[danjf]

I'm going to be buying new computer in the next few weeks and wanted to know what is the latest/greatest memory out there. I see stuff like PC-3200 or PC4200 (both 400 memory) and i dont know what's what. I've looked around some of the memory manufactures' sites and couldnt find an explanation that told me whats the newest type out and so forth.
Could someone please point me in the right direction? thanks a bunch!

--Dan--

 

[thehacker11]

pc4200 is the newest one out of those 2......it is also faster than pc-3200 by a lot

rep me if i helped *its the GRAY icon on the left next to my post*

 

[Lostnhell]

PC-3200 400Mhz
PC-4200 533Mhz

I always recommend going as hisg in the PC### ladder as possible, even if the RAM is rated higher than the mobo, if the rating is higher than the mobo you will get extra legroom for Ocing.

 

[Inquisitor]

The bottom line is that the quicker the ram the more money usually the better

the best out is DDR2 but thats a arm and leg and not all mobos can take that

the best brands are OCZ, Geil, Corsair, and Kingston

I've got some pc3200 Geil and its just dandy for me ... i've never had faster but I think I would like it

but I have heard that Really fast ram boosts performance considerably

 

[Lostnhell]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Dark Inquisitor The bottom line is that the quicker the ram the more money usually the better the best out is DDR2 but thats a arm and leg and not all mobos can take that the best brands are OCZ, Geil, Corsair, and Kingston I've got some pc3200 Geil and its just dandy for me ... i've never had faster but I think I would like it but I have heard that Really fast ram boosts performance considerably

THe faster the RAM the bigger the system boost, but you are always restricted to the limits of you mobo.

 

[Crash]

This was written by The world famous Archer, and Mod candidate. It may be helpfull.

Just to let you understand why exactly getting faster ram will help you overclock better, I want to try and explain the cpu ram relationship.

Your base FSB is 133Mhz, and your RAM's actual bus speed is 133Mhz, this gives you a 1:1 ratio. When you increase the FSB, the memory bus also increases. So since you are running FSB of 145Mhz your RAM is also running 145Mhz. Now remember as your FSB increases so is your RAM and your RAM is going to hit it's Max overclock at one point (What your max OC on your is something I couldn't tell you).

When your RAM hits it's max OC, your FSB is going to be limited to as fast as your RAM will run. This is the point where poeple talk about running dividers such as 3:2, 5:4, etc, so that the RAM will actualy run slower than the FSB allowing you to increase the FSB but also limiting performance. I will not get into dividers right now.

Faster ram will let you increase the FSB until it gets up to the RAMs rated speed. If you get the PC3200 you will have atleast 67Mhz of headroom because it's rated speed is 200Mhz, if you get the Pc2700 you will have atleast 33Mhz of headroom because it's rated speed is 166Mhz.

Example
"You may or may not be able to get the FSB up as high as these examples!"

with PC3200 you could get the FSB up to atleast 200Mhz
with PC2700 you could get the FSB up to atleast 166Mhz.

Please send any rep points to Archer for this info!!!

 

[gibant1]

Other things to consider are the timings and the ram overhead.

Low latency 3200 ram can usually run much higher if you loosen the timings.

Some manufacturers guarantee that their ram will work higher than specified. E.G. Kingmax Hardcore is guaranteed to work 20% higher than rated. Somthing I test every day!

That means you can buy some cheaper ram and still get the performance although I recommend getting the fastest ram you can afford.