Is it worth getting PC3200?

[Mindfighter]

I have A7N8X Deluxe (rev.2), Athlon XP 3200+ with 1 gig of generic PC2700 ram in dual channel mode (1x512+2x256). I'm trying to figure out if its worth spending $200 on replacing it with 1 gig of performance PC3200 RAM. How significantly will it improve performance? How much will memory performance and overall performance improve in 3dmarks and such? I found this article: http://www.8ballshardware.com/articles/ddrcompare/page1.cfm which shows that there is very little difference even between PC2100 and PC3200. How true is that?

 

[Crashman]

You already have more RAM bandwidth than your CPU supports because you're in dual-channel mode. PC3200 might add a small advantage, even in single channel mode, because the memory controller works best with both running the same speed. But it's not worth the price.

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[jammydodger]

Def not worth the cost

 

[Nights_L]

PC3200 might add a small advantage

is that small advantage comes from synchronous operation of fsb:ram?

 

[Crashman]

of course of course

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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>

 

[RX8]

hi crashman thx for the advice with the PSU.

i have a ram question for you.
i have 512MBddr 333mhz 1 stick would it be worth me upgrading to 1gb of 400mhz memory in duel channel or is it not worth it?

i have a xp2700 fsb 333mhz
nforce 2 mb
X800XT AGP
2x 120 GB 7200rpm

Half life 2 kept paging to the hard disk which ticked me off would more ram do the trick.

 

[RX8]

Also i would like to upgrade at the end of next year to a nice 939 chip, would it be better for me to get PC4000 memory now which i can use in the new motherboard.
Plus will PC4000 be compatible.

 

[Crashman]

Depending on your applications, you may find a fairly large performance gain by moving from 512MB to 1GB, or possibly none.

PC4000 would certainly give you a lot of room to overclock if you're interested. Even if I were mildly interested in overclocking, I'd make certain I had the memory for it, if I were in the market for memory anyway.

<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>

 

[RX8]

To Wusy and Crashman,

what about timings pc 4000 has slower timings to say pc3200 XLL corsair.

Is timing differences noticable? does OC componsate for this?

 

[fishmahn]

Those timings are for the ram to work at PC4000 speed. Since you're running at PC2700 speed (I think that's what you said), it's likely you can manually adjust the timings to 2-2-2-5 or something close to that. Will it make a difference? Yes. A noticeable one? Probably not, but others may disagree. Definitely it will be different on a memory benchmark, but in real usage, not usually unless you're doing things that take time and you can actually use a stopwatch to time them. Maybe you'll get a feeling that it seems a little 'snappier', maybe not, or maybe that feeling is all in your head.

Mike.

 

[RX8]

what would be better PC3200 2-2-5-2 timing or PC4000 which might be able to do 2-2-5-2 at PC3200 speeds. and then when needed to OC reduce the timings e,t,c?

Also whats the FSB speeds of a 939 Pro if its PC3200 speeds, would PC3200 best suit the setup or PC4000 with slacker timings?

I think a lot of people would like to know the ansewer to this?

And also which would be better for games or file video conversions, does anyone have benchmarks for this?

 

[fishmahn]

Good question. You may find that PC3200 rated at 2-2-2-5 can OC to the same hypothetical speed as PC4000 at the same timings. So I'd guess that if you plan on OC'ing, Get the PC4000 because it's kindof guaranteed to work at PC4000 speeds, while PC3200 may or may not work (though I would expect it would work).

PC3200 is DDR400, or 200mhz. At stock speeds, A64 cpus use 200mhz for the memory clock. So for stock operation, get PC3200. If you intend to overclock, get higher quality RAM, either lower latency, or higher PCxxxx rating, or both. I have seen RAM speed tests where low latency PC3200 did not work as fast at overclocked speeds as higher speed rated (i.e., PC3500, 3700, 4000, etc.) RAM, though the differences were pretty minor.

Anand or Tom has a good slew of benchmarks for various cpus, one set even showed different video edit/encode/conversion programs during the last few months. I'm sure you can find them if you search for them.

In general, AMD64 blew away comparable P4's in games and normal work (Excel, Word, Internet Explorer, email apps, etc.) (but lets be real, anything over about 1ghz can do normal work adequately, so that isn't particularly useful), as well as audio (not video) apps, though not by as much, and P4s excelled in video creation, though by a smaller amount (though if I remember right, the A64 did some phases of the work faster - like the editing program, but the encoding part the P4 did better), and in some specific programs (which particular ones escape my memory), the A64 creeped past the comparable P4 (by comparable, I mean a P4 3.2ghz to an A64 3200+, etc.).

Mike.

 

[RX8]

Excelent reply, thank you.

i might go for the 1gb XLL PC3200 corsair because of the tight timings i cant really see my self OC to high because i am scared of destruction. By what is siad the PC3200 with slacker timings probably will be able to OC a little bit so i think that option is best for me.

For other people it could be somthing else.

Thx for the replys guys.