Cheap RAM for Conroe cancels out cheap AM2 mobo's

gudodayn

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Madshrimp's does a great review showing that high-speed memory isn't necessary on Conroe setups. They even show that DDR2-667 is worse than DDR2-533 unless it's using 3-3-3- 8 timings. :lol: So much for the arguments that Core2Duo setups are more expensive than AM2 setups because of the more expensive mobo's.

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=472

How does 2 x 2GB DDR2-533 (3-3-3-8) or 667 (4-4-4-8), 1T, dual channel sound??

And its supposed to cost $150 USD per stick.....so $300 will get you 4GB in dual channel 1T command rate....

Link: http://www.pqi.com.tw/ right up the top of "What's New"

With Conroe's processing power.......this addition should be fantastic!!!!!
 

1Tanker

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Madshrimp's does a great review showing that high-speed memory isn't necessary on Conroe setups. They even show that DDR2-667 is worse than DDR2-533 unless it's using 3-3-3- 8 timings. :lol: So much for the arguments that Core2Duo setups are more expensive than AM2 setups because of the more expensive mobo's.

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=472

How does 2 x 2GB DDR2-533 (3-3-3-8) or 667 (4-4-4-8), 1T, dual channel sound??

And its supposed to cost $150 USD per stick.....so $300 will get you 4GB in dual channel 1T command rate....

Link: http://www.pqi.com.tw/ right up the top of "What's New"

With Conroe's processing power.......this addition should be fantastic!!!!!Will be good once Vista comes out and you can actually make use of the 4GB without any problems. :wink:
 

BaronMatrix

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Madshrimp's does a great review showing that high-speed memory isn't necessary on Conroe setups. They even show that DDR2-667 is worse than DDR2-533 unless it's using 3-3-3- 8 timings. :lol: So much for the arguments that Core2Duo setups are more expensive than AM2 setups because of the more expensive mobo's.

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=472


That's not actually tru. Someone ( I'll find it) did a test of latency for all DDR2 speeds and that same 4-4-4 or 3-3-3 667 only loses a few frames over CAS4 or CAS3 800MHz.

So I guess that isn't an advantage.
 

shinigami304

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Madshrimp's does a great review showing that high-speed memory isn't necessary on Conroe setups. They even show that DDR2-667 is worse than DDR2-533 unless it's using 3-3-3- 8 timings. :lol: So much for the arguments that Core2Duo setups are more expensive than AM2 setups because of the more expensive mobo's.

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=472

lol i find this funny since AMD choose not to move over to the DD2 till the AM2 socket. AMD knew that DDR2 wasnt needed for their CPUs but like change amd intoduced a new core, socket, and room for chipsets that will use DDR2. but no one said this was a good thing till someone proved it on a Intel config. i guess from intel fans point of view that is a big thing, but from AMD fan that is just old news.
 
While Core 2 Duo (aka Conroe) motherboards may be more expensive and few and further between, this will change. Soon the majority of processors being made and sold are going to be Core 2 Duo and there will be a wide array of motherboard choices both budget and enthusiast.
 

zornundo

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While Core 2 Duo (aka Conroe) motherboards may be more expensive and few and further between, this will change. Soon the majority of processors being made and sold are going to be Core 2 Duo and there will be a wide array of motherboard choices both budget and enthusiast.

Does Intel have any budget C2D procs coming out? $200+ for an E6300 is a tad expensive to be budget.
 
Does Intel have any budget C2D procs coming out? $200+ for an E6300 is a tad expensive to be budget.

I don't think so. I think the E6300 price will gradually come down though as they introduce new processors. Problem is, the E6300 already overclocks like a mofo, and if you use the same process to manufacture a lower clocked processor it's still going to overclock well into the 2ghz range.
 

martyjs

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I could be wrong but I still think AMD's planning in switching to AM2 and using DDR2 has more to do with medium to long term planning than just now.
DDR2 800MHZ will drop in price. History says it must. :)
 
I could be wrong but I still think AMD's planning in switching to AM2 and using DDR2 has more to do with medium to long term planning than just now.
DDR2 800MHZ will drop in price. History says it must. :)

I agree. Prices might be a little high now because both AMD and Intel systems are using the same RAM. But after a while DDR ram production will ramp down. The prices of DDR2 will go down as well. I think AMD choose a good time to switch to DDR2.
 

