memory timings

teamo1

Baseband Member
Messages
43
Trying to decide on which memory to buy for my new build (first build). I have a 4200 FX2 and an M2N SLI deluxe motherboard so far. I would like to go with (2x1GB) but the prices seem pretty high compared to a (512x2). Some of the Corsair ram that I have been looking at has timings of 4-4-4-12 compared to another set with 5-5-5-12. There is a pretty good savings in price between the two? Will I notice a big difference between those two? I don't know too much about what these numbers mean as you might have guessed and I have read a few articles and I still can't make much sense out of it. I will be using this computer for flight simulators and some other games as well.
Thanks
 
In a real world scenario, you will not see a noticeable difference between those two timings.

2GB of memory would be great, but you should be just fine with the 2x512MB (1GB) that more fit your budget. You can always add more at a later time. :D
 
I agree with Rooster. See some motherboard and cpu combos, like the one Im getting, require that you feed it a particular RAM to keep it 1:1. But like you Im on the fence of whether I should get 1GB or 2GB because the price difference is significant.
 
TWIN2X1024-6400C4 = $139
TWIN2X2048-6400C4 = $253

Thats the dilemma Im dealing with... wondering if an extra gig is worth the 120, also wondering if I even need the extra gig.
 
2GB is definitely handy. Right now 1GB will be enough for almost all things, but some games like bf2 will run alot smoother with 2GB of ram. Also when windows vista comes out it will probably use a lot of ram so having 2GB would leave plenty of ram for the other programs to use.

Timings have some effect, but not that much. The 1st number (CAS latency) matters the most. But latency is just a little extra thing to look at, the amount of ram and the clock speed are the ones that make the difference.
 
Another timing question. I was reading a link from the corsair site and the tutorial on computer assembly said that it was necessary (at least in the demo build) to set the ram timings manually as well as the voltage setting. I was under the assumption that when I assembled the parts that the computer would automatically set these parameters for me. I really am lost as to what I will have to do if that is the case as I really don't understand the whole timing,latency,etc. aspect of it.
Thanks All
 
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