Big Difference?

[Cookiecookie]

Which would be better:
Memory with tight low timings and low frequency. Or
Memory with high timings and high frequency.

 

[maury73]

It depends: DDR and DDR2 memories use pipelined operations.
If you will use the PC for video editing, image processing or as a file/web/DB server a faster memory with loose timings will be faster because you'll access consecutive memory locations and this access scheme is not affected by slow timings.
But for normal office applications, gaming and 3D modeling you'll be faster with a slower memory and tight timings because you'll access random memory locations.
Obviously the bast choice is a fast memory with fast timings, but if you can't afford the cost of such expensive RAM do a choice based on the primary use of your machine.