RAM upgrade

[Rudick]

Currently I running my E8400 on Asus P5QC with 2x2GB Patriot 800MHz DIMMs. Just wanna know if upgrading to a DDR3 config will be of any significant boost as my task mainly r Programming, Movies 'n Music and gaming(COD4 MP)

 

[MRFS]

Probably not a "significant" boost, using your terminology:

Memory Standard DDR3 1333 / DDR2 1066

Given the specs above, you may be able to overclock your FSB
a bit more with DDR3, depending on what your current BIOS will permit,
e.g. assuming a 1 : 1 FSB : DRAM ratio (or similar ratios).

If you're running XP 32bit, you're not using all of your RAM as it is,
because XP 32bit initially locks up a measurable amount of RAM
for device drivers e.g. video frame buffer.

Moreover, 32 binary digits can only address 4GB of memory, maximum,
so your system will end up showing around 3.2GB of usable RAM.

Have you tried enabling SpeedStep? The P45 chipset is
quite flexible, and SpeedStep should bump the multiplier
automatically when your CPU gets busy.

You can demonstrate this multiplier change by
launching CPU-Z then launching a CPU-intensive task,
like the math benchmarks in PerformanceTest.

While the math benchmark is running, SpeedStep
will increase the multiplier, then drop it back down
the moment the benchmark finishes.

Also, what is your FSB clock rate currently?

ASUS P45 motherboards come with the AIBooster utility,
which will help you overclock your FSB manually
from that Windows application, if you are not comfortable
tweaking the BIOS manually instead.


RTFM (Read The Fine Manual -- not always "Fine" however


MRFS