RAM terminology interpretation.

V

VaporTrail

Veteran X
I'm looking at building a new box, and I finally think I have figured out how to choose a motherboard & case (case&MB if anyone sees any problems let me know).

Right now the major thing I'm facing is getting the most out of my RAM. In case you didn't click on the above MB link, here's the skinny on the processor, as far as I can tell: INTEL PENTIUM 4 3.4 GHz 512K CACHE (800MHz) SOCKET 478 OEM. Now I'm looking at getting either 1 or 2 GB (leaning toward 1 at the moment) of RAM. However I'm not sure how to choose the best for my purposes. Right now I'm looking at sticks of 512MB PC4000 from here (2 midgrade@$85) but I'm not even sure if it's good or not.

What should I look at, in the processor info and RAM info to determine the best RAM for a gaming system, given the processor I'm looking at?
 
As invar said, if you are not going to overclock (and maybe even if you are) you dont need PC4000.

I just did some extensive testing with my PC4000@1:1 at CAS3 4-4-8, and my PC3500@5:4 CAS2 2-2-5 both at 250FSB, and the results suprised me somewhat. At 250FSB the PC3500 was faster, barely.

Just dont get any CAS3 PC3200, get at least 2.5, or even 2 if you can afford it.
 
Ok... so if I've got this right, this:

Corsair XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series, (Twin Pack) 184 Pin 512MB(256MBx2) DDR PC-3200 - Retail
(limit 10 per customer)

Specification
Manufacturer: Corsair
Speed: DDR400(PC3200)
Type: 184 Pin DDR SDRAM
Error Checking: Non-ECC
Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
Cas Latency: 2-3-3-6 T1
Support Voltage: 2.6V
Bandwidth: 3.2GB/s
Organization: two 32M x 64 -Bit
Warranty: Lifetime

...would be an applicable choice. Though I'd probably have to go with 2 of them (total 4 sticks) for a gig of mem. Not too bad... I'm going to shop around some more see if I can find any cheaper (yet still maintan a cas 2.5 or less)
 
Yes that ram looks good.

Since you are thinking of going to 2gig later, I would get 2x512, instead of 4x256. That way later on, you can upgrade to two more 2x512 for 2gig total, 4x512. If you use all 4 banks for 1gig.. you cant add more later.
 
True, that happened to be the first cas 2 pc 3200 that I happened on (actually thought it as 2x512 when I first looked at it, before posting) still looking for decently affordable sticks of 512... they're out there, just gotta find em...
 
I'm looking into it. Pricewatch is a pain in the ass to find CAS ratings on, newegg.com has them listed in the same place every time...

Probably will go through newegg.com, at least for the ram (and possibly other stuff).
 
if you're using pricewatch, check the reseller at www.resellerratings.com first before buying, or else you may regret it.

newegg has an excellent reputation as countless others will testify, and their prices are very close to being the cheapest on pricewatch.
 
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