Choice of memory?

[king smp]

If you had your choice of 8gb of PC2 4200 533mhz or
4gb of DDR2 800 which would you pick?

 

[hunter315]

What are the timings and what do you do with your system? If you are running a 32 bit OS then you wont even be able to use a full 4GB so the 8GB definitely isnt worth it

 

[geekapproved]

4gb of DDR2-800

 

[king smp]

What are the timings and what do you do with your system? If you are running a 32 bit OS then you wont even be able to use a full 4GB so the 8GB definitely isnt worth it

Stock Dell Optiplex 745 memory timings
I mainly do MSoffice work,audio (guitar,keyboard) recording,dvd ripping/encoding/burning
run one Virtual Box VM,light gaming (BIoshock 2,Crysis warhead,Left 4 Dead 2 main games)
recording streaming Netflix and Comcast Xfinity,light Photoshop
I am running Win7 Ultimate 32 but I can switch to Win7 64 if it is worth it do so.

 

[king smp]

4gb of DDR2-800

I am thinking the same thing but with running Virtual Box VMs
I was thinking the extra ram might be nice

 

[king smp]

FSB- 1066mhz
current ram - 533hz 4 x 512mb (CL2.5 I think)
Still shopping for ram
Probably going to get Kingston Value RAM or Crucial low end
just started looking
I saw Crucial DDR2 800 2 x 2gb @ $70
Also I have four slots
2 x 2gb or 4 x 1gb which is better or does it matter

 

[king smp]

Dadiggle
I remember seeing "Full Metal Jacket" in the theaters.
I LMAO when they used your signature line in the movie.

 

[christop]

4 gigs ddr2 800.

 

[king smp]

Well the votes are in
I already thinking that 4gb DDR2 800 was
the right choice but I wanted some opinions
Budget wise I will have to start with (1) 2gb stick
and then buying a matching one later

 

[king smp]

Just take the Cl number and multiply it by 3.75 for the 533 sticks and 2.5 for the 800 sticks to find out which will perform better. the lower total you get will be the better ones to get

Well I did the BSEL pin mod to my E4300 1.8ghz 800mhz to 2.4ghz 1066 mhz
So I figure the memory bandwith increase by going rom 533mhz to DDR2 800 is close to double
from some of the tech articles I have read.

I just reread spec sheet from Dell
and i can only use 1gb DDR2 800 sticks
so it will have to be 4 x 1gb setup

 

[king smp]

I have only a rough understanding of memory timings
so usually I just match up CL when replacing but
I am not sure if that is the right way to do.
If I remember CS is cas latency but that is about it.

 

[king smp]

thats good to know
but to be honest I will
probably use something like Crucials
memory finder for my model number and
go off those specs to pick ram
going from 800 fsb to 1066 is the limit of my OC
so I really dont need the fastest ram

 

[king smp]

Best answer selected by king smp.