I am currently building a new system and have some questions. I currently have and Asus A7N8X deluxe and want to get 1 gig or corsair DDR333 or DDR400 in 2 512MB blocks. This is going to be a gaming machine and after looking at TOM's 3 NForce mother board round up I am confused as to what kind of mem I should get. All the game benchmarks showed better results for the DDR333 and getting that would save me 70USD. What is better for games, the 333 or the 400? Will bios revisions increase the 400 perfomance in the future? WHAT SHOULD I DO!!!
DDR400 or DDR333 for NForce 2??
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512 is usually enough for gaming, i use 512 megs of PC2100 (soon to be 512 megs of PC2700) The thing that we have to stress the most is CL2 timing. It'll help you a lot more than some cheap 3200 ram.
"What kind of idiot are you?"
"I don't know, what kinds are there?"
"What kind of idiot are you?"
"I don't know, what kinds are there?"
I know about the CL2 and I have the choice between Corsair XMS DDR400 or XMS DDR333:
Corsair TWINX1024-3200LLPT 1GB DDR400 XMS3200 2x64Mx64 2x184 DIMM CAS2 Dual-Channel Memory w/Platinum Heat Spreader Retail
or
Corsair TWINX1024-2700LLPT 1GB DDR333 XMS2700 2x64Mx64 2x184 DIMM CAS2 32Mx8 DRAMs Dual-Channel Memory w/Platinum Heat Spreader Retail
Oh, I also have an Athlon XP 2600+. I also plan on getting the Geforce FX when it comes out. But as for memory, I want to know what one of the above 2 would be best for me.
Corsair TWINX1024-3200LLPT 1GB DDR400 XMS3200 2x64Mx64 2x184 DIMM CAS2 Dual-Channel Memory w/Platinum Heat Spreader Retail
or
Corsair TWINX1024-2700LLPT 1GB DDR333 XMS2700 2x64Mx64 2x184 DIMM CAS2 32Mx8 DRAMs Dual-Channel Memory w/Platinum Heat Spreader Retail
Oh, I also have an Athlon XP 2600+. I also plan on getting the Geforce FX when it comes out. But as for memory, I want to know what one of the above 2 would be best for me.
i would think 512 would be more than enough. You would only need more for media editing. For games, i haven't seen one game that would run better with 1 gig of ram over 512 megs. =\
"What kind of idiot are you?"
"I don't know, what kinds are there?"
"What kind of idiot are you?"
"I don't know, what kinds are there?"
Willamette_sucks
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i agree 512 is plenty. it would be best for you to get xms3200 or xmx3500 so you can overclock more, or upgrade to a Barton cpu later.
look around, i think www.tigerdirect.com sells XMS3500 for around 100 a stick, and XMS3200 for like 90 or something.
I dyed my body green, branded an "n" on my chest, and stood on a box in the middle of Time Square shouting, "ATI is the Anti-Christ!" for 48-hours to boost sales after nVidia had a losing quarter.
look around, i think www.tigerdirect.com sells XMS3500 for around 100 a stick, and XMS3200 for like 90 or something.
I dyed my body green, branded an "n" on my chest, and stood on a box in the middle of Time Square shouting, "ATI is the Anti-Christ!" for 48-hours to boost sales after nVidia had a losing quarter.
Willamette_sucks
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i get what youre confused about now.
Yes most applications run better on DDR333 on the nforce 2, but if you buy ddr400 you can run it at ddr333 no problem, by setting its speed in bios to 166. but then when/if you overclock the FSB (which is 166 for 2600 and up), your ram can easily handle it.
see what im saying? if you buy ddr400 it wont perform any worse, and will have more headroom for overclocking or a 200mhz FSB Barton in the future.
I dyed my body green, branded an "n" on my chest, and stood on a box in the middle of Time Square shouting, "ATI is the Anti-Christ!" for 48-hours to boost sales after nVidia had a losing quarter.
Yes most applications run better on DDR333 on the nforce 2, but if you buy ddr400 you can run it at ddr333 no problem, by setting its speed in bios to 166. but then when/if you overclock the FSB (which is 166 for 2600 and up), your ram can easily handle it.
see what im saying? if you buy ddr400 it wont perform any worse, and will have more headroom for overclocking or a 200mhz FSB Barton in the future.
I dyed my body green, branded an "n" on my chest, and stood on a box in the middle of Time Square shouting, "ATI is the Anti-Christ!" for 48-hours to boost sales after nVidia had a losing quarter.
If you had the Athlon 2700 instead of the 2600 then I would say yes, get the DDR400.
DDR400 PC3200 200 MHz Bus
DDR333 PC2700 166 MHz Bus
DDR266 PC2100 133 MHz Bus
Athlon 2600+ and lower 133 Mhz Bus
Athlon 2700+ and higher 166 MHz Bus
Barton (coming soon) 200 MHz Bus (proposed)
In an ideal world When the CPU bus speed matches up with the Ram Bus speed everything would be perfect, and faster RAM wouldn't adversly affect the system speed at all, since the extra bus space is unused.
