1066 vs 800

[ed9000]

Hey,
I am looking to buy 4gb of memory for my computer.
Motherboard: GA-EP35-DS3L
CPU: Intel E8400 @ stock clock
PSU: Tagan 580W
GPU: nVidia 9600GT

I do not know much about Ram, and I am unsure which one I will buy, either 1066MHz or 800Mhz. Which one will be more stable with my system and give the best performance? Im not planning to overclock it.

Also, is it better to have a higher or lower latency? I would of thought lower is better, but then why is higher latency ram more expensive?

 

[ed9000]

I am mainly looking to buy one of these 3:

800mhz C5 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130429
1066mhz C5 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148816
1066 mhz C7 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158368

 

[Scotteq]

OK - At stock speeds, the Front Side Buss between your motherboard and processor is running at 1333MHz - "Quad Pumped", which means it's moving data 4 times per clock cycle. Good so far?

OK - The base clock for your front side buss is therefore 333 Mhz (1333/4). Got it?

Good.

Memory is "Double Data Rate", instead of Quad. It moves data twice per clock, instead of 4 times. So take your base clock of 333MHz, multiply by 2, and you get 666 - Which retails as 667.

Are you getting the impression that you don't need 800 or 1066 RAM at stock speeds?? Good! Save that stuff for overclocking - Memory usually doesn't like being overclocked much from it's rated speeds, but when you're not overclocking having faster RAM doesn't actually get you much except on artificial benchmarks.


Now - The "CAS Timings" (pronounced "case", like beer) of memory are list of different functions, and the numbers represent how many clock cycles it takes to reliably complete that function. So at a given clock speed, lower timing numbers are better. 4 is faster than 5 is faster than 7, etc etc etc..


So, here's a list of some nice DDR2 667 memory with nice, tight CAS 4 timings:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010170147+1052408437+1052508081&Configurator=&Subcategory=147&description=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=

 

[MaDMagik]

Hi,

Go with ddr2 800, the difference in performance will be impossible to noctice. Higher speeds require higher latency thats why gains in terms of performance are negligible. I have those corsairs but 2x1gb and theyre great sticks, bought them from ebuyer too. They run up to 760Mhz with timings of 4-4-4-12, anything above requires 5-5-5-15 but with those ito goes up to 980Mhz. If you dont overclock and have better way of spending that 10quid difference than dont even bother with 1066. I have no idea why those CL7 sticks are more expensive than CL5.