Memory Config for Nforce2 & Athlon 2.4

[enj483]

I am building a new system. It will be an AMD XP 2400+ with a Asus A7N8X Deluxe motherboard. I will not be overclocking it.

I have some questions regarding memory configuration, as I am on a limited budget.

Tom's Hardware in his review indicates that you should use CL2 memory only - or take a big performance hit. CL2 memory is expensive!, unless I'm looking at the wrong place.

The following are my options:

1 Dual DDR with Corsair XMS / PC2700 / CL2 / Run at 333mhz / 256mb x 2 =
512mb ----> $171.20
2 Dual DDR with good quality PC3200 / CL2.5 / Run at 400mhz / 256mb x 2 =
512mb ----> $120.44
3 Single DDR with Corsair XMS / PC3500 / CL2 / Run at 400mhz / 256mb x 1 =
256mb --> $111.00
4 Single DDR with Corsair XMS / PC3200 / CL2 / Run at 400mhz / 512mb x 1 =
512mb --> $177.62
5 Single DDR with good quality PC3200 / CL2.5 / Run at 400mhz / 512mb x 1 =
512mb ---> $122.65

Please review the above, and put them in order of gaming performance for me.

If the Dual DDR with good quality cas2.5-pc3200-512mb (2) is faster than the
Single DDR cas2-pc3500-256mb (3), then I'll probably go that way due to
budget constraints. I'd like to spend no more than $122 right now.

Also, the best place to buy Corsair memory (or any other good CL2) would be
helpful. I'm currently building the system from Mwave.

Thanks for your help.

 

[knowan]

Most (but not all) RAM rated at CL 2.5 will also run at 2.0. If you want to save some money then get 2 sticks of PC2700 as it is actually faster than the PC3200 on your board, and is also faster than a single stick.

The cheepest place to get RAM would be pricewatch.com, but don't forget to check out the vendor on resellerratings.com before purchasing. Generally googlegear.com and newegg.com have very low prices and very good ratings.

If you go with the PC2700, then Samsung is a good brand at a good price, and I've never heard of it not being able to run at cas 2.0

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[Crashman]

It's all about the latency. Do the math, PC2700 runs at 166MHz (DDR333), so each cycle is 6ns, so that Cas2 is 12ns response time. Now, PC3200 runs at 200MHz (DDR400), so each cycle takes 5ns, Cas2.5 would be 12.5ns. That's so close, I'd go for the cheaper PC3200 as long as you can validate that it does run this speed. In fact, you could try the PC3200 at the slower 166MHz clock and Cas2, it will probably work.

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