not use up my 2 gb of ram with vista. It consumes 1 gb easily but never exceeds 1.5 gb. There are times you may ranoutf 2 gb memory when you ran memory intensive applications like bf2 or some software. but it 2 gb is enough for my usages.

If you do not run too many memory intensive applications a lot at the same time, i vote for 2 gb of fast memory over slow memory.

Thura.

Reply to htoonthura
zebaca   07-19-2006 at 10:38:38 PM
- 0 +

was your post really necessary..... it was a mistake. one person let me know. it is only caps... chill out.

Reply to zebaca
cuppachar   07-20-2006 at 01:13:24 AM
- 0 +

herein lies the problem. I was quite prepared to go ahead with 4 gig of cheaper memory but conflicting opinions will make me hold fire. Now I'm still confused (nobodys fault and I thank all of those who replied to my question) but see things from my point of view. I've got fifty percent of people saying go for one thing and fifty percent going for the other. Now I'm none the wiser cos you guys will know more than me.
Ok can those who would go for the faster ram at 2 gig explain to me why and those who support 4 gig slower ram also explain why I should go that route, bearing in mind that like all mortals I will go vista next year.
Again thanks in advance.

Reply to cuppachar
lcandy   07-20-2006 at 01:29:59 AM
- 0 +

I personaly believe that the higher memory frequencies will make only marginal difference in performance. Lets say it makes 5 or even 10% difference in gaming now (at the very best). When Vista comes out, 2GB will not be enough, so the HDD will need to be acccessed more frequently instead, this will have a massive impact on performance compared to higher frequency memory.

I am going with moderately fast 2GB of memory dual channel, now, with the intention of installing the same memory again later to goto 4GB. If memory goes down in price I will scrub what I have now and have 8GB instead for Vista, because it is going to be memory hungry in a big way.

On the other hand, if you are going for AM2, I would say the opposite, the faster the memory the better.

Just ask yourself this, what's faster, memory or the HDD? It's a no brainer to me at least, that the more memory you have when Vista comes around and developers start using the memory available, the better off you will be. Of course I'm not a super nerd so could easily be wrong, but I believe the logic makes sense.

Reply to lcandy
weilin   07-20-2006 at 01:40:00 AM
- 0 +

if all your choices ar pc6400 then by all means go for the 4gb pc6400. PC6400 runs at 800mhz or 1600mhz in dual channel. Intel cpus has 1333 fsb MAX so even at cas 4. The frequency difference would allow the ram to run at tighter timings. now if you buy pc4200, thats a different story and you would need tighter timings.

Reply to weilin
Corasik   07-20-2006 at 12:31:14 PM
- 0 +

AMD processors are much more sensitive to CAS than the Core 2 processors. The difference in real performance between Cas 3 and Cas 5 at the same clock rate is pretty low on Core 2.

Pretty much all the XMS6400's will give a pretty close performance on a Core 2 Processor, and as they all run at the same clock rate, give the same overclocking potential. If you were building an AMD system, then its a no brainer, AMD loves low latency. But Core 2's large cache, and excellent P4 derived prefetching and branch prediction systems make best use of even the cheapest ram at any given clockrate.

Reply to Corasik
cuppachar   07-20-2006 at 03:21:22 PM
- 0 +

Ok I hear what you are all saying and it all makes sense, however, that still leaves me and everyone else with a huge array of different brands and types of memory to choose from. For instance Corsair, ballistix, crucial, let alone all the various models to choose from from that little lot.
I cant find any reviews on the net comparing each type in a dual core machine (maybe its too early).
I know I'll build my machine without the memory and buy some later when I know which one to get.
Ahem that was a joke by the way.
Thanks for you help everyone

Reply to cuppachar
yourmothersanastronaut   07-20-2006 at 03:23:27 PM
- 0 +

If you can afford it, I would choose Crucial Ballistix, no question. The second best brand, in my opinion, is Corsair XMS, followed by G.Skill's high-end stuff. Any of those three will perform very, very well.

Reply to yourmothersanastronaut
weilin   07-20-2006 at 05:14:26 PM
- 0 +

Corsiar, Crucial, OCZ ranks high on my list.
Followed by Kingston, Geil and Muskin (i use everything, client's budget determining factor not me)
Never used G.Skill patriot before but i hear they are nice too.

Reply to weilin
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