Help! Looking at 2 gigs 4x512(2T) vs 2x1024(1T)

Hi I am planning on building a new system within the next month or two. I've been hearing about people debate the value of cheap vs expensive ram on an A64 system. Not sure which way to go.

What I am wondering is with a memory divider could you overclock a cpu with relatively cheap memory as much (strictly Raw MHz) as the high end stuff trying to push tight timings or high frequency? Since you aren't pushing the memory as much would it even matter? I'm guessing no.

Also if I were to get 2 512mb of "ok" sticks starting out with maybe better timings/or higher frequencies and then get 2 512mb sticks later would the penalty of 2T be that much greater then running 1T with 2 1 gig cheap sticks at looser timings/lower frequencies? Is there a problem overclocking 4X512 vs 2X1024 sticks? With 4 sticks I guess you might have more compatibility issues?

I'm looking at getting a:

x2 3800+
DFI LANPARTY UT NF4 ULTRA-D
xp-120 hsf (is there anything better out now?)
nvidia 7800 GT

Just need to figure out how I'll go with the memory. Hoping to overclock to 2.6 Ghz. It will be used for work and play. I had a bp6 dual cpu setup way back when and I was looking to go dual again (in a single package this time). I do a lot of mulitasking, run development software etc.. . and of course games..

I'm basically in the same predicament as you. However, I'm considering 2GB any which way I go with it. I've looked at the comparison between 4 X 512MB of decent memory and the cheaper 2 X 1GB and the general consensus doesn't show much difference. I decided to look at it from both a price and ease of upgrade perspective. Getting the 2 X 1GB now will allow me to upgrade to 4GB later on much easier (on the wallet) than going 4 X 512MB. I simply add 2 modules instead of replacing 4.

I can't say it's for certain, but I've run into alot of discussions (from various forums and reviews) that even if you have 2 X 512MB with decent timings that adding two more of the same results in having to relax the timings a bit to remain stable - even when not overclocked in some instances. This may or may not be in the majority of the cases, but if I pay for good timings in memory, I'd want to keep them when upgrading with identical modules.

Don't take any of this as rule since I'm sure there are many other opinions and experiences about this to come. This is just how I intend to go about it. I intend to use the money saved on value memory to go for the X2 4400+ Toledo, so that's my justification :]

acoldone, if you don't have a lot of bucks invested in great ram then I would suggest you go for the 2x1gig Crucial. It will OC decently and run at 1t.

the hot 2gb sets right now are the Ballistix, Mushkin Performance and the OCZ Gold Edition PC4000. Gonna have to spend a little money but this is the best right now. Anything else and you'll be going down in overclock and probably quality.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146425

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227219

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146549

Good hunting.....

Edit: Getting 4 sticks of ram to work with a DFI NF4 is no walk in the park. Took several attempts to finally get it to work and various combinations of memory in memory slots. I can clock my 4 sticks of TCCD up to about 260 but I have to label the ram to remember which slots they go in. Put them in the slots they don't like you'll get nothing but beeps. The difference in performance between 1 GB 1T and 2 GB 2T (four sticks) is less than a thousand 3dmark01 points.

rseven said:

acoldone, if you don't have a lot of bucks invested in great ram then I would suggest you go for the 2x1gig Crucial. It will OC decently and run at 1t.

Click to expand...

Are these what you are refering to? http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.Asp?IMODULE=BL2KIT12864L503

They seem pretty pricey at 400 US. Are they really worth it? I usually get stuff from my usual Canadian haunts:

www.ncix.com
www.memoryexpress.com
www.dangeo.com

They don't seem to carry crucial 2 GB kits. But I guess you could order from Crucial directly (worry about brokerage fees, etc).

Is there any cheaper 2x1024 kits that are decent? OZC, Kingston, etc?

HousERaT said:

the hot 2gb sets right now are the Ballistix, Mushkin Performance and the OCZ Gold Edition PC4000. Gonna have to spend a little money but this is the best right now. Anything else and you'll be going down in overclock and probably quality.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146425

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227219

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146549

Good hunting.....

.........

Click to expand...

Thanks. It seems we don't seem to have the same great selection you guys have in the US here in Canada. I think we might have the mushkin 2gb kit. These are two that are listed at NCIX.com:

Mushkin HP PC3200 2GB 2X1GB DDR400 CL2-3-2 184PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit
AND
Mushkin SP PC3200 2GB 2X1GB DDR400 CL3-3-3-8 184PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit

HP stands for "High Performance"? Was someone saying that now certain sticks weren't that great anymore from Mushkin because they were using different parts now? Not sure..

The standard Crucials, not the ballistix, sell for under $100 per stick here. They are not sold as a set.

Just bought the GEIL 2GB "Value" Dual Channel Kit (with Blue Heatspreaders). I don't really care about tight timmings (these are 3-4-4-8 @ 1T) or very high OC.

They worked fine in my Neo2 nforce3 ultra board at stock and now at 210 = DDR420.

After I have benched these I will try to addin my Twinx sticks to give it a go with 4 sticks (total 3Gb).

Russ_64 said:

Just bought the GEIL 2GB "Value" Dual Channel Kit (with Blue Heatspreaders). I don't really care about tight timmings (these are 3-4-4-8 @ 1T) or very high OC.

They worked fine in my Neo2 nforce3 ultra board at stock and now at 210 = DDR420.

After I have benched these I will try to addin my Twinx sticks to give it a go with 4 sticks (total 3Gb).

Click to expand...

Wouldn't bother doing that... you will need to disable CPC (go to 2T). You will probably loose performance if anything.

rseven said:

The standard Crucials, not the ballistix, sell for under $100 per stick here. They are not sold as a set.

Click to expand...

Thanks. So will these work in dual channel mode? I know in the past they sold them in pairs because memory was finicky and wouldn't always work in dual channel mode. Not sure if the same holds today?

You guys are all crazy going for 2gb already... it's so freakin' expensive for a good set.

I'm gonna stick out what I got until prices are in the affordable range. I'm just curious... it seems that a lotta you guys are going for 2gb lately... what the heck do you need it for, Battlefield or something? Does it help to have 2gb for Source?

I am with rseven. Those Crucial sticks are great.

acoldone said:

Thanks. So will these work in dual channel mode? I know in the past they sold them in pairs because memory was finicky and wouldn't always work in dual channel mode. Not sure if the same holds today?

Click to expand...

It will work in dual. Crucial never went in for that matched pair stuff, which for the most part was an excuse to soak the consumers.
Relax g0dM@n, I'm not going for 2x1gig. If I was buying ram now, though, I would. Those Crucial sticks cost less than my TCCD. If folks use Photoshop 9.0, it's a major ram hog. It is also good for video editing and some games. I figure I'll wait till DDR2 before I invest in any more ram.