Crucial Ballistix vs. Crucial Standard Modules

[mozzartusm]

When considering the price/performance ratio between Crucial Ballistix and their standard modules; Would the performance difference of the PC4000 and the PC3200 be high enough to justify the cost difference. The PC4000 being a Ballistix module and the PC3200 of course bieng the Crucial standard module. If I am crunching the numbers correctly, the cost diff would be around $120. These numbers are based on Crucial's compatibility system. It only list Ballistix moduels as big as 512MB for my system. Wouldnt that mean that I could only upgrade as far as 2 GB? It list 1GB standard moduels as compatible. My board supports 4 GB. Am I missing something here?

Intel P4 3.0E
SOYO SY-P4I875P Dragon 2


<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by mozzartusm on 10/18/04 08:23 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Mr5oh]

Do you plan on overclocking? If you don't ever plan on overclocking the performance difference between PC4000 and PC3200 will be virtually nothing. If you plan on overclocking, PC4000 will help you as you won't have to overclock your RAM. For a mild overclock you may be able to overclock the standard 3200 a little, but there are no guarantees.

It only lists Ballistix modules as large as 512 MB, because they don't make a 1 gig Ballistix chip currently. Standard chips are available in 1 gig chips.

Also note that 1 gig is the optimal amount of RAM currently, unless you are running a program that needs more or doing major video editting or something similar. Performance actually normally normally tends to decrease on most systems with 2 GB of RAM, even worse with 4 GB, assuming you aren't doing something that requires that much RAM.

So really if money is tight you could go with the 3200, and if you ever overclock, try and overclock your RAM some.

Also since your board is Dual Channel, you really should get two RAM chips, 2x512 MB would be best.

My Desktop: <A HREF="http://Mr5oh.tripod.com/pc.html" target="_new">http://Mr5oh.tripod.com/pc.html</A>

 

[Crashman]

You'd better make sure that's a Version 1.0 board, as the standard version didn't support Prescotts like your 3.0E.

While the Ballistix can all run Cas2 at PC3200, those gains are small. The real difference comes from overclocking, the Ballistix modules allow you to overclock very well, while the standard PC3200 limits you.

<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>

 

[mozzartusm]

It is the version 1 board.
Soyo SY-P4I875P Dragon 2 V1.0 Black Label i875P P4 800FSB Skt478 DDR ATX Motherboard w/Audio, Gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail (Prescott Ready) ***Free 2nd Day***
MFG SKU: SY-P4I875P DRAGON 2 V1.0
Our Price: $159.99

 

[Crashman]

Cool. Believe it or not, there was a version before 1.0!

<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>

 

[mozzartusm]

You scared the crap out of me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Crashman]

What's REALLY scary is that the version BEFORE 1.0 existed on the market for over 6 months and didn't support Prescotts!

I wonder what they market the boards, version 0.8?

<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>

 

[mozzartusm]

Just one of those really technical, way above our level of thinking, don't have anything better to do, lets see if we can confuse the hell out everyone things! It does seem like they would pick the next number doesnt it. Maybe its a conspiracy. MoBo manufactures are going to start using fractions instead of whole numbers... Ver 1, Ver 1 1/16?

 

[Crashman]

They always have used fractions, Version 1 would normally be first, 1.1 for a minor revision, etc, Version 2.0 would normally be a major revision.

Of course Soyo had to confuse people by starting off with Version 0 I guess.

<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>

 

[mozzartusm]

Yes I know this! Man you are on one tonight! Thanks for pointing out how stupid I am for the second time. So let me show my ignorance one more time. Technically speaking I guess I should have said that they would probably start using fractions in this form (1 1/16th) instead of the decimal form that they currently use - 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 Anyway, I guess I wil get my toys and go home. I dont get this stressed out when I talk to the wall or the voices in my head "They ignore me most of the time!".

 

[akmd]

My laptop (with 320M PC100 memory) won't boot with Win2k/SP4 (Win2k/SP1 is OK) as the diagnostic disc show a fault in the 256M memory bank. Switch this bank with the 64M bank in DIMM A slot. Now boot process indicates that there is a memory change but will operate with reduced memory. Win2k/SP4 works in this configuration.

Now I know that I have at least 64M working but how do I know how much memory is available from the 256M bank? Would the CPU be able to access up to the to the faulted location in the 256M bank? The diagnostics failed at address 8300000h and 83fffffh. Any insight?

AKMD

 

[fishmahn]

I would think if the system disabled part of your memory, then your sysinfo would show how much is left.

If not, assuming (and it may be a bad assumption) that the memory up to 8300000h is what's being used, a conversion from hex to dec should tell you. Umm, 8300000 isn't a full hex address? I'll assume the actual reported number is 08300000 (leading zero) so it gives a correct hex address. that is 137363456. So, about 131meg is good up to that location.

Mike.

 

[akmd]

Mike, Thanks for the reply.

Subsequent boot process did not indicate how much memory is available. Window's system hardware tab said that I have 327 M of physical memory. FreshDiagnose software indicates 319 MB total memory with 143 MB memory available.

Your analysis sounds right at 137 M. Since my 64 M bank is a good one, that means only 73 M is usable in the 256 bank. That explains why when that bank was placed in the DIMM A slot, running win2k/sp1 is ok, but not win2k/sp4 which I assume would need more than 73 M of memory.

Would 137 M be enough memory to run Win2k for just emails and web surfing purposes on a P3-500 Mhz machine?

AKMD

 

[mozzartusm]

Tell me more aobut the system. Who made it? Is it a compaq by any chance? I get a ton of used compaq desktops and notebooks. Seems like I have been through this same situation. I still run Win2k Pro. Also, how much memory is your system capable of supporting in eah bank?