why is 512 always CAS 2.5?

[read_NChomsky]

Help! I'm swimming in unknown waters (memory). I'm lining up to buy a new rig w/dual ram Granite bay Gigabyte 8INXP, etc. with 2 sticks of 512. Seems like most are rated at 2.5, very few at 2. Is this really important?

Are the extra bucks worth it? Do most people just by 2.5 and overclock to 2? Following are the only 2 sticks I found rated at 2 -- any recommendations given the intended system?

CORSAIR MEMORY XMS - $187.00 Extreme Memory Speed Series 512MB 32MX8 PC-2700C2PT With Platinum - Silver Heat Spreader OEM, Speed 333 MHz, Organization 64M x 64, CAS Latency 2-3-3-6-T1, Memory type DDR

MUSHKIN DDR 512MB PC-2700 - $210 OEM At last PC2700 rated CAS 2:2:2 stability! heatspreader build PC2700=333MHz FSB Unbuffered, 6 layer PCB Rated 2-2-2 The latest DDR SDRAM spec - PC2700 - takes data transfer rates to 2.7Gb per second! This PC2700 module is an unbuffered 184-Pin Double Data Rate (DDR)


Thanks for any insights, advice --

of COURSE the roads... but BESIDES the roads, what have the romans ever done for us!!!??!!

 

[icy_oblivion]

If you are a very extreme user of the memory or you want to overclock the RAM then get CAS 2.0. Otherwise CAS 2.5 should be fine. FYI the Corsair XMS RAM may be the best brand of RAM on the market.

<font color=green>My other personality is schitzofrenic.</font color=green>

 

[read_NChomsky]

Thanks very much for that info, icy_oblivion. Based on your rec I'll go for the Corsair, not really that much more than other C2.5 512MB....

of COURSE the roads... but BESIDES the roads, what have the romans ever done for us!!!??!!

 

[chuck232]

Yup Corsair is good. CAS2 will give you maybe a 3-5% performance boost over CAS 2.5.

...And all the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put my computer back together again...

 

[monkeyspank]

I've always bought Crucial cas2.5 and run it at cas2 + 1T command without any problems. maybe i will be upset one day when i buy some that doesnt.

<font color=red> -- </font color=red><font color=blue>A bush in the hand is worth two birds at the bar</font color=blue>