DDR memory [Speed vs Quantity]

upgrading memory, and cant decide whether i should max out the systems memory or buy the smaller size but 'faster' memory

ive got a single channel rig, and im looking for performance

2gigs of 'slower' RAM(CAS latency of 3 or 4) or 1gig of 'faster' RAM(CL 2)

it dont need to do photoshop or anything huge just gaming

plz and thx

and if you have any preferred memory brand u could mention id appreciate it

1 gig of faster RAM is better for gaming. Corsair, Crucial, Kingston and OCZ are all reliable brands.

1 gig of faster RAM is better for gaming. Corsair, Crucial, Kingston and OCZ are all reliable brands.
this is simply not always true.

if buffy's looking for more FPS, then faster memory might help a bit, depending on if the game's FPS is limited by the cpu, or by the vid card. if it's limited by the vid card, it won't do jack. if it's limited by the cpu, it would help a bit to have the faster timings, but not a huge amount. the difference between cas 2, 2.5, and cas 3 are pretty minimal. most people should go with cas 2.5 because it's a very good balance between price and performance. from 2.5 to 2, you have to pay quite a premium.

now, if by gaming buffy is talking about decreasing load times and what not, increasing quantity of memory would help with that.

True, vid card bottlenecks can't be remedied by faster RAM. Also note that A64 systems benefit very little from ultra-tight timings. If you post your specs then we could be of more help.

True, vid card bottlenecks can't be remedied by faster RAM. Also note that A64 systems benefit very little from ultra-tight timings. If you post your specs then we could be of more help.

specs:
XP home
P4 Northwood 2.0 ghz
ATI 9800
256mb walmart generic PC 2100 RAM

i know the chipset can handle faster mem, DDR333(PC2700) and at some point in time ill prolly try to O'C the thing too

PC2700 max? Low latencies won't help much there. I say get 2 gigs of value DDR400, which is relatively cheap and will run with better timings at that speed anyway. Plus you'll be able to OC it safely.

^^^^^
What he said.

I would recommend more RAM even if it was running at DDR400 speeds. I know for a fact that games like BF2 play much better with more RAM.

I upgraded to 2x 1024MB Kingston Value RAM CL3 sticks from 2x512MB OCZ Platinum EL Dual Channel sticks. The difference was very noticable in BF2 and I was even able to up the graphics some more.

It would be a good start towards a system upgrade from what I see also. As you'll be able to use the RAM if you chose to upgrade to BGA775, or Socket939.

i eventually intend to start new(mobo proxy etc, but thatll be a different machine) so now teh question is, is it worthwhile to buy DDR400 and ramp down the speed/or find a healthy OC'd speed? cause i know the chipset dosnt officially support DDR400

My cheap Infineon DDR400 RAM can do 2.5-3-3-7 at 333MHz, is guaranteed to run at 400MHz with 3-3-3-8 timings, and costs just as much (if not less) as low latency DDR333 RAM.


Btw, RAM can downclock itself if it can't run at stock speeds for some reason.

are you positive that it will downclock itself?

Yes.

fantastic, thank you :happy:

I wouldn't really call it downclocking. It's more like running at the fastest speed that the motherboard will support.

well PC3200 it more readily avaible it seems and i can find it for cheaper, and i imagine ill have no problems with the memory if i push up the fsb by buying faster ram. i jsut wanted to make sure the machine would run at all with faster ram

Yeah, you can.


In fact, Corsair's site would probably recommend faster RAM for OC'ing for you too.

get dual channel ram, makes a big difference in speed , forget about single channel ram cuz its shit.