Dual DDR Questions

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Before you ask if I have searched the forums, I have and have kind of answered a couple of my questions! But I would really like to make sure and ask a couple of other ones at the same time!

I have an Asus P4C800-E Deluxe which supports dual DDR

Supported RAM Technology: DDR SDRAM
Supported RAM Integrity Check: ECC
Supported RAM Speed: PC2100, PC2700, PC3200
RAM Features: Unbuffered, two DDR channels

So now I am in the market for about 1GB of memory. I obviously want to use the dual function, but do not know if it is worth me splashing out on a paired pack...

One of the cheaper online retailers here in the UK offer: 400MHz 184Pin 512MB PC3200 DDR RAM DIMM 2.5V 3.2Gb/Sec for £45, so I was considering two of these for £90. Am I right in thinking these will work on the dual function? The Page

Alternativly, I could go for: Corsair XMS3200 1GB (2x512MB) 400Mhz Non-ECC Matched Pair With Silver Heat Spreader something like that which is £170! Page Here

Is it worth the extra £80 (about $340 compared to $160)?? I know it has the heatsink built in, but what justifies the price? Also on the Corsair it says memory speed 400MHz PC3200. I thought all PC3200s were the same speed, so what does the 200MHz bus speed mean on the cheaper RAM?

Now on to the ECC. As my mobo supports it, should I look for RAM with it on?

Thanks for your help
 
They should work in dual channel. (the ones you buy individually)
Just make sure you buy them at the same time to make sure you get the same "batch" so to speak. Sometimes a memory company gets cheap and puts crappy chipsets on the memory which can cause the Dual channel setup not to work. The 200mhz means its speed. The more expensive ones run at 200. But they both really run at 400mhz.
Double Direction Rate (200mhz X 2 = 400mhz)
The cheaper ram looks good. The heatspreads dont really make a difference. If you want to can buy heatspreaders off other sites really cheap, and you can put them on yourself.
 
Dual DDR....

essentially means the company has tested those two chips together and they work fine. As various batches come off the assembly line, they aren't usually identical, this is the whole reason for this. The only real selling point for ECC was in a server environment for Error Correcting. ECC memory performance tends to be slower than non-ECC so unless you have an absolute need for it, I'd choose non-ECC.
 
Just a word of warning. When buying RAM, consider that a megabyte of RAM has a market value of less than a cent (American) so if you find a 512mb stick for some incredible amount of money, be warry. Unless it's a 512mb stick made of solid gold and washed in three cases worth of canned jesus christ...don't buy it.

Watch out for cheap RAM companies too, that sell wholesale RAM. Especially when buying dual-channel RAM. Quality is crucial to RAM (no, that's not a Crucial buy-in or a joke, :) )

I don't think I'd ever buy any dual-channel RAM from Kensington or Cruicial. Personally I like PDP, but that's just because I've dealt with them for many years.
 
the packs marked dual channel ram are a marketing ploy... fine they are tested and work together, but no-one I know has had any trouble with seperate ram sticks. (even with two different brands of ram, as long as same spec and size)

basically those packs are the same ram they sell individually for a marked up price... I myself bought 2x 512 pc3200 ddr from dabs.co.uk and had no probs in dual channel... (well apart from one of the sticks was damaged... but returned, swapped, etc and now everything is amazing!)
 
Wow, so they are basically complete rip-off merchants!

Bout time governments start to have a look at unfair trade within their retail markets. Twice the price is a lot of money considering there is not real advantage to them...
 
well they can argue that the extra price is justified because they have run tests to prove the twin sticks work... but yeah i would say its a rip off!
 
You can for sure find a pair for less then those, I bought mine for $180 and you can find alot for around the same price on newegg.com. Buying them one by one is fine though:)
 
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