Upgrade from DD2 533mhz to 800mhz

[ianb901]

I currently have Corsair 2GB 533mhz DDR2 ram (2x1GB) running in dual channel mode but Ebuyer are currently offering 2GB 800mhz (2x1GB) for under £50 I am not interested in Oclocking so my question is will I see a significant performance increase if I purchased the 800mz memory to make it worth while buying?

Current Rig

Athlon 64 X2 6000
250GB Sata HHDs
XFX 7600GT XXX
Seasonic S12 430watt PSU

 

[Track]

No, of course not. There is no performance difference between different clock frequencies of RAM, especially if they are running in dual-channel.

The ONLY reason to buy higher clocked RAM is to overclock.

 

[nachowarrior]

did you read the latest article about ram on toms? you're saying that ddr400 is just as fast as dd2 800 then? yeah, i don't think so.... pc 3200 = 3.2gig/sec 6400 = 6.4gig/sec... k? so yeah, it does matter...

 

[choirbass]

well, to be honest, it is about the same... ddr2 has twice the latency that ddr1 has, making the clock speed effectively closer to half as fast (at least where latency really matters, such as with an IMC). ddr2 533 is more or less the same as ddr1 266 in this respect (i believe)

 

[Mondoman]

There *will* be a performance increase, but not a significant one. See this: http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=1&artpage=1962&articID=472

 

[Hatman]

Mainly for overclocking though. Unless you want to overclock it doesnt warrant buying new ram. If anything buy more of your current type.

 

[jackluo923]

well, to be honest, it is about the same... ddr2 has twice the latency that ddr1 has, making the clock speed effectively closer to half as fast (at least where latency really matters, such as with an IMC). ddr2 533 is more or less the same as ddr1 266 in this respect (i believe)

Uh no.... DDR2 6400 CLS4 vs DDR 3200 CLS2 Their latency is the same. The reason being that ddr2 6400's each clock cycle is 2x faster than ddr 3200 thus you should divided the CLS4 latency by 2 which equals to DDR 3200 CLS2. Also, DDR2 6400 yields higher throughput than ddr 3200 can can sustain much faster gb/s.

Thats why CLS 2 latency in DDR 3200 is called 2T and in ddr2 6400 CLS4, its also called 2T.

edit: I meant to quote only this part of your post.

ddr2 has twice the latency that ddr1 has, making the clock speed effectively closer to half as fast (at least where latency really matters, such as with an IMC).

The part where ddr2 has twice the latency that ddr1 has is correct, but making the clock speed effectively closer to half as fast is a bit confusing. I just wanted to clear things up.

 

[choirbass]

no point in arguing, but, that is pretty much what i said... just explained differently

 

[Mondoman]

...
Thats why CLS 2 latency in DDR 3200 is called 2T and in ddr2 6400 CLS4, its also called 2T....

It helps to know things before posting them
2T is a "command rate" setting, and has nothing to do with CL latency.

 

[Wonderwill]

Don't spend the extra money for 800. It isn't worth the slight performance increase...although I don't know about AMDs RAM sensitivity. I wouldn't go for it.

 

[nachowarrior]

amd has certain cpu frequencies on the dual cores that get the most out of ddr2 800... there's a chart somewhere here on toms, find it, and check it... because any "tests" are going to be skewed by this fact and in most "ram tests" or "benchmarks" i've read on memory, they neglect to mention this.

 

[IcY18]

...
Thats why CLS 2 latency in DDR 3200 is called 2T and in ddr2 6400 CLS4, its also called 2T....

It helps to know things before posting them
2T is a "command rate" setting, and has nothing to do with CL latency.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[nachowarrior]

2T is two clock cycles where as 1T is one clock cycle. I think it's a basis for how often the commands go out. so i think it does have to do with speed. i think that's why ddr1 had a quicker response time but did not have as much throughput... (ddr1 i believe is mostly 1T and ddr2 i think is mostly 2T... I dunno though, i am kinda working my way into the memory world as of now, so double check me on that.

 

[Mondoman]

2T is two clock cycles where as 1T is one clock cycle.

Yes

I think it's a basis for how often the commands go out.

Not how *often* they go out, but rather the delay between the chip select signal and when the chip is ready to accept commands.

... i think that's why ddr1 had a quicker response time but did not have as much throughput...

No

(ddr1 i believe is mostly 1T and ddr2 i think is mostly 2T...

No, it's more to do with the specific board/chipset/memory controller design.

Here's a nice short ref to serve as a jumping-off point:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ComputingSolutions/0,,30_288_13265_13295%5E13335,00.html

 

[jackluo923]

Do you buy any chance know what Cl 1117 and SL3 mean? That is what says on my DDR2 1GB stick.

 

[kamel5547]

did you read the latest article about ram on toms? you're saying that ddr400 is just as fast as dd2 800 then? yeah, i don't think so.... pc 3200 = 3.2gig/sec 6400 = 6.4gig/sec... k? so yeah, it does matter...

Did you read the article? THe difference between massively overclocked (1200+) RAM and DDR 800 was negligible (wooptie doo 0.3 fps on CoD2)

It matters about as much as your mobo choice (so say 0-3 fps max). Personally, I find that bandwidth available doesn't automatically translate to real life performance,...

Your better off holding onto your money.

 

[croc]

Take the 50, go to the pub and buy a round or two... It'll do you more good.

 

[nachowarrior]

it's the overall throughput... the timings are important, but yes there is a difference in how it acts. negligible or not, there is still a difference. no mater how you look at it... or twist it, or deny it.

edit: from what i understand this means that once your higher mhz ram processes the request, the faster it will put it out... where as lower timings will process the requests faster... depending on how picky you are, it may or may not matter... I know that i boot a little faster at 44412 than at 55515 both on the same ddr2 800 chip... if that helps... (ps mushkin has low timing ram on newegg on sale right now on newegg.... ddr2 800 to boot, 1 gig for like 40 bucks or somthin.