i am asking as of curiosity
i can get 4 gigs of ram for 100 pounds
or i can get 2gig muskin ram for 200 pounds
would the 4 gigs give me better performance or worse performance
consider im going to be running a opteron 165 "CCBWE 0551"

Im no expert but i would have to say 2gig of the branded ram would out perform 4gig of value.

Not much out there at the moment (or in the near future) is going to use more than 4gig. You will proably also have much more overclocking performance out of higher quality ram.

2gig for £200 you say? how about some of this...

2Gb Corsair XMS PC4000 - £150 inc VAT

Our very own BA was more than a little impressed with this kit...

Quote: from review

Hemi Powered- Unbelievable overclocking ability
- Heatspreader design means no fingerprints
- Overclocks beautifully
- Easy to remove heatspreaders
- Overclocks
- Lifetime Warranty
- Overclockable

Hamster Powered
- I honestly can't find anything wrong


not many things get 10 out of 10 and 150 quid is a bargain!

If i had the money i would get some of this stuff right now... but im broke so its going to have to wait lol.


But i may be totally wrong... just by .02


Mark

Get the 2GB branded , there is no need for 4GB ...i think the board might even do DDR333 with 4 sticks of RAM that will decrease your performance.

but what do i know

4GB for £100 ? Where, I've only seen about £40 for 1GB sticks.

Quote: Originally Posted by Zaltan 4GB for £100 ? Where, I've only seen about £40 for 1GB sticks.

18.99 per gig plus 16 pound postage from a personal friend who works in the philippines
so its actualy less
im thinking of going for the 4 gig and seeing how it runs
if it performs badly i will just sell it on and get some performance stuff

soz guys forgot to mention i dont just game with my rig
i do video rendering and recompresion for CS1.6 and CSS clans

also i will be running xp pro x64 and SuSE 10.1 x86_64

I have 2 gigs of OCZ Titanium already but I am starting to get some lag. Do you think another 2 gigs of the same brand would slow down my PC or speed it up? my motherboard is a A8N32

Quote: Originally Posted by FuRI0 18.99 per gig plus 16 pound postage from a personal friend who works in the philippines so its actualy less im thinking of going for the 4 gig and seeing how it runs if it performs badly i will just sell it on and get some performance stuff soz guys forgot to mention i dont just game with my rig i do video rendering and recompresion for CS1.6 and CSS clans also i will be running xp pro x64 and SuSE 10.1 x86_64

Sounds like a plan, if you can afford it...go for it

Whats the brand that makes this "Value" RAM ?

I have an uncle who lives in the Phillipines... visited him there a couple of years ago...

They sell great stuff directly from China, Taiwan & Korea in shops in Manila but I have to mention I also
saw a LOT of "vague" white-box stuff I really did not trust... so make sure you know what you buy!

TDR

4GB of RAM is just NOT worth it right now. FIrst off, Windows XP can't even address 4GB. Second, it'll reduce the Command timings to 2T, which hurts performance. Third, AMD memory controllers are quirky when it comes to running all four slots filled.

2GB of performance will more than meet your expectations, and will overclock as well if you get the right kind.

What performance RAM from Mushkin were you looking at?

redline my friend
but i understand that the corsair xms performs just as well for less
but the ddr500 does look nice
and TDR the ram is the stuff im running atm
i get 2.5 4 3 6 with it at stock speeds
and ator winxp x64 can (just letting you know)

I'd just get 4GB for that price, its pretty good bragging rights.

sounds like a plan

i still reckon that for £50 more you would get better performance and not to mention stability from the 2Gb of Corsair XMS i posted earlier... i just wouldnt trust £17 per Gb ram... You say you do video editing and compression? well how would you like a BSOD in the middle of rendering and recompressing a massive video file? lol.. not what id want i can tell you that!

At the end of the day though its your system and you should always do what makes you happiest

Tell you what though... if that value ram works out well for you let me know...



Mark

Go for the 4gig and see if you get lucky; it is likely that you won't but if you do then all the better; and seeing as its so cheap you could always go down the performance memory channel later on.

People...WINDOWS CAN'T EVEN ADDRESS 4GB! It's limited to just over 3GB! They only way you could get it working would be to use Windows Server 2003, XP 64bit, or Linux!

Quote: Originally Posted by Ator People...WINDOWS CAN'T EVEN ADDRESS 4GB! It's limited to just over 3GB! They only way you could get it working would be to use Windows Server 2003, XP 64bit, or Linux!

I think he is running X64, so it does make a little bit of sense.

Quote: Originally Posted by markwalker84 well how would you like a BSOD in the middle of rendering and recompressing a massive video file? lol.. not what id want i can tell you that!

Bit extreme isn't it? It's not like he's talking about mixed sticks or messing about with the timings....yet. I'm sure the stuff that comes in 90% of pre builds is from cheap unknown names and its not the usual cause of bsods.

Quote: Originally Posted by FuRI0 also i will be running xp pro x64 and SuSE 10.1 x86_64

Quote: Originally Posted by Ator People...WINDOWS CAN'T EVEN ADDRESS 4GB! It's limited to just over 3GB! They only way you could get it working would be to use Windows Server 2003, XP 64bit, or Linux!

-------------

Quote: Originally Posted by z0mbi3 Bit extreme isn't it? It's not like he's talking about mixed sticks or messing about with the timings....yet. I'm sure the stuff that comes in 90% of pre builds is from cheap unknown names and its not the usual cause of bsods.

I may be wrong but both my Communications engineering and Digital electornics lecturers (both well documented professors might i add ) have been explaining recently how most computer crashes (whether they all as serious as BSOD or not...) are infact memory errors. Failure in the parity bit checking sequences which are more common in poorer silicon, which is found in poorer quality RAM. Once the cpu 'watchdog' detect the parity error it basically says 'Oh dear! STOP' and voila... crash central.

Im sure lots of other things contribute but thats what ive been told so far (and thats what im going to remember to pass my exams! lol)

Please feel free to correct me if im wrong... my Digital guy loves a good discussion! lol


Mark

I don't want to go to far off topic but I'll agree that poorer silicon can cause errors at higher frequencies but at stock / on a divider that shouldn't come into play.