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BEST Corsair/Kingston DDR for an Athlon64 3200+ or 3400+???HELP

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RB26DETTGT_R

Registered
Joined
Feb 18, 2004
Hey guys,

Im pretty new in the AMD scene, and have read tonnes of reviews on the Athlon64 3200+ and 3400+ Im most likely gonna go with one of the two, with a gigabyte GA-K8VNXP m/b. Ive got a Powercolor 9800XT, and a ultra160 SCSI HD.

Question is now......what speed RAM should I be going for? I understand that it would be pretty pointless going for something like corsairs xms4000 with an athlon64, due to the latency timings. I was thinking about TwinX 3500's, which are the last corsairs to have low timings.

Can somebody tell me simply:
- should I be looking at no higher speeds than 3500 for the athlon64 3400+/3200+?
- is memory like the twinx1024 3200LL/C2 *IDEAL* for this type of CPU?
- IS there any benefit running faster ram worse timings in an athlon64?
- IS aggressive timings much more favourable in an athlon64 than fast clock speeds with worse timings?

I would love to get some XMS4000 or 4200, but is it just a waste for a 64? Like I said, im pretty new with these athlon64's, and want to get an ideal setup, just the DDR is the thing I have to decide on.

Thanks in advance!!!!!! :)

PS. Also, if there is better DDR than corasir, or better suited to 64's let me know.
 
Half the reason that the AMD64 kicks butt is because all the memory bus control is done ON the chip rather than in the northbridge (which would run at a slower speed). You will foremost want tight timings to take advantage of the fast access the A64 can give.

PC3200 would be the default speed; if you want to overclock your A64, then maybe you should look into PC3500 (217fsb), PC3700 (233fsb) or maybe even PC4000 (250fsb). But again, look for the timings first.

Intel rigs seem to care less about timings because the memory access is all done through a relatively latent device to begin with -- the northbridge.
 
Do you want 512MB or 1GB?

If 512MB, get 1 stick, if 1GB get 2 sticks of 512MB. The Athlon64 Socket 754 has a single-channel memory processor, so there is no benefit to having 2 sticks (other then more memory). It also uses non-registerred memory, so there is no need for ECC or Registerred memory :)

The best memory for Socket 754 A64's is memory that has the ever reclusive Winbond BH-5 or BH-6 chips. This would be of the following:

Mushkin PC-3200/PC-3500 Black Level II (BH-5)
Mushkin PC-3200 "222 Special" (BH-6)
OCZ PC-3500 EL Platinum Limited Edition (BH-5)
OCZ PC-3200 EL Platinum Limited-Edition (BH-6)
Corsair XMS 3500 C2/LL (BH-5)

The following may (or should) have it, but you won't be getting your money back (likely) if it doesn't:

Kingston HyperX PC-3000 (BH-5 - If you get a Via-Chipset mobo, don't buy this)
Kingston HyperX PC-3200 Non-A - w/o an A in Product Code (BH-5)
Older Corsair PC-3200 C2/LL v1.1 - not v1.2 or v1.3 (BH-6/5)

RB26DETTGT_R said:
Can somebody tell me simply:
- should I be looking at no higher speeds than 3500 for the athlon64 3400+/3200+?
- is memory like the twinx1024 3200LL/C2 *IDEAL* for this type of CPU?
- IS there any benefit running faster ram worse timings in an athlon64?
- IS aggressive timings much more favourable in an athlon64 than fast clock speeds with worse timings?

I would love to get some XMS4000 or 4200, but is it just a waste for a 64?

- You should be looking for something with Winbond BH-5/BH-6 chips - if it has these chips then it shouldn't matter if it's labled PC-3000 or PC-3500.
- TwinX1024 3200LL/C2 uses Winbond CH-5 chips, these are decent chips but not the best out there. So it's not ideal.
- You should try to always run with fastest timings and not trade timings for higher speeds.
- Aggressive timings are more favorable. The Athlon attempts to reduce memory access times by bringing the memory controller alongside the processor. Therefore it's best to go with the ways of things and help keep timings (access) low.

PC4x00 would be a waste.
 
Thanks buddy, you answered all of my questions!! :D

I have been leaning more towards the Corsair XMS3500C2, as they are the last of the corsairs to have aggressive timings. If I got something like XMS3700, what type of timings could I get?

Also, can the A64 allow you to change the memory multiplier like in the Intels? As in, overclock the fsb, but then still be able to change the mem mult. so I can either go higher or lower?

Also, if I get 3500, can that still be overclocked with the A64, or would it just be operation at its rated speed, and be overclocking the 64 only?

Sorry for all the questions, I just want to get the best meme I can for my upcoming rig. You guys are extremely helpful in my current situation, so thanks a bundle. :) :) :) :)
 
Thats another question.....As this system will primarily be used for games, do I need 1gb? Ive got the 9800XT which is fantastic, but is 51MB enough for me? What sort of 2001se do you think I would hit with this sort of setup?
 
If you play alot of new intensive multiplayer games (like BF'42) you could use that 1GB. If you play mostly older multiplayer games, like CS, then you could do just fine with 512MB. In benchmarks like 3DMark, you wouldn't notice any differance between 256MB and 1024MB.

Corsair PC-3700 would be running at very lapsed timings. Something around 3-4-4 (CAS-tRCD-tRP). It is not something you would want with an Athlon 64 (or any set-up really).

The Athlon64 does have FSB:MEM ratios. But it's always best to keep this at a 1:1 ratio - speed of FSB (or it's A64 equivelent) as the same as the actual speed of memory (like 230MHz FSB - 230MHz memory @ DDR460).
 
OK, how about these to use in either a Athlon64 3200+ or an Athlon64 3400+:

CMX512-3500C2PT| XMS3500| 512MB| 2-3-3-7|

CMX512-3500C2| XMS3500| 512MB| 2-3-3-7|

CMX512RE-3500LLPT| XMS3500| 512MB| 2-3-2-6|

I just realised something though: The last one is registered. I was looking strongly at that one, but is there really no point now as they are registered? Would they be slower, although they have agressive timings?

What speed do you guys think an:

- A64 3200+ would be running, and the XMS3500?
- A64 3400+ would be running, and the XMS3500?

Or, should I stick with a 3200LL or C2 with one of them?
 
You would not want registered memory unless your running a permanent server or are required (FX-51 - Socket 940).

Speed would differ for everyone. Increasing voltage given to memory (vDIMM) would increase stability and allow for higher performance.
 
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