NEED HELP!

[Guest]

Well nobody ever responds to my posts so i thought that if i put an exclamatory subject maybe somebody would respond
This was my previous post that nobody responded:
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This is my system:
Athlon 800 with a VIA chipset
i have 128 meg ram already
got geforce 2 gts 32 meg vid card

would getting 2 sticks of 256meg crucial ram be much faster than 1 stick of 256meg crucial ram

both would be added onto separate slots along with my existing 128meg ram (128, 256, 256 or 128, 256)

Would it be economical to spend $18 bucks more for the speed?

O and another thing...does it matter which slot the ram is placed...should i put my (1 or 2 pieces...i dont know) of 256 before my 128?

THANKS
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THANKS
Hope someone responds

 

[Spdy_Gonzales]

I don't think that 2 sticks of 256 will necessarily be faster than just adding 1 stick of 256. It depends on whether your programs are memory intensive and frequently use the swap file. If your system is not currently using the swap file heavily, then adding more memory most likely will not increase speed. Check out the FAQ at Crucial and read what they have to say about the amount of memory you need.

If you want increased speed then probably your money would more wisely be spent on upgrading your CPU.

<font color=green>I wonder...what is the speed of gravity!</font color=green>

 

[camieabz]

If your 128 stick is generic RAM, then a 256 stick as a replacement would be slightly faster. 256MB is enough for many users. It depends on your operating system, apps etc.

As spdy said, the use of the swapfile will slow down the system. If you manage the swapfile smartly you can get away with 256MB quite easily.

Best idea is to buy 1 stick and do some tests. If you're dipping into the swapfile a lot then get another.

<b><font color=blue>~scribble~</font color=blue></b>

 

[Guest]

sorry..i dont really know much about memory...what is the swap file?


Thanks for responding

 

[Crashman]

Your beiggest performance improvement may come from decreasing your cas latency from 3 cycles (Cas3) to 2 cycles (Cas2). Since Cas2 and Cas3 are nearly identicle in price, if your old memory is Cas3, simply removing that and putting in a Cas2 module from Crucial (and making the apropriat settings in BIOS if it's not done automatically) would be your best bet. In fact 256MB at Cas2 will normally outperform 384MB at Cas3.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[Guest]

you sure my old one is cas3?
What is cas...quick explanation...nothing detailed please



THANKS

 

[Guest]

latency of the RAM less the better

 

[Crashman]

Cas Latency is the number of cycles it takes to initiate memory transfer. When your computer request a file from memory, it does not happen instantly, but instead has a certain amount of lag. If it takes two cycles to initiate memory transfer, it's Cas2. If it takes three cycles, it's Cas3.

Extensive testing has shown that for the most common programs, Cas2 is significantly faster than Cas3, to the point that Cas2 at 100MHz has been faster than Cas3 at 133MHz on many Athlon systems.
For most of us, memory over 256MB in 98SE shows little to no improvement over 256MB. In fact the difference in graphical performance on my own system went up by less than 1% when I increased my memory from 256MB to 512MB. But on the same benchmarks I saw a 3% to 7% increase in performance by changing from Cas3 to Cas2.
If your short on cash, 256MB Cas2 will be almost perfect. If you have the extra money, 512MB Cas2 will be slightly but not noticeably better, except in Windows XP, which is a memory hog.
You can probably use the old Cas3 module in another system. Put it in your sister's/brother's/parent's/freinds system and see great returns! Maybe they'll even pay you for it!

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[camieabz]

LoL [nothing detailed please] was the request.

Speaking as one who has been baffled repeatedly by your answers (they make sense now I know the jargon), I have feeling he may have a tight throat reading that.

Questi.

A swap file (or swap space or, in Windows NT, a pagefile) is a space on a hard disk used as the virtual memory extension of a computer's real memory (random access memory). Having a swap file allows your computer's operating system to pretend that you have more RAM than you actually do. The least recently used files in RAM can be "swapped out" to your hard disk until they are needed later so that new files can be "swapped in" to RAM.

In short. More RAM = less swapfile usage = more speed.

<b><font color=blue>~scribble~</font color=blue></b>

 

[Crashman]

That's why I split it into two parts. The first three sentences answer his question simply, as per his request.

The second part, although detailed, explained how the information applies.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[Guest]

So if i get CAS2 ram (is this default for Crucial PC-133 SDRAM?) will i have to do anything in order for it to work with my motherboard (i will take out the 128meg and put in 2 256s...most probably 2)

Second...will i have to do anything for the swap file...my windows xp always says that i am low on Virtual memory so i guess i should get more ram


THANKS

 

[Crashman]

go to <A HREF="http://www.crucial.com/store/listmodule.asp?module=SDRAM,+PC133&Package=168-pin+DIMM" target="_new">CRUCIALS PC133 STANDARD MEMORY LIST</A> and look. You'll see that both Cas2 and Cas3 are listed, with Cas2 costing less than $2 more than Cas3 in the 256MB modules.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[DaveGOD]

if you can be bothered, there actually is some responses in the earlier post.

"Bring out the dead..."
"I'm not dead yet!"
"Yes you are!"

 

[Guest]

Are you guys sure that 384megs (composed of a 256meg stick and a 128meg stick) at CL3 is slower than 256 of a CL2 meg stick. I went to crucial and this is what it said for memory explanations:
---------------------------------------------
SDRAM Timings
This refers to the latency of the parts, or the amount of time it takes for the memory to respond to a command. Latency is measured in terms of clock cycles and is often noted as CL2 (two clock cycles) or CL3 (three clock cycles). For most applications there is very little difference in performance between CL2 and CL3 parts.
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THANKS

 

[DaveGOD]

put it this way: CL2 takes two thirds of the time that it takes CL3.

its probably fairly close, 384mb would use the swapfile less, but the 256mb CL2 does what it does faster. i imagine it would depend on what you do, if you have lots of programs running at the same time then probably 384mb would be better as youll really be using lots of memory. bear in mind 256mb is still a lot of memory. also mind that if you decide to do a small upgrade later you will be stuck with the same decision, but then i think youll be wishing youd bought CL2 at this point. personally i'd go with 256mb CL2.

"Bring out the dead..."
"I'm not dead yet!"
"Yes you are!"

 

[bum_jcrules]

That is not necessarily true. Could be 2-3-3 vs 3-2-2 where the CAS 2 would actually be slower by one cycle.

I know it is samantics but I just had to say it. Know what you are buying.

<b>All for one and one for all...and 3 for 5! - Curly - The Three Stooges</b> :lol: