upgrade ram (noob)

[c<64]

hey, i am about to get some new ram and i wasn't sure if i should get pc 3200 or something faster. BTW what determines what memory speed your computer can handle?

 

[neocamp22]

what are you using the comp. for? The type of ram you need is determined my your mobo.

 

[c<64]

i am using my computer for gaming. hl2, doom 3, etc. my mobo is a chaintech VNF4 socket 939. at newegg it says the ddr standard is 400. so could i buy something faster?

 

[gaara]

If you don't intend to overclock there's really no point in buying faster memory unless you want to lower the multi and raise the FSB, and even then AMD64s have enough memory bandwidth anyways with LDT.

Despite popular belief, it is the CPU which dictates memory speed, not the motherboard. A motherboard supporting DDR will support any DDR speed, however the CPU FSB has to be able to support than speed.

On Athlon 64s, the memory controller runs the RAM at 200MHz, therefore you want PC3200 as you mentioned you were looking at.

 

[c<64]

i was thinking of ocing but am still not sure. So, if i raised the fsb of the cpu i would be able run faster ram, right? say, from 200 to 220 MHz or something.

 

[gaara]

http://www.xbitlabs.com/web/display/20050712044117.html

Here ya go, interesting read that shows that AMD64s can run RAM at DDR1000 if you lower the LDT and FSB multipliers enough. Of course no RAM would be capable of running those speeds and the motherboard bios setting wouldn't run that high, but that goes to show how effective the hypertransport bus is.

 

[c<64]

so would it be better to buy good pc 3200 and oc it, or just buy pc 4000 and raise the fsb of my cpu. thanks for the help so far

 

[Sh0r_ty]

decent pc3200 should do fine if you don't want to go over 250fsb my geil value won't go over 240 but its value and thats with decent timings 3-3-3-5