Recommend 1066MHz DDR2 Memory for GA-EX38-DS4

[twosteppin_ed]

I'm building a system with:

Intel Q6700 Processor, 1066MHz FSB
Gigabyte GA-EX38-DS4 mobo
2 WD Raptor drives (RAID 0)
Some rather basic NVIDIA graphics card (undecided at the moment)
Windows XP Pro
Not planning to OC

I want a total of 3GB of 1066MHz Dual-Channel memory (XP can't address 4MB), THAT WORKS, is STABLE, without overclocking it or having a lot of fuss - I want to plug it in and see it running at 1066.

3MB means 2 sticks of 1GB and 2 sticks of 512MB.

Can someone recommend a manufacturer make and model that they know works?

Many thanks,
Ed

 

[ausch30]

My first question is why do you want 1066?

A little information about memory. JEDEC is the governing body which certifies memory standards and their specifications for DDR2 are 533, 667, and 800 @ 1.8v. There is no standard for DDR2 1066 or higher and memory sold at those speeds are sold at their EPP (Enhanced Performance Profiles) or overclocked speed. With these increased speeds the manufacturers are just guaranteeing that the memory will be able to perform at that speed but it doesn't mean the motherboard will recognize it. Some memory is identified correctly on some motherboards but in most cases the BIOS will default to the SPD settings (JEDEC standard) and you have to manually set the RAM to it's rated speed.

I wouldn't suggest building a system with the Q6700 right now but if you want to and your not going to overclock keep this in mind. With a 1066FSB you will only need DDR2 533 to run 1:1 with that CPU. You could either buy some low timing DDR2 533 or buy some inexpensive DDR2 800 and underclock it and tighten the timings and you will likely get the same performance, or possibly better, than DDR2 1066. Most RAM sold currently have several different speed/timing combos programmed into their SPD chips. Take mine for example, this is sold as DDR2 800 4-4-3-10 but you can see different ratings for DDR2 800 and 667.

As for quality manufacturers OCZ, Crucial, Mushkin, Corsair, Kingston, Patriot, G.Skill, GeIL among others all have quality products. If your not planning to overclock then you really should just look for the memory with the lowest timings at the best price. One thing you have to look out for though is that a lot of companies will sell lower rated chips at their overclocked speed as well. Take these for example
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146093
they are rated at DDR2 667 which is within JEDEC specifications but it is at 2.1-2.3v which isn't. This RAM is likely DDR2 533 which they found that with a little more voltage they could push a little higher and are selling it as such and for a higher price.

Another example would be this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227124
DDR2 800 5-5-5-12 @ 2.1v
and this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146118
DDR2 800 5-5-5-12 @ 1.8v
The second set being sold at it's correct speed and the first one overclocked. The first set uses lower quality chips which is why they can afford to give such a large rebate to give the apperance of giving the consumer a deal.

 

[twosteppin_ed]

Ausch30,

Thank you for taking the time to compose such a thorough reply.

Hmmm... obviously I don't understand memory performance as well as I thought. I thought that the higher the speed of the memory (i.e., 1066) the higher the performance of the system. Could you provide a link that will explain this relationship in more detail?

Also, I was originally planning to go with the Q9550 chip but the delivery dates are uncertain right now as Intel is holding production. Anyway, the Q6700 is hundreds of dollars cheaper than the Q9550 and the performance, as I understand it, is quite comparable. Why do you think that I should hold off on the Q6700?

Thanks,
Ed

 

[ausch30]

I was actually mistaken, it's been a while since I've looked at the price of the Q6700. For it's current price, around $280, it's a good buy.

The relationship between RAM and the CPU for Intel chips is the FSB. Intel chips are Quad pumped which means the send info 4 times per cycle while DDR (Double Data Rate) ram sends it twice so you want to look for RAM that is half the speed of your FSB to run at 1:1.

The importance of the 1:1 ratio is debatable but in my experience everything runs a little more efficiently when running at the same speed.

The big reason most people around here go for the higher rated memory is so when overclocking their CPU's they don't have to push the RAM as well which allows a higher CPU overclock.

I have read articles (Tom's did one not too long ago) comparing the performance of differently rated RAM and there was very little difference between the high speed, high latency, high price memory and the low speed, low latency, low price modules.

Read this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pc-memory,1698.html
and this
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ram-speed-tests,1807.html

 

[twosteppin_ed]

Thanks for the information and I will study the info at the link you provided. This all helps very much!

 

[Crazy-PC]

Let me share that the actual benefit for you to overclock the memory from 800MHZ to 1066 MHZ is very little. I used the 3DMark06 and Cyrstal report etc to benchmark the difference between 800 and 1066 are within 2%, for 3DMark 06 is 10900 vs 10840 (almost is no difference). My new system for this benchmark is E6550 @2.8GHZ, HD3870, OCZ 4G DDR-2 800. HDD Seagate 500GB cache 32M

 

[roadrunner197069]

For over clocking all you need is DDR2 800. 1:1 will get you 4.0 if your system can handle it. At 3.6 you will be downclocking 800 ram to run 1:1.