SDRAM - Questions & Recommendation

[Guest]

Hi,

My current system is,

CPU: 750 Athlon
MB: Abit KA7-100
Ram: Corsair 128mb PC133-16x8 SDRams-Unbuffered-CL3 (model: CM654S128A)
<website> http://www.corsairmicro.com/main/products/specs/cm654s128.html
OS: Win2k Pro
Often Uses: IE5,MIRC,ICQ,Winamp,WCommander,Warftpd, Leapftp, & Games (BG2,RPG)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ram is currently cheap, and I am just about ready to upgrade more ram. There are numerous respectable manufacturers including Corsair, Crucial/Micron, and Kingston. I have the following questions.

1.) This is the first system I have that uses SDRAM. I am familiar with EDO ram in which the rams must come in the exact same pair. Do I have to put in similar SDRAM (specs, model, etc.) without affecting the Corsair?

2.) I can always buy the exact same stick that is on there right now. Most vendors price it at about $85-above. However, I go to to www.crucial.com and find the following for about $10 less than the Corsair:

Crucial 128mb PC133-Unbuffered-CL3-ECC (model: CT16M72S4D75)
<website> http://www.crucial.com/index.asp?model=KA7-100&x=16&y=3

Some of the specifications on about Corsair and Crucial do not make sense to me. According to the specs, the Crucial *appears* better. Is that true? In addition, let say I get the crucial, it there going to be any problem because it and the corsair do not have the same spec?

3.) Win2k Taskmanager typically indicates my system uses about 100mb of ram. Nonetheless, I experience a decrease of speed when openning more programs. Will upgrading ram speed my system up?

4.) When will a new ram format surpass SDRAM, and thus SDRAM will become obsolete? I am considering getting 256mb rather than the 128mb. Is there a significant performance difference between a 256mb system and a 384mb system?

5.) Which SDRam do you recommend? I have never had Crucial rams. Corsair SDRAM is very reliable and works flawlessly. I did not include anything from Kingston. Feel free to add comments about it, or any other brand.

Thanks,
kuphryn

 

[yoda271828]

1) No, SDRAM modules are DIMMs (dual inline memory modules), and DIMMs do not need to be in pairs. Nor do they have to have the same specs, however the memory setting will have to be set to that of the lowest grade memory.

2) I consider Crucial to be the second best memory, behind Mushkin. And since it is a great deal less than Mushkin it is usually what I recommend to people. You should have no problems mixing Crucial and Corsair (Corsair is also good memory).

3)Upgrading your memory will improve your performance. In some situations you won't notice more RAM, but in others you might see a huge difference.

4)There currently is a memory technology better than normal SDRAM called DDR-SDRAM. It transfers twice as much data as regular SDRAM. It is hard to find, and the motherboards that support it are even harder to find. I suggest that you not worry about it right now, regular SDRAM will still be around for a while.

The performance increase from 128MB to 256MB is slight, and the from 256MB to 384 is even less noticable. Chances are that you will need it in the future, 256MB should be sufficient though.

5) I suggest that you get Crucial, PC133 unbuffered non-parity. I looked on the Crucial site and found two that would fit your needs: 128MB-<A HREF="http://www.crucial.com/store/PartSpecs.asp?imodule=CT16M64S4D7E" target="_new">http://www.crucial.com/store/PartSpecs.asp?imodule=CT16M64S4D7E</A>
256MB-<A HREF="http://www.crucial.com/store/PartSpecs.asp?imodule=CT32M64S4D75" target="_new">http://www.crucial.com/store/PartSpecs.asp?imodule=CT32M64S4D75</A>

Here is the list of all Crucial modules that will work in your motherboard: <A HREF="http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.asp?model=KA7-100&x=6&y=7" target="_new">http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.asp?model=KA7-100&x=6&y=7</A>

 

[Guest]

Thanks.

Kuphryn

 

[Guest]

I am curious though. I have been comming across a buzz about 150Mhz SDRAM with TinyBGA rated at 3-3-2 but running at 2T-2T-2T 6.6ns (4.5 clk access). I looked at places like pc133memory.com and kingmax.com. I also read about how it [150Mhz SDRAM] can increase overall system performance as well as complement over clocking (I have my system SDRAM upped from 133 to 147Mhz 2T-3T-2T 128MB PC133) and a AMD 1.100Ghz upped to 1.199Mhz stablized.

