Memory Upgrade

thegatekeeper

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Hey guys, I'm going to upgrade my ram from 1 gig to 2 gig, and thought id get some opinions here first.

I am currently running https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-111-CS , but the thing is I'm not sure if its better to get another one of these to make a total of 2 gig, or buy http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-124-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat= .

Something like http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-119-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat= would make the question obvious, but i need to save some money for when series 9 comes out from nvidia. (DX 10.1 :bounce: )

Thanks for your time!
 

chookman

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If you want to save money for your GPU , i think you already answered your own question. Get the 6400 stuff... as well as the fact that youd either have to down clock the 8500 stuff to run with your current RAM anyways (assuming you want to use both still.) and the difference between 8500 and 6400 is minimal especially for price
 

thegatekeeper

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So if i buy a http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-124-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat= like you guys suggest, it wont make my system unbalanced, or create some sort of bottleneck? I mean, having 2 gigs on one side and 1 gig on the other.

(Because i will still use my https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-111-CS)
 

thegatekeeper

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They actually HAVE the same speed and latency. :D

But on a side note, if one of your ram sticks has higher latency and better timings, it will downgrade to match the other ram sticks in your pc?
 

The_OGS

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I mean, having 2 gigs on one side and 1 gig on the other...
No - if you have 4 slots (ie. dual-channel) you will have 1.5GB on each side... right?
Actually, I would lose the 2 x 512MB if I picked up the new 2GB - sell it, upgrade someone you know, whatever.
Or, if I wanted to run 4 memchips I'd just buy 2 more 512MB... 2GB total is plenty.
You probably wouldn't get the full 3GB to show up anyway, w/o a 64-bit OS.
Regards
 

thegatekeeper

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I thought 32-bit systems could use up to 3 gig? (And both chips cost more or less a lot)

Someone also told me that Amd dual cores work better with more ram.

Thanks :na: .
 

chookman

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All machines will work better with 2gb than 1gb or 3gb than 2gb (also depends on what you do with it). 3Gb on a 32bit OS will be fine you only start to have issues at ~3.2gb as thats where the virtually memory and addressing becomes an issue.

Use 3gb youll be happy
 

thegatekeeper

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After checking my motherboard manual and some sources on in internet, i found out that the only disadvantage from putting 2 gig on one side and 1 gig on the other was that you loose dual-channel. So im either left with the option of operating at 2g with dual-channel, or using 3 gigs without dual-channel.

Ram sticks in question:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-124-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-111-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat= (Currently using)

Edit I seem to have run into a problem with my current ram, as the ram timings shown in the bios is higher than 4-4-4-12 (was something like 5-5-5-18). Incorrect voltage, or is this normal?
 

The_OGS

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i found out that the only disadvantage from putting 2 gig on one side and 1 gig on the other was that you loose dual-channel.
This is a very big disadvantage. Tell me, is there any advantage? I mean, why would you do this?
Why would you not put 1 x 1024 and 1 x 512 into each channel? This would give you 2 x 1.5GB (dual-channel).
option of operating at 2g with dual-channel, or using 3 gigs without dual-channel.
Well, that is a no-brainer!
Obviously 2GB in 128-bit dual-channel mode (which doubles your memory bandwidth) is superior to 3GB in 64-bit mode.
There is no way 3GB of slow memory beats 2GB of fast memory, LoL.
That is why I said to lose the 2 x 512 (in case it compromised your speed). But I was talking about timings and command-rate ticks - not falling back to single-channel memory, heheh...
Gatekeeper, why do you insist you cannot run 1.5GB in each channel?
L8R
 

thegatekeeper

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Doh, i forgot about that option, thanks mate.

Any help about the incorrect timings thou? I will try fiddling with the bios settings today, see if i can fix it.

Edit: The timings are T2 if that makes any difference, iv overclocked my CPU and GPU too, don't know if that effect RAM. I am still new to these things, sorry if i'm a bit dumb.

Edit2: I took out one of the DIMMs and installed it (after 30 minutes of frustration) in a manner that it can use dual-channel, like this:

A B A B
1 2

With A and B being blue and white DIMM slots respectively. It didn't seem to fix the timing problem thou, could it be a bad bios reading?
 

The_OGS

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2T is the so-called number of Command Rate 'ticks' and is not unusual.
Typically your rig will run @ 2T when more than 2 memchips are installed. If only the 2 x 1GB were installed then you could run @ 1T - but it is not a deal-breaker! Heheh, it's a minor spec and, though it is an extra added latency it balances against the extra memory running 4 memchips provides (ie. the 3GB total).
I was just suggesting 2GB may be enough, it is for me, and that the extra 1GB must be balanced against the slight loss of speed from running 4 memchips...
Anyway, timings like 5-5-5-15 2T would be pretty regular, ie. what others are seeing too.
So place those 4 memchips so each channel is identically filled (ie. 1.5GB each) and examine all four individuaol memchip SPDs, and your resulting overall timings, using CPU-Z
http://www.cpuid.com/download/cpu-z-142.zip
5-5-5-12 2T is okay. If it runs steady, nice and solid, we will see what can be done beyond those timings once we look at all four of your SPDs.
L8R
 

thegatekeeper

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Alright mate, as I'm not getting the chips soon (I'm going to buy the ram, gpu and case at the same time), it will be a while until i post the timings, but they will come.

Thanks mate, cu.
 

The_OGS

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Okay :)
Those are nice memory chips you have now, Corsair 6400 C4.
It's just too bad they weren't 2 x 1GB or you'd be all set.
You can buy the faster stuff but still, PC2-6400 is good for an overclock even on FSB1333 CPUs...
But I know - it's sort of an investment isn't it? You want to buy something nice and maybe a little future-proof.
I say: if you get another 2 x 1GB matching Corsair 6400 C4 then run all four, it would be kewl.
But if you pick up something newer/sweeter, then upgrade someone else's rig using those 2 x 512MB.
I know I'm an old computer guy from the 1980's but 2,000 megabytes is still a lot of memory for a 32-bit OS,
L8R
 

thegatekeeper

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Hey, got the ram last week, and i said, i posted back.

I managed to get the correct timings to show up by enabling "SLI ready memory" in the bios, and then setting it to "Aggressive".

The timings are now what is written on the RAM chips, but it still says T2, is this normal? Also, what is the meaning of RAM frequency? My mobo supports up to 800 MHz, does this mean i cant overclock the ram? Or does lowering timings not have anything to do with its frequency?

Thanks. =D
 

Hatman

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Timings are different to freq but both boost performance.


Work for freq then lower lat.


Even though it says a mobo doesnt support a memory type, it also likely says it doesnt support 1600fsb, or 2000fsb for example, doesnt mean it cant got there though.


My 680i lt supports 800mhz but atm im on 1ghz quite happily, ram is pc2-6400 ocz sli memory.


Although im upgrading to 2x2gb sticks from ocz. They are only £70 so I thoguht hey why not then one day I can go to 8gb!