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will I see a difference with dual channel ram??

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jkilla74

Member
Joined
May 15, 2002
I currently have a single stick of 512 XMS corsair cas 2 memory and I just bought a new N-Force 2 board and Im concidering buying the twin dual channel ram made by corsair and Im wondering if its worth doing. Will I see a difference as far as gaming and benchmarks. Heres my system specs:





Athlon XP 2700+ (w/Volcano 7 cooling 48-52 degrees)
MSI K72 N-force 2(25-31 degrees w/ 2 Intake fans,2 exhaust fans)
512 Mgs of PC3200 Corsair XMS cs2(1t-2-2-2-5 timings w/heat spreader)
ATI 9700 Pro(w/artic silver 3 and heatsink/fan made by Thermaltake@351/660)
60 Gig Maxtor 7200 RPM ata/133 & 40 Gig Western Digital 7200 RPM ata100
Soundblaster Audigy (w/5.1 Cambridge speakers)
Sony 48/12/48 CDRW
ErnoMax 400 Watt Power supply
20 Inch Sony Monitor
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1(Clean install)
3D MK2k1: 15,699 - http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=6013774
Glexcess: 10,833 - http://www.glexcess.com/xsmark/detail.asp?res=1024&bpp=32&id=5863
FutureMK2k3: 5,027 - http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=294134
 
For nforce2 AMD MB, when the dual channel memory is running at the SAME speed as the FSB (aka SYNC mode), there is little benefit in terms of improving the system memory BW. Since the FSB BW cannot absorb/supply twice the BW supplied from/to the dual channel memory when the two are running at same frequency.

For AMD MB, the max system memory BW is FSB x 2 x 8 = 16 FSB MB/s, e.g. FSB = 200 MHz, maxBW = 3200 MB/s, actualBW ~ 3050 MB/s due to some overhead.

You may even be better off just using one module since there is a better chance to get a few MHz of the FSB higher and tigher memory timing. The different between single or dual channel at SYNC mode is only 1-2 % of memory BW.

In my opinion, for AMD nforce2 MB, running dual channel with expensive, matching pair at SYNC speed is wasting the most expensive, top HALF of the memory BW, you won't be able to get that part of the bandwith at all.


BUT on the other hand, if FSB is much higher than memory speed, in the case you use old, cheaper memory, there is a benefit of running dual channel ASYNC mode. Intel chipset has been running memory like this.

E.g. FSB = 200 MHz, PC2400 memory running at 75% ASYNC. The resulting system memory BW will be like running PC2700-2800. 3D mark will show such benefit.
 
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wow, so then Im better off not changing the memory than... I was so close to ordering the new memory because people were telling me it was better.. I thought the ' dual channel' was better...
 
Its better like hite said, but the gains arent all that big. Its also harder to get the lowest timings when running two sticks as oposed to one.
 
There are lots of misconception about the nforce2 dual channel, sync vs async. I did some analysis and testing on them.

For nforce2 AMD MB, should save the money on those expensive, twin pair memory and get some other parts to balance the system performance. You just cannot get those top HALF of memory BW at all (all wasted).

Running existing PC2400 or PC2700 in dual channel ASYNC (75% or 80%) with FSB @ 200 MHz will bring you to withing 10% of the SYNC peformance, including 3D mark. And you save 30-50% on memory cost.

If you already have high speed memory or can buy cheap ones to match the FSB, of course you would run it in SYNC mode, it delievers the absolute memory BW (= FSB x 2 x 8 MB/s), minus some overhead.

I would use the money to get a 9700 np (about the same cost of expensive memory) if you don't have it yet.
 
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hitechjb1 said:
Running PC2400 or PC2700 in dual channel ASYNC (75% or 80%) will bring you to withing 10% of the SYNC peformance, and you save 30-50% on memory cost.

