Building a New PC, Need Advice and Opinions

[Guest]

Hey guys...
I'm going to be building a new PC within the next month or so and I'm really stuck on which memory to select for my setup.

Here is what I'm looking at:

Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon 64 FX-55
Asus nVidia 6800 Ultra [V9999][x2]
Maxtor 300GB SATA [x4]
Western Digital Raptor 74GB SATA

Yes I know....perhaps a little excessive and expensive but I have the money to play with and I've always wanted to build a tank so whatever. Now I'm reading the forums here to learn a little bit about timings/latency and 512MB sticks versus 1GB sticks to try and make a good decision for my setup. That new Asus board [http://usa.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=A8N-SLI Deluxe&langs=09] says it can handle either ECC or non ECC memory so here are my choices:

1. 4GB of Kingston HyperX
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-144-145&depa=0
2.5-3-3
ECC

2. 4GB of Mushkin
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=140579
2-3-2
ECC

3. 4GB of Corsair XMS w/ the pretty LEDs!
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-503&depa=0
3-3-3-8
non ECC

4. 2GB of either Kingston HyperX or Corsair XMS
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-144-160&depa=0
or
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-544&depa=0

Those are just a few choices...I don't want to fill up the entire post with 10 different choices and links. This computer is going to be used for anything and everything...gaming/storage/multi-tasking whatever I need it to do. But my questions to you guys are:

1. In what situations [gaming VS multi-tasking] would I see performance increases and performance drop offs with a 4GB [higher latency/timing] setup versus a 2GB [lower latency/timing]?

2. I understand ECC is usually only seen in server setups. Would ECC benefit me at all with a home setup? Would gaming benefit from ECC at all?

3. I was reading up on the Muskin memory that I mentioned earlier and it is 'Dual Bank'. Looking at the A8N-SLI QVL Mushkin is not listed in there...does that mean the motherboard does not support it? And does that mean that any memory module that is not listed in the QVL is not supported by the motherboard?

Any and all feedback and advice on this matter is appreciated.
Thanks guys!

 

[RichPLS]

Actually, Crucial Ballistix would be the best for that rig.
Or second best, the Corsair TwinX XL Pro 2-2-2-5 (and yes, with the cool blinking LED's)
Also, consider an PCI RAID controller card like the <A HREF="http://www.netcell.com/products_comparison.html" target="_new"> SyncRAID 5100 </A> for those 4 hard drives.

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[Guest]

I was thinking of a PCI card but I was maybe thinking of using the onboard RAID 5. And I only see the Corsair TwinX XL Pro in 512's only....no gig sticks. Any input on gig sticks versus 512's? Is the higher latency really that big of a deal?

 

[RichPLS]

I am running 4 sticks of the Corsair TwinX XL Pro 2-2-2-5. It is great memory, but does not come in 1 gig at these timings, actually, none do. Timings are important when you are talking top of the line systems.
With that system, do not use onboard raid. Too much $$$ invested to skimp there.
With add-on hardware RAID, you get performance, reliability, and if your controller fails, you can replace it keeping the array intact. It is much more limited to transfer onboard arrays if controller fails. BTW the 5100 controller is $249 and supports up to 5 drives.

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[diplomat696]

Depends on a couple of things, if your gonna be overclocking go for lower latency, will be more stable, if not then standard ram I doubt u will notice too much difference unless u benchmark it of course
Damn 4Gb of ram, what u gonna be doing making movies for Hollywood? or are you just wanting to spend some cash, if so my paypal account is always open for donations lmao.

 

[RichPLS]

If your building a Ferrari, don't run 87 octaine in it...
Lowest latency RAM is a must have, no exceptions.

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And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

 

[Guest]

Alright guys....you've convinced me....I'll be running only 4x512MB of lower latency rather than 4x1GB higher latency. And I will be looking into a 3rd Party RAID card. Thanks for the input...

 

[Crashman]

Great choice! Because running 4GB of RAM under a 32-bit environment can cause performance problems. And XP-64 hasn't gone retail yet.

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[Crey]

I read a recent review that got the best memory performance from an A8N-SLI at 2-2-2-10 timings. In fact, he said this was normal for nForce boards.

He also said that when going from 2 sticks to 4 sticks, he had to run 1T with 2 sticks (1 Gig), and 2T with 4 sticks (2 Gig) in order to get stability. Listed it as a trend with top end 939 boards.

So, which would give you the best performance overall? Would 2 sticks (1 Gig) at 2-2-2-10 1T or 4 sticks (2 Gig) at 2-2-2-10 2T be better? I'd be doing mostly gaming.

Here's the link to the page of the review that stalks about the memory performance on the A8N:
http://anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2285&p=4