RAM? Low Latency or speed, which is more important?

[skildner]

I am building a gaming rig and want to put 2 gig of ram in it. I'm just confused as to what type of ram I should use. Crucial has Ballistix DDR 3200 with 2-2-2-6 Latancy that come in 512MB sticks or they have Ballistix Tracer DDR 4000 with 3-4-4-8 Latency in 1 gig sticks. So my question is what difference does speed (DDR3200 v. DDR4000), Number of sticks (2 v. 4), Latency, and Voltage make? Which is the most important for gaming?

 

[Nubius]

You want the fastest speed with the tightest timings. PC4000 would be like....250MHz or DDR500 while PC3200 is 200MHz or DDR400....thing is though if you have your latencies too loose then it will negate the high speed. But 250MHz with 3-4-4-8 will still outperform that 2-2-2-6 PC3200.

you should like into G.Skill they can hit much higher than 250MHz with way better timings than 3-4-4-8

Number of sticks doesn't do anything regarding performance, although generally 1gb of RAM will be all you need for gaming really.

You need more voltage to hit higher speeds with tighter latencies too

 

[Raekwon]

ditto ^^

but also it depends on what system you have, an A64 system benefits far more from low latencies than an AXP or P4.

 

[Nubius]

yeah but leaving an AMD64 system at PC3200 is pointless. Those things can go well beyond 250HTT with good RAM. Theres where the bandwidth REALLY kicks in

 

[skildner]

Thank a lot. I was ready to buy the lower timings memory, but now I'll go for the faster memory. I'm building a system with:
ASUS SLI Deluxe
Athlon 64 3500+ (90nm)
Dual eVGA 6800 Ultras
Turbo-cool 510 SLI PSU
What memory would you recommend for this system?

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

G. Skill ram built on TCCD's
Also, ditch the buggy Asus board and get a DFI or MSI

 

[skildner]

The main reason for going with the ASUS is because it has both PCI-X slots at 8X. Do the DFI or MSI mobos have the same? What do the DFI and MSI offer that is better than the ASUS? I also heard that the DFI is the only mobo that allows you to change the voltage for the memory. Is that true? Because I read that you can overclock the heck out of G. Skill memory

 

[diabloII]

The main reason for going with the ASUS is because it has both PCI-X slots at 8X. Do the DFI or MSI mobos have the same? What do the DFI and MSI offer that is better than the ASUS? I also heard that the DFI is the only mobo that allows you to change the voltage for the memory. Is that true? Because I read that you can overclock the heck out of G. Skill memory

all mobos that support SLI have both slots operating at x8/x8

and yes, g skill's are good for OCing

 

[Nubius]

I also heard that the DFI is the only mobo that allows you to change the voltage for the memory.

No DFI is not the only motherboard to allow you to change memory voltage. They probably allow some of the highest adjustments, but just about every K8 board allows you to bump up the voltage to some degree.

You should get some of those G.Skill LA's, technically they are low latency high performance RAM, but that means it's quality parts and will OC like mad. You should be able to get upwards of 275MHz+ if you just go at it the right way and read up on OC'ing basics if you don't already know

 

[Sh0r_ty]

i would say get the DFI-Ultra (non SLI) cos 2X6800Ultra is way tooo much money and getting one now and then a next gen card will be way better than getting 2X6800Ultra now. and that mobo OC's awsom