2heaven

Distinguished
Jun 17, 2003
18
0
18,510
Ok, I've been looking up on RAM for the last little while and I'm curious if I have this information correct.

First off there are generic memory companies such as Samsung, Micron, Winbond etc. (any others that you might know please mention).

Then there are are brand name companies (eg. Corsair, Kingston, Geil, Crucial, OCZ, KingMax, Infineon etc.). Once again, please mention more if you know any.

So the brand name companies take the generic memories and tweak them to give better performance/stability. They also have much better (but more expensive) low latency RAM.

Now if I was an average consumer, not caring about low latency on RAM, what would stop me from buying just generic Samsung PC3200 RAM as opposed to Kingston PC3200 RAM?

(Any information to clear up my confusion and what I may have possibly wrong would be helpful)

Love, Faith & Joy
 

2heaven

Distinguished
Jun 17, 2003
18
0
18,510
Ok, another question. Damn, this memory stuff is confusing.

Let's say I get a P4 2.4C. And I buy PC3200 RAM. The FSB/RAM is in synch 1:1 right?

Now if I overclock the 2.4C to 2.8Ghz does the FSB speed get overclocked automatically (making it out of synch with the RAM). In other words, I should only overclock my processor if I have RAM that can support 1:1 with FSB?

Love, Faith & Joy
 

pIII_Man

Splendid
Mar 19, 2003
3,815
0
22,780
first off plz do not call samsung and micron ect... generic companies...here is how it works...

this is my example using corsair to mean 3rd party dimm manufacturers...

corsair buys their memory modules from windbound...they put them on machines to see what timmings and speeds each memory module can run...the memory that can run fast goes to their high end sticks...the average ones go to their C2 sticks...and their crappy modules go to their value select sticks...then they solder the chips onto the pcb and test em out again...the ones that pass go to the stores...the modules that fail once soldered on the pcb get trashed or possibly downgraded to a lesser speed...

Now AFAIK samsung, micron, winbound, hynix, hyundai (sp?), infineon and NEC (not to sure bout them making memory modules) do not manufacturer DIMMS of memory...just the modules...possibly samsung makes dimms but i am not sure...crucial a division of micron uses micron modules and puts em on pcb's...

so if you see INFINEON ram...there is a good chance that it is some no name brand who is using infineon modules...becuase most ram manufacturers just make the chips not the PCB...and the pcb is the main limiting factor of high end chips...

Now what should you do...buy some value select memory from one of the big manufacturers like crucial,corsair kingmax, kingston....

If i put my k6 in a Ferrari it would be faster than your your pentium 4 or Athlon XP :tongue:
 

pIII_Man

Splendid
Mar 19, 2003
3,815
0
22,780
the fsb does not get overclocked automatically...the only way that i know how to overclock an intel cpu is buy manually upping the fsb..although i think the AI series of asus boards lets you overclock via percentages...but i am pretty sure you are still increasing your fsb and therefore memory speed...

Most memory modules can be slightly overclocked...but even then nothing too extreme...you can set up a memory divider so that the memory runs slower than the fsb...that is generally the best option for overclocking past the memory's limits..

If i put my k6 in a Ferrari it would be faster than your your pentium 4 or Athlon XP :tongue:
 
G

Guest

Guest
First off, generic memory is not recommended for overclocking. In your bios you will have 2 options, cpu external frequency(FSB) and memory frequency. Now its always better to have a 1:1 ratio so if you overclock your PC3200, chances are it wont be much stable(especially with generic and also 865/875 chipset is picky on memory). So if you don’t care about aggressive timmings and about overclocking go with Samsung it’s a fine brand. Otherwise go with Kingston(hyperx)/corsair(xms)/ocz/geil etc
 

siranthony

Distinguished
Dec 8, 2001
326
0
18,780
Yes increasing the front side bus does increase the memory speed. But you can set the divider from 1:1 to 5:4 or 3:2. That makes the memory run at a slower speed than the CPU. For example I have a P4 2.4 at 3.0 with 5:4 ratio. So the CPU is at 250 fsb and the memory is at 200. There is still a relation. Say if I upped the FSB to 266 at 5:4. The memoery would be at aproximatly 213. Hope that helps.
 

bum_jcrules

Distinguished
May 12, 2001
2,186
0
19,780
Not always. Both run based on the system clock but you can change the speeds of both buses as a ratio of the system clock.

Live near Toronto and like to game but you can't make it to Quakecon?
<A HREF="http://www.lanmash.com" target="_new"><b>LANMash2 is the same weekend 200+ gamers!</b></A>