Been awhile since I have built so I have some questions.

[utahraptor]

First of all, the system I will be making is not going to be overclocked and I am going for a core 2 duo. The system I have now is a Pentium 4 2.6c. The DFI Lanparty 875 pro motherboard it has allows dual channel dynamic memory operation which I am running with 4 memory chips.

I invested in nice low latency memory from corsair because I would not be overclocking and wanted to increase speed via the timings. I bought a matched pair for 512mb total ram, however later on when I bought the second matched pair I had to slightly loosen one timing setting to make it post. Is this because having 4 chips makes it have to go slower? If so should I try to have no more than 2 memory chips?

That brings me to my next question. Does dual channel dynamic mode still apply to DDR2 and if so what is the optimal number of memory chips. Also if I still want to go the low latency ram route instead of overclocking, does the number of chips affect how fast my timings can be.

One last question, I am thinking about going for the RD 600 chipset and my current intel chipset has an option called PAT (performance acceleration technology) Does any such option exist today?

I guess that was not the last question. I was wondering about whether or not to use SLI or Crossfire. I just want to play world of warcraft. Would I do better with one powerful card or 2 cards? I am also wondering how SLI or crossfire affects a dual monitor setup. I am wanting to use one LCD for webbrowsing and video viewing while playing my game on the other LCD.

Thank you for reading and/or responding to this.

 

[WR2]

Both Crossfire and SLI will not be able to use a 2nd monitor for secondary tasks while you have your video cards running in CF/SLI 3D mode. With SLI if you have an OpenGL game you'd be able to span that game across 2 monitors as if it were one wider screen.
CF/SLI can run multiple monitors with individual screens when not in CF/SLI 3D with no problems.
If you run around and visit a couple WOW websites/forums you'll probably find enough info on the single GPU vs CF/SLI question.

 

[XMSYellowbeard]

invested in nice low latency memory from corsair because I would not be overclocking and wanted to increase speed via the timings. I bought a matched pair for 512mb total ram, however later on when I bought the second matched pair I had to slightly loosen one timing setting to make it post. Is this because having 4 chips makes it have to go slower? If so should I try to have no more than 2 memory chips?

That brings me to my next question. Does dual channel dynamic mode still apply to DDR2 and if so what is the optimal number of memory chips. Also if I still want to go the low latency ram route instead of overclocking, does the number of chips affect how fast my timings can be.

In general, yes, you will experience more latency and in some cases a slowdown when you add DIMMs to your system. 2 DIMMs will almost always perform better than 4 all other things being equal. And yes, when you add DIMMs you add latency so 2 DIMMs is the way to go.

This is also influenced by platform and I don't know if you are talking AMD or Intel. This can also affect your OC if you intend to OC. 4 DIMMs is 2x the load on the chipset or memory controller and will limit your OC as compared to 2 DIMMs.

 

[utahraptor]

Okay thanks for that info on the SLI/CF. I was also wondering if FRAPsing video from world of warcraft is more of a strain on the video card or the CPU and if dual core would help in that situation. With my P IV 2.6c and ATI Radeon 9800 PRO I can only fraps at 15 FPS in a 800x600 window with the game settings turned up fairly high.

 

[XMSYellowbeard]

Okay thanks for that info on the SLI/CF. I was also wondering if FRAPsing video from world of warcraft is more of a strain on the video card or the CPU and if dual core would help in that situation. With my P IV 2.6c and ATI Radeon 9800 PRO I can only fraps at 15 FPS in a 800x600 window with the game settings turned up fairly high.

Both a dual core CPU and more memory will help if you intend to run programs/apps in the background behind your game.