1Tanker

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While Core 2 Duo (aka Conroe) motherboards may be more expensive and few and further between, this will change. Soon the majority of processors being made and sold are going to be Core 2 Duo and there will be a wide array of motherboard choices both budget and enthusiast.

Does Intel have any budget C2D procs coming out? $200+ for an E6300 is a tad expensive to be budget.They're going to be releasing the E4300. Probably not til Q1 07, it has an 800FSB and 1.8GHz processor speed. It uses 2MB L2 cache, an doesn't support VT(virtualization technology).It should be an awesome overclocker. :)
 

1Tanker

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While Core 2 Duo (aka Conroe) motherboards may be more expensive and few and further between, this will change. Soon the majority of processors being made and sold are going to be Core 2 Duo and there will be a wide array of motherboard choices both budget and enthusiast.
I created this thread, because a few stubborn posters are hanging on to the idea that AM2 is the cheaper route to go, due to the much higher(supposed) price of Intel mobo's. And every time, i or a few other posters remind them of the expensive RAM requirements of AM2(to achieve parity with s939) and Intels lack of requirement for costly RAM. If and when mobo prices drop, than Core2Duo will be an even cheaper route to take, as long as demand and greed don't drive up the CPU prices.
 
Does Intel have any budget C2D procs coming out? $200+ for an E6300 is a tad expensive to be budget.

Not until next year; Q1 2007.

http://www.hkepc.com/bbs/itnews.php?tid=632107&starttime=0&endtime=0

Besides, Intel has decided to replace Core 2 E4200 by E4300 to make some advantages to fight for Athlon 64 X2 3600+. The only difference is on the clock speed. E4200 is freely upgraded from 1.6GHz to E4300 1.8GHz. With a higher frequency, it helps a lot in the performance boost. Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 is expected to release in 2007 Q1.
 

DSebring

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So... help out the Old guy here, is that article saying to go with DDR2 4200 533 in a Conroe setup?

I am a little confused with all the flavors of RAM these days :)
 

1Tanker

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So... help out the Old guy here, is that article saying to go with DDR2 4200 533 in a Conroe setup?

I am a little confused with all the flavors of RAM these days :)
It's saying that running DDR2-533 doesn't degrade performance(compared to DDR2-800) as much as would be expected. In other words, you still get great performance with cheaper RAM. There still is performance to be had by using faster RAM, but it isn't that much ~4-8%. The high speed RAM is needed if you want to run high FSB's(through overclocking) and maintain synchronous memory speed (1:1).
 

DSebring

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So... help out the Old guy here, is that article saying to go with DDR2 4200 533 in a Conroe setup?

I am a little confused with all the flavors of RAM these days :)
It's saying that running DDR2-533 doesn't degrade performance(compared to DDR2-800) as much as would be expected. In other words, you still get great performance with cheaper RAM. There still is performance to be had by using faster RAM, but it isn't that much ~4-8%. The high speed RAM is needed if you want to run high FSB's(through overclocking) and maintain synchronous memory speed (1:1).


Cool, so If I understand correctly The Value DDR2 such as This:

A-DATA Vitesta 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820211011

Should be a great choice for a Conroe gaming rig, which might see LIGHT overclocking, do you agree?
 

1Tanker

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So... help out the Old guy here, is that article saying to go with DDR2 4200 533 in a Conroe setup?

I am a little confused with all the flavors of RAM these days :)
It's saying that running DDR2-533 doesn't degrade performance(compared to DDR2-800) as much as would be expected. In other words, you still get great performance with cheaper RAM. There still is performance to be had by using faster RAM, but it isn't that much ~4-8%. The high speed RAM is needed if you want to run high FSB's(through overclocking) and maintain synchronous memory speed (1:1).


Cool, so If I understand correctly The Value DDR2 such as This:

A-DATA Vitesta 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820211011

Should be a great choice for a Conroe gaming rig, which might see LIGHT overclocking, do you agree?That's okay if you're going to stay at stock speeds. If you plan on overclocking, then 667 would be better. See, that 533 will run 1:1 with the FSB, but lets say you bump the FSB to 300 or more, that equates to DDR2-600+. That memory may overclock to 600+ speeds, but if it doesn't then you would have to run the memory ascynchronously(less than FSB), which would hurt performance, and likely negate any performance gained from the higher clock-speed. A-Data Vitesta has made some killer RAM, and it likely will overclock, but i would search around some forums or reviews and find out. If not, try to get some PC4200 that does overclock, or get PC5400. Or else you may as well not overclock. Sorry it sounds so confusing, but overclocking can change the rules and/or generally accepted practices. :?
 