In the real world system speed is slightly faster if the RAM is slightly faster. For instance mixing a 133 MHz CPU with 166 MHz ram is slightly faster than using 133 MHz Ram (actually it's roughly about 3% faster). BUT using 200 MHz Ram with that same processor is actually SLOWER than using the 166 MHz Ram. The reason given for this is that since the Ram bus is wider than the CPU bus, the Northbridge has to work harder in order to chop up the messages sent from the Ram and send them along the smaller CPU bus. So it's the Northbridge that's actually slowing the system down. This is a gross oversimplification, but is generally correct.
So, since you're using a 133 MHz CPU, the ideal Ram speeed is 166 MHz, or pc2700 (DDR333).
HOWEVER: there are several other things to consider. The DDR400 is more "future proof". It will be ideal with the Barton core, for instance. AMD has stated that the Barton will be the last CPU for the socket A Mobo's, so by getting DDR400 you will never have to upgrade your RAM again until you upgrade your mobo. Plus you can always underclock the DDR400 to DDR333 speeds.
But then there's the $70 difference to consider. Why spend $70 more that you have to, especially since prices are gaurenteed to fall later on?
My recommendation: If you are planning on upgrading the CPU on this mobo in the near future (say within 1.5 years), then get the DDR400. That way your future processor won't be bottlenecked by the Ram. IF on the other hand, you forsee your next CPU being a Hammer, then get the DDR333. Who knows, DDR2 may be out in time for the Hammer.
Alos, the Samsung DDR333 is cheeper than Corsair, and is just as overclockable, if not more so. Corsair makes way better DDR400 though.
Of course, all this changes if you plan on overclocking.
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DDR400 PC3200 200 MHz Bus
DDR333 PC2700 166 MHz Bus
DDR266 PC2100 133 MHz Bus
Athlon 2600+ and lower 133 Mhz Bus
Athlon 2700+ and higher 166 MHz Bus
Barton (coming soon) 200 MHz Bus (proposed)
In an ideal world When the CPU bus speed matches up with the Ram Bus speed everything would be perfect, and faster RAM wouldn't adversly affect the system speed at all, since the extra bus space is unused.
In the real world system speed is slightly faster if the RAM is slightly faster. For instance mixing a 133 MHz CPU with 166 MHz ram is slightly faster than using 133 MHz Ram (actually it's roughly about 3% faster). BUT using 200 MHz Ram with that same processor is actually SLOWER than using the 166 MHz Ram. The reason given for this is that since the Ram bus is wider than the CPU bus, the Northbridge has to work harder in order to chop up the messages sent from the Ram and send them along the smaller CPU bus. So it's the Northbridge that's actually slowing the system down. This is a gross oversimplification, but is generally correct.
So, since you're using a 133 MHz CPU, the ideal Ram speeed is 166 MHz, or pc2700 (DDR333).
HOWEVER: there are several other things to consider. The DDR400 is more "future proof". It will be ideal with the Barton core, for instance. AMD has stated that the Barton will be the last CPU for the socket A Mobo's, so by getting DDR400 you will never have to upgrade your RAM again until you upgrade your mobo. Plus you can always underclock the DDR400 to DDR333 speeds.
But then there's the $70 difference to consider. Why spend $70 more that you have to, especially since prices are gaurenteed to fall later on?
My recommendation: If you are planning on upgrading the CPU on this mobo in the near future (say within 1.5 years), then get the DDR400. That way your future processor won't be bottlenecked by the Ram. IF on the other hand, you forsee your next CPU being a Hammer, then get the DDR333. Who knows, DDR2 may be out in time for the Hammer.
Alos, the Samsung DDR333 is cheeper than Corsair, and is just as overclockable, if not more so. Corsair makes way better DDR400 though.
Of course, all this changes if you plan on overclocking.
--------------
Knowan likes you. Knowan is your friend. Knowan thinks you're great.
Think I am gona send back the 2600+ (still sealed in retail box) and wait for the Barton and go with DDR400. I can hold out for awhile. And besides, the Geforce FX that I plan on getting is not even out yet. I am gona wait until everything is available and then get it. I already have and Asus A7N8X Deluxe, Antec 450 watt power supply, Cooler Master HHC-001, and all the other periferal stuff from my current system. Thanks for all the info. When will this Barton come out anyway, and will it have positively support a 200mhz bus?
Hi, interesting reading these articles, can I ask why you state that he has a 133MHz CPU? Doesn't the 2600+ have a 333MHz FSB, doesn't that mean it is 166MHz?
And since I've started asking can I also ask what you mean by ..
Athlon 2600+ and lower 133 Mhz Bus
Athlon 2700+ and higher 166 MHz Bus
..or are you refering to a 133MHz version of 2600+, is there any differences in architecture between 2600+ and 2700+?
And since I've started asking can I also ask what you mean by ..
Athlon 2600+ and lower 133 Mhz Bus
Athlon 2700+ and higher 166 MHz Bus
..or are you refering to a 133MHz version of 2600+, is there any differences in architecture between 2600+ and 2700+?
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