Dumb question

I'm know this question has to be commonly asked and I'm kicking myself for asking it, but would there be an advantage to get DDR500 memory compared to DDR400 if I'm going to OC it anyway? I'm going to be building an X2 gaming system using an Epox board with 2 gigs of memory, however this is where I'm stuck at. For example OCZ has 2 gigs of their DDR400 titanium memory and 2 gigs of DDR500 memory for relatively the same price. I know the 500 memory is faster yet it has slower timings compared to the 400. So I guess the question is, which is the better way to go if I'm going to OC it anyway? Price really isn't the issue, I just want to get the best performance out of my memory. I don't want to buy DDR400 and then be ****ed off later when I found out I might as well have bought DDR500.

If you were to buy the PC3200 then overclocked it, you may have to relax the timings and increase the voltage to do so. I have 1GB of PC4000 and it's running at 470MHz (about PC3700) because the FSB of my P4 is set to 235MHz. This gave me the option to tighten the timings from 3-4-4-8 to 2.5-3-3-6 at the same voltage. If I used PC3200 I would have to raise the voltage and loosen the timings to reach the same speeds. I would buy the DDR500 for OC purposes, especially since their the same price.

Makes sense, thanks for the reply.

If anyone knows of a thread or FAQ that I missed a link would be greatly appreciated as well.

to the Forum, Mooyo.
It would be helpful if you posted links to the ram you are comparing. There maybe better ram you can choose in the same price range. OCZ makes first rate ram, but the bottom line is knowing what chips they are using ad how capable they are at overclocking. Some DDR400 will clock higher than DDR500. It's all in the chips and f course some luck as well since all chips of the same kind do not overclock alike.

isn't titanium for servers? i would go for the gold or the platinum edition. the Platinum usually use TCCD and the Gold use either ch-6 or utt, not sure though.

-1cem4n

Yah titanium is made for servers, not for OCing, you don't want that. The difference between PC3200 and PC4000 is just the binning process. With PC4000 spec is DDR500, with PC3200 anything above stock is nice but not guaranteed. This is especially true for 2 gig sets. If you want an OCZ 2 gig kit, 2GB PC4000 Platinum EB is the best they have.

I was comparing

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227056

and

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

For two gigs and

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146890

For one gig. I was just going to get two packs of the platinum but I've read a few times that 2 sticks of ram will overclock better than 4, hence why I was looking at the 2 stick, 2 gig possibility.

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=141226&AFFIL=dt&NR=1

And I presume this was the memory that you mentioned?

I don't know anything about the Titanium stuff you linked so I can't helkp you there. Yep that link from Monarch is the stuff. It does about 280Mhz @ 2.5-3-2 with the right setup and tweeks.

See this thread for details.

If you want 2 gigs, 2 sticks is better than 4.

EDIT: BTW, if you are going to spend $300+, you may want to consider getting Ballistix instead of the OCZ.

Mooyo said:

I was comparing

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227056

and

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

For two gigs and

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146890

For one gig. I was just going to get two packs of the platinum but I've read a few times that 2 sticks of ram will overclock better than 4, hence why I was looking at the 2 stick, 2 gig possibility.

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=141226&AFFIL=dt&NR=1

And I presume this was the memory that you mentioned?

Click to expand...

The Titanium has very good timings, but it is not great overclocking ram. If used with a divider it would work fine. The DDR500 will scale better and is the best choice there. The 4x512mb idea, though it's tccd ram, is probably not the best due to the limitations of four sticks on the A64 memory controller. You may also want to consider a Crucial Ballistix 2x 1 gig set as it has the rep for being the best overclocking ram of it's size.

sorry to butt in, does anyone know what chips are on my new OCZ 2GB Platinum kit ? sofar its doing 225mhz @ 6 3 3 2.5 1T with 1.7v

So from the sounds of it, the ballistics or that ocz ddr-4000 platinum is the way to go. Thanks guys

Yes, that is correct. You are welcome and good luck with whichever you get.

Burnt_Ram said:

sorry to butt in, does anyone know what chips are on my new OCZ 2GB Platinum kit ? sofar its doing 225mhz @ 6 3 3 2.5 1T with 1.7v

Click to expand...

Plat EB uses Infineon CE-6 chips.