PC3200 or PC3500

[Newbie237]

Quick question here. I'm going to go with a Asus P4C800-E with a P43.0GHz.
Which memory is best ?
Twin Corsair XMS PC3200
or
Twin Corsair XMS PC3200 Low Latency
or
2 (not Twin) Corsair XMS PC3500

Is there going to be a big difference between PC3200 and PC3500 ?

"640K ought to be enough for anyone." - Bill Gates, 1981

 

[Crashman]

The low latency stuff offers a bit more performance but might require additional voltage to be stable on your board. The PC3500 should work at stock voltage and offers a bit of room for overclocking.

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<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Newbie237]

So when all said and done, which one gives the best quality.
Also would the faster PC3500 be better (in terms of performance) than a LL PC3200 ?

"640K ought to be enough for anyone." - Bill Gates, 1981

 

[pIII_Man]

at stock speeds the 3200LL, but once you run the pc3500 memory at 433mhz it will have better performance.


If it isn't a P6 then it isn't a procesor
110% BX fanboy

 

[Newbie237]

what do you mean by "stock speed" ? Isn't the default speed for PC3500 216MHz ???
I'm confused !

"640K ought to be enough for anyone." - Bill Gates, 1981

 

[ZZSpaceman]

Stock speed refers to the 800 MHz bus (200-memory clock X4). When you clock the memory at 216 MHz, which is equivalent to running the front side bus at 864 MHz, you will OC your CPU by CPU-Stock Speed X (864/800). Good PC3500 Memory should easily clock up to 250 MHz (25% OC)but you may have to use less aggressive timing. Benchmarks show its well worth it if your CPU can keep up. With the P4, it is usually a matter of cooling. A P4 2.4 or 2.6 GHz part will typically do better 3 GHz without heroic cooling efforts.

BTW I hear that Corsair memory and ASUS mother boards are not the most stable combination. That’s a rumor and I have no personal experience to back it up. My Kingston has been very stable.

Good Luck


ZZSpaceman

 

[Newbie237]

yes but aren't MoBo able to separate RAM speed from CPU speed (i.e. run RAM at 216MHz while CPU uses 800MHz )?

"640K ought to be enough for anyone." - Bill Gates, 1981

 

[Newbie237]

so what it comes down to is that unless I OC, there will be no gain for me if I go to PC3500 instead of PC3200 right ?


"640K ought to be enough for anyone." - Bill Gates, 1981

 

[Crashman]

PC3200 is fidgety memory and can be pushed over the edge by agressive chipsets. PC3500 is PC3200 that has been confirmed to function properly at a slightly higher speed, so that PC3500 is often more stable than PC3200 when both are clocked at stock PC3200 speed.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[ZZSpaceman]

You have some flexibility in the BIOS to change the Bus clock to memory clock ratio, but you typically wouldn't do that at 216 MHz. The main reason for running the bus faster is to clock the CPU higher. The faster memory bus is a nice artifact but the higher CPU clock gives you much of the performance boot. If you don't want to OC your CPU save some money any buy the Kingston Value RAM. The quad pumped buss really seems to benefit more from speed that slightly reduced latency.

I'm actually running the value RAM at 240 MHz, but my settings are very conservative 2.5-4-4-8-4. I built the machine for my wife & didn't plan on overclocking, but it overclocked so easily I just left it there. Its been very stable. If you had any idea how my wife reacts when her computer isn't runing perfectly you would understand just how stable it is.

ZZSpaceman

 

[Newbie237]

So which of the Kingston HyperX and Corsair XMS PC3500 memory would you (or someone) recommend ?
Why is one better than the other (if any) ?

"640K ought to be enough for anyone." - Bill Gates, 1981

 

[silverpig]

Look at the timings. Generally lower numbers are better in that area. If they are perfectly identical in every quantitative way, then it's basically reputation and luck of the draw. Chances are good that either one will be good.

Some day I'll be rich and famous for inventing a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet.

 

[HardWareBoss]

I bought HyperX PC3500. Because it was $50+ cheaper than Corsair.

 

[Newbie237]

but there is no "real" difference besides that (quality or ??)

"640K ought to be enough for anyone." - Bill Gates, 1981

 

[pIII_Man]

go for whichever is cheeper, kingston and corsair are neck and neck.


If it isn't a P6 then it isn't a procesor
110% BX fanboy