Total indecision... PC2700 or PC3200?

[newbie_scum]

I'm shortly about to purchase a Athlon 2500+ (Barton core) along with a nForce2 motherboard, now the decision I have to make is whether to go with PC2700 or PC3200...

I was checking newegg.com and I checked up on Corsair XMS, 1 GB of PC2700 Low Latency goes for about the same price as 1 GB of 1 GB of PC3200. The timings on the PC2700 LL are 2-2-2-5, and the timings on the PC3200 are 2-3-3-6. I'm not sure if I'm going to overclock or not, as of now the only gamesI play are based on the Half-Life engine, but I plan to play more updated games like Max Payne 2, WarCraft 3, Call of Duty, and Half-Life 2 if it ever comes out...

If I overclock, I plan to just jack up the FSB from 333 to 400 at most. I'm also still debating on which motherboard to go with.(stuck between Abit and Asus)

And I guess a sort of secondary question is, should I even bother going with 1 GB of RAM? Is it overkill for Windows XP? Considering other than games and maybe photo editing, I probably won't do much else that would work my system ...

First post for me here, my friend recommended I come here for advice.

[huneycutt]

The 2500 is awesome and I'd go with the ABIT NF7-S V2. I saw a thread here asking the same question and reply said you really won't see THAT much difference in 2700 or 3200 RAM and heavy gaming will run better with 1Gig.

"If I overclock, I plan to just jack up the FSB from 333 to 400 at most." Seriously doubt you'll get it that high. The new 2500's have the multiplier locked and default multiplier (clock-ratio) for the 2500 is 11 and it does fine at 11. Go in the BIOS and set "Advanced Features" to expert, FSB about 185 and leave memory Auto and it should clock 2044MHz or 2.04GHz. Run it like that a few hours and if it runs stable up the FSB to 190 and keep doing that until you get the FSB around 200 and it should be clocking same as a 3200 2.2GHz or better. If you get the FSB to high it will lock up so go in the BIOS and back the FSB off a couple numbers and you'll be good to go.

No reason not to OC the 2500 because using the "mild" OC'ing method above you have a 3200 for the price of a 2500. ;) Definitely get the boxed-retail version, three year AMD warranty and you get the HS and fan. For mild OC'ing the AMD HS rig will do fine but I will make one suggestion; Take the pink pad off with some OOPS or Goof Off and use white compound or Arctic Silver and doing that will not void the AMD warranty.

To keep close tabs on your CPU go here and dl wcpuid v3.1a http://www.h-oda.com/

Speed Fan does a good job monitoring temps, scroll to the botom of the page. http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

"First post for me here, my friend recommended I come here for advice." Your friend gave good advice because these folks are always willing to help and know what they're talking about.

Know you're excited about your new rig so enjoy it and have fun.
OldBird

[Darph]

"--The timings on the PC2700 LL are 2-2-2-5, and the timings on the PC3200 are 2-3-3-6."

If you drop your 3200 to 2700 speed you could do 2-2-2-5 easily.
But why would you? Bartons ARE bandwidth starved, NOT latency bottlenecked... on AMD chips,if its CAS 2 youre set. Everything else is just for showing off and offers no real world performance.

Yes,get a gig..Call of duty uses gobs of ram.

[gruvin2]

Grab 1gb of pc3200 it will offer better overall bandwidth and the price difference is minimal.

[vidgion]

i saved a few bucks and grabbed some good ole ocz 2700 2-2-2-5, but when i get them they'll surely be running 2.5 -3-3-11 @ ddr460;)-

there's overclocking, and then there's me-

[AaronP]

pc 3200 will last you longer, and if its about the same price, naturally go with what you get more of for your money :)

[huneycutt]

From what I hear the mfgr's OC's 2700 to 3200.