1066 RAM question

[Brosaw]

I'm currently putting together a computer (if anyone wants the specs, I'll be more than happy to oblige) for gaming on a budget of a little over six hundred dollars. I've cut a few corners and found a few good deals, and now I'm down to the point where I have some extra money to spend.

Right now, I'm going with 8GB worth of Corsair XMS (find it here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184 ), which is DDR2 800. I saw that the motherboard I had picked out took 1066, and found some OCZ Platinum (which is right here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227298 ) for a modest price increase.

My obvious questions here are: how much of an increase would I find in 1066 over 800 RAM, is it worth maybe twenty dollars extra (I'm in California, so I have to pay Newegg tax), and would I be better off possibly putting the money somewhere else - something that would most likely require posting my current hardware picks, which is again not a problem - in my setup?

Thanks in advance, any help is much appreciated.

 

[jsc]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ddr2-ram-memory,2079.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/4gb-memory-overclocking,2024.html

I just bought 8 GB (4 X 2GB) of Crucial Ballistix. I do not think that specially marked 1066 RAM is worh the price premium.

 

[badge]

My obvious questions here are: how much of an increase would I find in 1066 over 800 RAM

PC28500 is simply overclockable PC26400. The manufacturer guarantees it run at the increased transfer rates. PC28500 will default in BIOS to PC26400 800MHz. and has to be manually set to 1066MHz. More specifically, PC28500 has a data transfer rate of 8.5 GB/second. PC26400 has a data transfer rate of 6.4 GB/second. A lot of PC26400 can be overclocked to PC28500 speeds. The difference.

 

[Brosaw]

So I guess the consensus would be to buy 800 and overclock it yourself?

 

[badge]

What MB/chipset. PC26400 will run with 4-4-4-12 timings in many instances. Rarely will PC28500 run at anthing less than 5 CAS LAT or 5-5-5-12. But, yes PC26400 should overclock to at or near 1066 speeds generally speaking. Depends on you ystem.

 

[badge]

So, if your MB is native 1066MHz. you could just pop in PC28500 set BIOS to the 1066MHz. and set the timimgs to 5-5-5-12 and you get 8.5 GB/second transfer rate to the processor. Or, you could buy PC26400, overclock the system bus and the RAM will go right on up the scale to around 1066MHz. and probably at 4-4-4-12. No chance of the tight timings and respone with PC28500. Your preference.