NEWBIE Building 1st PC w/ ? Bout Memory

A friend of mine told me about this site yesterday and since then i find myself going through thread after thread trying to soak up the plethora of great pc info located here. Thanks to all who dedicate their time to help people like me in this world. For me, its very hard to find anyone whos very knowledgeable bout pcs overhere in japan, at least those that speak english. Anyway, down to business.

Ive got just about all the peices put together, now down to the last one. Ive read through thread after thread about ddr and dual channel for the soon to be my mobo and have narrowed my selection to the brand, cosair. Ive gone through the selection offered by newegg and a lot of them say a lot of nice things. The specs from asus on the a7n8x delux in the memory qvl table list the cmx512-3200c by corsair (starting @ $124). I also found the TWINX1024-3200C2 (starting @ $245), but is this the better buy? Im really looking to take advantage of the dual channel capabilities of my mobo. Any suggestions? The rest of the system im looking at putting together thus far is as follows...

-Asus Motherboard A7N8X Deluxe
-AMD ATHLON XP 2500+ "Barton" 333 FSB PROCESSOR CPU
-Thermalright SLK-947-U
-Thermaltake SMART CASE FAN II
-ATI RADEON 9600 PRO 128MB 8X AGP DVI/TV
-Antec 1080AMG Case

Please help a NEWBIE out. Its hard enough being on the other side of the planet. Thanks.

Cheers,
Kawzman

To run in duel-channel, it is not necessary to purchase a "duel-channel" kit. Basically, as long as you purchase the same brand/type of memory within a reasonable amount of time of each other, then you will most likely get duel-channel performance. If you purchase 2 512MB sticks (of the same brand/type) on the same day, from the same reseller, then you are pretty much safe.

For a system such as yours, you probably would be best off with memory using WinBond chips, such as the BH-5 and CH-5. Corsair produces decent memory using the WinBond CH-5 chips, but there are better buys out there. A 1GB Kit for $245 ($122.50/512MB) would be a slightly better buy then 2x512MB @ $125/512MB, but only if you were counting pennies. Since your buying a $40 cooler, I assume you will want to overclock this baby. If that's the case, WinBond BH-5 chip memory has been considered a better performer then their newer CH-5 chip. BH-5 memory is capable, although not promised, of going 210-220MHz (maybe higher) with the lowest timings of 2-2-2-6. CH-5 memory, however, will get you the memory speeds but will require you to raise the tRCD (RAS-to-CAS Delay) and tRP (RAS Precharge) timings from 2 to 3 (2-3-3), hampering performance noticebally (in benchmarks) although not too much of a problem.

If you do consider to purchase BH-5 memory, there is Mushkin's Black Level 2 PC3200 ($139/512MB @ NewEgg) and Buffalo /WB-series PC3700 (actually true PC3200; $103/512MB). Mushkin being the promised brand, Buffalo being the bargain-hunter's dream.

IF you're on a budget then TwinMos or Buffalo Tech memory would be a good buy also. they also use the Windbond CH-5 chips. Probably not as good performers, but still in the top performing catgories.

Corsair is great, but im starting to form the oppinion of Kinston HyperX (BH5) would be better to use, since they would be very stable...

Kingston BH-5 memory is good, but supplies are dwindling as is the case with Buffalo PC3700 BH-5 memory.