1Tanker

Splendid
Apr 28, 2006
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So... help out the Old guy here, is that article saying to go with DDR2 4200 533 in a Conroe setup?

I am a little confused with all the flavors of RAM these days :)
It's saying that running DDR2-533 doesn't degrade performance(compared to DDR2-800) as much as would be expected. In other words, you still get great performance with cheaper RAM. There still is performance to be had by using faster RAM, but it isn't that much ~4-8%. The high speed RAM is needed if you want to run high FSB's(through overclocking) and maintain synchronous memory speed (1:1).


Cool, so If I understand correctly The Value DDR2 such as This:

A-DATA Vitesta 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820211011

Should be a great choice for a Conroe gaming rig, which might see LIGHT overclocking, do you agree?If you plan on overclocking, you would probably be wise to get DDR2-667, and run it at 533. That way, if you decide to overclock, you know that your RAM is good for 667MHz which means you are safe bumping up the FSB to 333 at least, and still run the memory(1:1). If you don't overclock, the 667 RAM can be run at 533 and might be able to run at tighter timings than DDR2-533.

Here's a DDR2-667 kit that is in the same price range as the A-Data.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220095
 

DSebring

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Sep 17, 2005
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So... help out the Old guy here, is that article saying to go with DDR2 4200 533 in a Conroe setup?

I am a little confused with all the flavors of RAM these days :)
It's saying that running DDR2-533 doesn't degrade performance(compared to DDR2-800) as much as would be expected. In other words, you still get great performance with cheaper RAM. There still is performance to be had by using faster RAM, but it isn't that much ~4-8%. The high speed RAM is needed if you want to run high FSB's(through overclocking) and maintain synchronous memory speed (1:1).


Cool, so If I understand correctly The Value DDR2 such as This:

A-DATA Vitesta 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820211011

Should be a great choice for a Conroe gaming rig, which might see LIGHT overclocking, do you agree?If you plan on overclocking, you would probably be wise to get DDR2-667, and run it at 533. That way, if you decide to overclock, you know that your RAM is good for 667MHz which means you are safe bumping up the FSB to 333 at least, and still run the memory(1:1). If you don't overclock, the 667 RAM can be run at 533 and might be able to run at tighter timings than DDR2-533.

Here's a DDR2-667 kit that is in the same price range as the A-Data.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220095

Sounds good, have you seen this?
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2797&p=19
Testing value RAM in Conroe
 

1Tanker

Splendid
Apr 28, 2006
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So... help out the Old guy here, is that article saying to go with DDR2 4200 533 in a Conroe setup?

I am a little confused with all the flavors of RAM these days :)
It's saying that running DDR2-533 doesn't degrade performance(compared to DDR2-800) as much as would be expected. In other words, you still get great performance with cheaper RAM. There still is performance to be had by using faster RAM, but it isn't that much ~4-8%. The high speed RAM is needed if you want to run high FSB's(through overclocking) and maintain synchronous memory speed (1:1).


Cool, so If I understand correctly The Value DDR2 such as This:

A-DATA Vitesta 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820211011

Should be a great choice for a Conroe gaming rig, which might see LIGHT overclocking, do you agree?If you plan on overclocking, you would probably be wise to get DDR2-667, and run it at 533. That way, if you decide to overclock, you know that your RAM is good for 667MHz which means you are safe bumping up the FSB to 333 at least, and still run the memory(1:1). If you don't overclock, the 667 RAM can be run at 533 and might be able to run at tighter timings than DDR2-533.

Here's a DDR2-667 kit that is in the same price range as the A-Data.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220095

Sounds good, have you seen this?
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2797&p=19
Testing value RAM in ConroeYes, i've read that review a few times, yet i had forgotten about the value DDR2 tests, and how they turned out..Thanks for mentioning that review. And yes, judging by their results, the A-Data looks like a great choice. GL :)