Help with RAM purchase

[krigl]

Hi, I'm just wondering if any of you guys might have a quick answer to this ubernoob question...

I have an MSI motherboard with Athlon 64 (3200+) (socket 939). I have no option to change this

I need to buy new RAM (DDR 400) because some of the old RAM melted.

I can buy 2x512 or 2x1024. Someone told me that my computer might not be able to use 2x1024 effectively, and may run slower than if I just get the 2x512.

Is that true or not?

Answers much appreciated.

Regards

Krigl

[GeForce]

Can't think of any reason why it would

Jon

[Sukhoi_37]

Well it depends. 2 x 512 is probably the most used RAM upgrade format today, but if you have cash to burn or have a program that eats 2GB (BF2, etc) go for it. Sometimes the ram in a 2 x 1024 format IS SLOWER than a 2 x 512 format, but the performance decrease is almost unnoticable: I don't think any of us would fret if our FPS in FS went from 40.1 to 39.1 or similar. As some say, the more, the merrier
When you buy RAM, make sure it's from a trusted brand (Corsair, Crucial, OCZ, Kingston, Micron, etc.) And I can't think of a single reason why your computer can't take advantage of 2 x 1024MB. It will help if you get Vista.

[congo]

The memory interface is plenty fast on socket 939.

2 x 512mb high quality sticks seems to benchmark slightly faster than 2 x 1024mb sticks. There is a reason for this, but it escapes me atm.

You could easily overcome any slight speed disadvantage using 2 x 1024mb sticks either by increasing the memory bus slightly or simply running apps that use more than 1gb total ram.

Anyone who installs Vista is basically dedicating a 512mb stick just to the op sys. (that's a lot of ram globally!)

[krigl]

Thanks for the info: so it is true then, but the decrease is minimal. Well, in the end I decided for 2x512 as I'm a bit low on cash, and I found that my board only supports DDR 400 - previously I'd been hoping for DDR2 800 (having not read the manual - I'm not what you'd call a computer fiend) but, what can I do

[NicksFXHouse]

MSI is very tempermental about purchasing good memory

I use Asus and MSI products exclusively


The best memory (IMHO) is OCZ. The website and the OCZ reps will work with you to come up with the best solution for your board/processor based on the manufacture and the model numbers. They will also take into account the level of the overclock you may be trying to achieve. With OCZ 2x1024 is not a problem but it is not going to be 89.99. Typically good quality memory @ 2x1024 will run $200+


As for Vista and upgrades... If you find that a 2000+ purchase will be out of the question for AM2 and other high end products, AMD is dropping prices on their processors (BIG DROP) http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/1779 ... ricing.png and a dual core 939 can be had fairly cheap. Vista will definitely want a dual core in the system.

The best bang for the buck is the 5000+ @ just over 400 but that is AM2 only. It can overclock past FX62 performance and close to FX64

[congo]

Krigl,

If it's any consolation, 400mhz ram (not even high performance ram), is plenty fast enough and faster or highly overclocked ram shows very little real world performance gain in actual applications.

You might pick up 5% performance gain if you were lucky. So don't fret about having 400mhz ram, it's really not an issue unless you are pushing the forefront of technology.

Faster DDR2 ram has timings that are much higher the the DDR we use now, so it kind of evens out.