But you could also get twinmos pc3200 for $56 (256mb stick) and there will bea big performance increase from pc2700, however in your case jkilla74 you should just stick with what you got and upgrade will not make much of a performance increase
 
guys thanks for the tip, maybe I should get a 256 stick of PC3200 ddr ram, same brand as m corsair ram I currently have.. Than I would have a total of 768...
 
jkilla74 said:
guys thanks for the tip, maybe I should get a 256 stick of PC3200 ddr ram, same brand as m corsair ram I currently have.. Than I would have a total of 768...
It is 'best' to use identical sticks of ram for dual channel... same size, make etc. This is not to say it won't work, but it is recommended to use 2 identical sticks.
 
For nforce2 AMD MB, whether is 1 stick, or 2 sticks or 3 sticks, the max memory BW in the system is only FSB x 2 x 8 MB/s maximum. There is little difference between them in terms of memory and 3D performance.

Adding more memory sticks to the MB is for increasing your physical memory size to run larger programs and reduce HD swapping. Of course, this helps peformance too, but in another sense, not in terms of memory BW.

ADD:

Spending 30% more to get those matching pair so as to clock a few MHz higher for < 5% of performace, I don't think is worth it. There is no guarantee they are natural twin. If somehow, some one screwed up and got mixed up, it would even be harder to reunite with the twin brother/sister.
 
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tragic_monkey said:


But you could also get twinmos pc3200 for $56 (256mb stick) and there will bea big performance increase from pc2700, however in your case jkilla74 you should just stick with what you got and upgrade will not make much of a performance increase

Were can I get the Twin Mos memory??

Thanks:)
 
Dave65 said:


Is the one for $59 the same as the one below it?

It says it is renamed,I don't want to get junk..

I don't have first hand experience with it. May be other can comment.

But the website says:

"* This module uses Winbond chips which have been re-labled as Twinmos brand. We can sell this module at a lower cost than the Twinmos module with Winbond markings. Function and quality are equal."
 
does that mean it would be better for me to run my PC2700 at 266mhz so it runs sync. with my 266mhz fsb?
 
What MB are you using?

For nforce2 AMD MB, if your MB can run FSB at 200 MHz or higher in ASYNC mode, then

when using two PC2700 memory module in dual channel

- FSB at 200+ MHz with ASYNC 80% mode (memory would be at 160+ MHz)

would give you better memory BW and 3D performance than

- FSB and memory running at 166 MHz with SYNC mode.

The dual channel pair would give a performance like a PC2900-PC3000, within 10% from PC3200 SYNC mode performance.


Make sure put memory in dual channel slots.
 
hitechjb1 said:


I don't have first hand experience with it. May be other can comment.

But the website says:

"* This module uses Winbond chips which have been re-labled as Twinmos brand. We can sell this module at a lower cost than the Twinmos module with Winbond markings. Function and quality are equal."


Well I ordered 2 sticks it will be a switch from the norm for me.
I have Corsair now..
 
i have two xms 3200c2x256 and have had a lot of trouble on A7N8X DL. they read as 2700 chips on AIDA. corsair thinks i might have one bad module. im trying to get them to exchange ror TWINX. never know they might. anyway to stay on thread i think they are too exspensive also but if you are going for highend anyway why not go for the twins
 
majkmil said:
i have two xms 3200c2x256 and have had a lot of trouble on A7N8X DL. they read as 2700 chips on AIDA. corsair thinks i might have one bad module. im trying to get them to exchange ror TWINX. never know they might. anyway to stay on thread i think they are too exspensive also but if you are going for highend anyway why not go for the twins

From your sig, you are running 194 MHz w/ Corsair 3200C2. What makes you to think that the 3200 LL TWIN which costs $30 more a pair than the 3200C2 will enable you to run higher than 194 MHz. You may not be able to get the FSB higher at all, even few MHz is not worth it for the extra $30 (IMHO).

It looks like the MB is holding the FSB back. Most would think is the NB vdd.
 
jkilla74 said:
guys thanks for the tip, maybe I should get a 256 stick of PC3200 ddr ram, same brand as m corsair ram I currently have.. Than I would have a total of 768...

you dont realy need more than 512 unless your burning dvd's or something ?
 
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