Wanted: Your Expert Opinions

dufus

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I am looking forward to building a new system in the very near future (I was hoping for March, but AMD/ATI let me down.) As I await the arrival of R600 (once here and benchmarked, I may go nVidea,) I want to ask what the preferred memory (speed and/or brand)would be for my system.

I will use it for video editing/DVD creation and gaming primarily, and want the system to be fast. I will not OC (I haven't the courage yet) and I want to get as much memory as I can (4gig?), as fast a module as I can, and as stable a module as I can. I don't want to just throw money at it, but don't mind spending a reasonable amount to acheive my goal.

Tell me what you think! I look forward to your responses.

Dufus
 

jeff_2087

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Price? Platform?

Also, memory doesn't vary like CPUs or GPUs do. You can have Mushkin 5-5-5-12 @ 800MHz or Corsair 5-5-5-12 @ 800MHz, there'll be no difference.
 

dufus

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Platform? Not sure what MB to go with (crossfire or sli.) Depending on prices at the time I build, C2D 6600 or 6700 or perhaps a quad core (not sure if it makes a performance difference for my intended use.) Prices? $200.00-$300.00 range would be acceptable if possible for 4 gig. If speeds are not an issue between brands, what brand has the rep for reliability/stability?
 

jeff_2087

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Crossfire/SLi isn't worth it unless you're going for absolute maximum performance. If there's a single card solution that costs the same as a SLi/CF, you can bet your boots the single card will be faster.

If you're not overclocking, DDR2-667 is the most you need because soon the maximum FSB for Core 2 will be 1333MHz, as opposed to the current 1066MHz.

Mushkin, Geil, G.Skill, Corsair, Kingston are all good. OCZ and Patriot too, perhaps.

But this stuff is constantly changing. It's best to consider everything at once, when you're ready to build.
 

Mondoman

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...quad core (not sure if it makes a performance difference for my intended use.)
Not for the gaming, but for video work it should.

...Prices? $200.00-$300.00 range would be acceptable if possible for 4 gig.
That'll get you 2GB of good stuff, unless prices drop dramatically in the next 3-4 months (which they may).
 

dufus

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What should my expected price range be for 4 gig of memory? Are there better vendors than others, pricing wise, for memory? Again, I appreciate everyones opinions.

Dufus
 

Mondoman

Splendid
2GB modules are just becoming generally available, so pricing is high, but will drop at an unknown rate. You also need to keep in mind that you will need to run a 64-bit OS in order to access more than about 3 GB of RAM (depending on the MB/system specifics).
 

dufus

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Is it possible to run 3 single 1 gig modules on a 32 bit system or do they need to be paired? (All this just screams noob, doesn't it...)
 

XMSYellowbeard

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You can "probably" run 3 modules but, some MOBOs do not like 3 DIMMs these days. Virtually any desktop MOBO worth having is going to be a dual channel memory board and most of them require 1,2, or 4 DIMMs. So, I'd suggest going with that.

For what you describe, there is no need for Crossfire or SLI unless you also intend to do some heavy gaming on the same machine. I don't know of any video editing software that hands off rendering to the GPUs, so, your money is best spent on CPU, MOBO, and RAM. If it was my build, I'd get a quad core CPU, an ASUS 975 WS (work station) MOBO, and 4gb of value type RAM.
 

dufus

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What do you consider "heavy gaming?" I like to play with all the bells and whistles turned up as high as I can when I game, but don't have the chance to play very often (HL2, BF2, Doom 3, TF2 when it gets here...)
 

JonathanDeane

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For RAM I would recomend Kingston Hyper X (its not the fastest but is pretty fast) I have had a lot of good luck with Kingston myself (although to be honest most ram you buy is very reliable)
 

XMSYellowbeard

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What do you consider "heavy gaming?" I like to play with all the bells and whistles turned up as high as I can when I game, but don't have the chance to play very often (HL2, BF2, Doom 3, TF2 when it gets here...)
If you have a really big monitor and want to run it all wide open with the bells n whistles and eye candy on, then a dual card set up is a good idea.

But, if your machine is mission critical for video editing, and based on my personal experience with DV editing, I'd build an editing machine and leave it alone for that specific purpose. We have been doing DV production since 2000 and I strongly believe in dedicated machines when they are for making money.
 

dufus

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Haven't settled on a monitor yet, but would like 20 - 22" wide screen if that is in the "really big monitor" range. Not making money with the rig...yet...but doing projects for church and work.

Do you think I would need dual top end cards, or like gts's instead of gtx's? (going off catagory a bit but what the hey...)