My question is, would the so-called 150Mhz TinyBGA 6ns kingmax or other vendor mem that exceeds PC133 standards in fact give me the extra 10-15% performance increase these companies are proposing as the "overclockers dream". They back them up with cute little graphs but I don't want to dish out the $150 quacks for the 150Mhz TinyBGA 256mb 6ns mem and find out it was all a sham.

By the way, this 150Mhz 256mb rated Kingmax, I found, is the same price as the 133Mhz from Crucial (price from PCboost.com)...What's the difference?

Is this all a snare and a racket? Is there such a true statement that "HSDRAM" is a real deal?

Please help because I am becomming increasingly confused.

 

[Arrow]

Well, basically, the DIMMs are just specified to run a minimum of 150mhz, similar to how PC133 DIMMs are specified to run at 133mhz and how PC100 DIMMs are specified to run at 100mhz. In reality, if you go over 133mhz with a PC133 DIMM, you are overclocking your RAM - which in some cases, may not work. So, the manufacturers are selling RAM rated at 150mhz, which are <b>guaranteed</b> to run at 150mhz.


Rob
Please visit <b><A HREF="http://www.ncix.com/shop/index.cfm?affiliateid=319048" target="_new">http://www.ncix.com/shop/index.cfm?affiliateid=319048</A></b>

 

[yoda271828]

As Arrow said PC150 HSDRAM is just PC-133 that was tested to overclock to 150Mhz.

Keep in mind though that when you overclock the FSB not only the memory gets overclocked, but the PCI bus, AGP bus, northbridge, etc... also get overclocked. And the FSB speed is limited by the weakest link. In the case of motherboards with the VIA KT133 the clock generator would crap out around 110Mhz, so that is the limit of the FSB on KT133 based motherboards. However all the reviews I've seen on the new KT133A motherboards successfully overclocked the FSB to at least 143Mhz. One review even got it to 166Mhz with a Duron! Intel motherboards also overclock the FSB well. Most of them can reach 150Mhz also.

So, while PC150 HSDRAM might be useful, just make sure that the rest of the components can handle that speed also.

 

[Guest]

Thank you gentlemen.
very imformative.

 

[Guest]

Does that mean that the Kingmax with "Tinybga" is the best buy??? Is it reliable???

 

[rcf84]

I have KINGMAX PC150 its good had no problems with it. PC150 is faster the PC133 cause of more bandwith

Cel 533 - 256mb sdram
15gb HD - ati radeon 32mb ddr (200/200)
SB live! mp3+ - win98 Beos

 

[yoda271828]

I suggest a good quality PC133 CAS2 RAM like Mushkin or Crucial. The Mushkin is the best performing memory that I have ever seen. The Crucial isn't far behind Mushkin in performance and it's cheaper.

 

[Guest]

Alright , I read the post twice and i think i get it but let me ask you this to be sure.
if i have t kt7a-raid board that supports 266fsb, and the t- bird 1.267 ghz also 266 fsb( available mid feb) wich clock speed ram should i use? 133? 150?

i obviosly want the fastest over all performing memory and will definetley re look at mushkin but there seems to be huge differences in prices between same size modules that confuses me.
crucial has 5 types of sd133mhz ram in 512 modules all ranging in price fromm $ 399.00 to $ 800.00 and as if thats not confusing enough this 150 mhz stuff has me wondering what will be the best clock speed for me , i would think the higher the better rite?

anyway will the 150 mhz clock speed ram work and fit the dimms on the abit kt7a-raid?
does mushkin offer a product that you could recommend to me?
any info would be greatly appreciated
thanx for reading this

 

[yoda271828]

Any good PC133 memory will overclock to 150Mhz, so don't worry about that. In fact there is no such thing as PC150. PC150 is PC133 memory that has been tested stabily at 150Mhz.

The best performing memory that I have ever seen is the <A HREF="http://www.mushkin.com/cgi-bin/Mushkin.filereader?3a6f6e6603e640cc273f0a00010205b6+EN/catalogs/4792" target="_new">Mushkin High Performance REV 3 222</A>. Unfortunately it is only available in 128MB modules. <A HREF="http://www.mushkin.com/cgi-bin/Mushkin.filereader?3a6f6d500394a828273f0a000102059e+EN/catalogs/4728" target="_new">Mushkin High Performance REV 2 222</A>, which is almost as good, comes in 256MB modules. Only get Mushkin memory if you get the High Performance modules. Crucial is just as good as regular Mushkin, but cheaper.