4gb of cheapo v s 2gb of highspec

[Spawn-Inc]

first off this isn't a comparison, i don't have either ram yet. i just won a ebay auction for 4gb (1x4) sticks of Samsung DDR2 PC5300 ram for $90 (shipping included) this is for my gaming rig and i want to know if it would be worth while to get some Mushkin EP 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) which i originally planned to get for the gaming rig. so i guess my question is should i bother spending 200 to get less, but higher spec'ed ram? the rest of my system specs are in my sig.

also how do you tell if they are the D9 chips?

[DavidJa]

i would go for 2x1GB...BUT not for $200, you can get "good" 2x1 kits for around $100.
Do you also have a 64-bit o/s to run the 4x1GB, if you decide to go that route
you have to physically look at the chips, there is also a ram list somewhere about the place around here.

[aja]

As david said, take the 2x1gig set

You will benefit much more from it in daily use imo

[Neuromancer]

I would do the 2x1 Gig kit also. I spent 65 dollars on my geil 800MHz 444s and run them at 1000MHz :)

The 5300 I would use in a quad core machine running vms or something

[Spawn-Inc]

vms? (vista?)

it will be a quad core once i get the money.

[aja]

vms? (vista?)

it will be a quad core once i get the money.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenVMS

[Neuromancer]

vms? (vista?)

it will be a quad core once i get the money.


Virtual Machines. Thats my plan and why I want to get a quadcore CPU. There is not really a need for one otherwise at this point in time. But I like playing around with OSes and VMs would really let me experiment with all of them :)

[aja]

There is not really a need for one otherwise at this point in time.

Unless you do video/audio editing, play with CAD or SQL etc...

[GTengineer]

Unless you do video/audio editing, play with CAD or SQL etc...

scientific computing!!! :D

to the original OP

2x1GB Crucial Ballistics

[Spawn-Inc]

Virtual Machines. Thats my plan and why I want to get a quadcore CPU. There is not really a need for one otherwise at this point in time. But I like playing around with OSes and VMs would really let me experiment with all of them :)

ya i would like to learn linux as i've heard it rarely crashs and you can fix alot of problems. so fornow i will stick with xp/vista (i will get vista once i get my 8800ultra, q6600, 226BW LCD and new ram)


some newer games use quad cores now right?

oh and xp home can use up to 3.5 gb's right? my video card says its got 128mb on board and can handle up to 512 with system ram so would it grab the stuff from 3.5gb's or would it take the .5 not being used by windows?

also what program tests ram modules for defects?

[JamesXP]

memtest86

[Spawn-Inc]

so how long do you run that and is it normal to find problems? what errors does it find? (if the ram works doesn't that mean it works?) how do i run it?

sry for all the noob questions i'm tired and unsure of how it works properly.

[g14novak]

Memtest86 is a pretty self-explainitory program. You put it on a floppy, set the computer to boot from floppy, and the program does the rest. It will make sure you can tell when the ram fails at a certain point. ;)

Basic Layout:
It will run a series of tests to test the chips on the ram to make sure they dont have any errors. If they have errors, it will show the error, tell you which chip its on, and tell you where its messing up at.

[Spawn-Inc]

if you buy a set of ram and say one chip is messed up but the ram still works does that mean you can RMA it? also how long does it take to test 1 stick? do i have to test them one stick at a time (i mean only one stick installed)?

[Neuromancer]

ya i would like to learn linux as i've heard it rarely crashs and you can fix alot of problems. so fornow i will stick with xp/vista (i will get vista once i get my 8800ultra, q6600, 226BW LCD and new ram)


some newer games use quad cores now right?

oh and xp home can use up to 3.5 gb's right? my video card says its got 128mb on board and can handle up to 512 with system ram so would it grab the stuff from 3.5gb's or would it take the .5 not being used by windows?

also what program tests ram modules for defects?


Sort of.

Windows XP 32bit can handle Exactly 4 GB of memory. The problem is that it includes ALL addressable memory in that 4GB... so when you have say... a 8800GTX installed.. .you will only see 3.2GB of ram. (this is why there is a big discrepancy in how much people "see" when running 32bit, a GTX has what 768MB of addressable memory?). Not sure how this works with SLI/Crossfire...


Not sure what else is included in the addressable memory range, justa hypothesis I came up with and never researched it diligently to see if I was correct :)


As far as Linux rarely crashing... its true to a point. In my experience its much less forgiving then windows, but harder to make the error that causes the crash. Windows is actually an extreemly stable operating system except that you have to rely on 3rd party drivers/software. If you install windows and never install updated drivers or another program, I would bet a lot of money that you do not ever see a BSOD unless its overclocking related. NASA uses windows on their servers and my Dad said that the one he set up ran for 4+ years, and only crashed because idiots started doing things like installing screen savers... (On a server!!) WTF???


Linux is a lot of fun though and offers a whole lot to the people that are willing to learn it. I would like to use it for a web browsing machine, especially since I can easily copy my Opera profile over :) Oh yah.. im really interested in the Linux HTPC too... there is a totally groovy front end you can install over Ubuntu that is just hte best HTPC front end I have ever seen. HTPC Linux or something.. I have it DLEd just never installed it :( Might do that soon though ;)

[Immortal_Hero]

scientific computing!!! :D

to the original OP

2x1GB Crucial Ballistics

Yes at the orginal orginal poster :D. I agree with the Ballistix. I have a set of them and I run mine at DDR2-900 and they do it no sweat.

[Scott9027]

Well, if it was me, I would spend less and get the 2x1GB. However, between those two options, I would rather have 4GB of generic RAM than 2GB of $200 Mushkin. If you're really looking to push your overclock it might justify the expensive RAM, but it's unlikely that you will be leaning on the RAM that hard if you ask me.

[DaPoets]

I would take the 4gigs of ram and mess around w/ a dual boot of winxp 32 and 64 which is what I'm doing now. I'm liking 64 more and more and when my 120 day trial is over, I may actullay purchase win xp 64. I'll go vista in a year or two... my scanner doesn't have drivers for vista and I love my scanner...

Quad Core FTW!!

[Spawn-Inc]

i guess i should asked before i got the 4gbs but i will just run with 4gbs until i get the other parts of the pc or a better job.

for memtest86 can you have more than 1 stick of ram in at a time when testing?

[jason4207]

You can run memtest w/ all 4 sticks. If you get errors you may want to try 1 stick at a time to isolate the problem.

[Elluzion]

I would say get a decent 2 x (1gb) kit of ram. Either ddr800 or maybe higher if needed.

[Shadow ÒÓ]

in reality there are deminishing returns to anything past 2 gigs. That used to be 1 gig not too long ago.

Unless you're taking advantage of a ram drive, 2 gigs is generally plenty.

[aja]

Shadow I love your avatar and I LOVE YOUR SIG!

[Shadow ÒÓ]

=)

[legendosiris]

in reality there are deminishing returns to anything past 2 gigs. That used to be 1 gig not too long ago.

Unless you're taking advantage of a ram drive, 2 gigs is generally plenty.

Actually i noticed quite a nice jump in things going from 2 -> 4. 2gb is really the low limit for DX10 games or any games coming out this Quarter IMO. I tried to run 2gb, but the pc was always grinding on the HD. Jump to 4 and its gone over that edge.

I will say that i havent seen my pc use over 4gb but one time soo far, and that was more an intentional run. 4gb is likely to be the sweet spot come 2008. Only issue is that there just isnt that much fast ram out there to run 2x2gb configs (leaves option to go 6-8gb for running virtual pc's).