Novice Question

[AJZ]

Hey guys I have a quick question for you. On my secondary 'project' pc I had 4 512 mb pc3200 sticks of ram. Today a friend just sent me 2 1 gig sticks of ram with lower timings.

My question is which will give me the better performance:

Sticking with the 4 512mb sticks (2gigs total) in dual channel config with a timing of 2.5 , 3, 3, 7

Or going with:

2 1 gig sticks and 2 512mb sticks (3gigs total) in dual channel config with a timing of 3. 4, 4, 7

So the question essentially is which will give me the better performance the 1 less gig and better timing or the 1 more gig and worse timing?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Blazing fire]

Why not 2X1GB? What timings will that give ya? What kind of applications do you use? Do you plan to alt tab in and out of games often?

And above all, WELCOME to the forums!

[AJZ]

Why not 2X1GB? What timings will that give ya? What kind of applications do you use? Do you plan to alt tab in and out of games often?

And above all, WELCOME to the forums!

The 2x1gb sticks are actually giving me the overall lower times which are 3. 4, 4, 7

The 4x512mb give me the better timings which are 2.5 , 3, 3, 7

Thanks for the welcome :)

[repilce]

I'd go with the 2 x 1gb alone.. u can probably run them at the 2.5 3 3 7 if they are decent sticks

[Blazing fire]

Frankly, there are some complications. Let's start with 2GB vs 4GB (yes, you have 3Gb but we're deciding if more RAM helps). There are 2 threads I would like to point out. Namely LegitReviews (http://www.legitreviews.com/article/709/1/) and corsair's own benchmarks at this thread (http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=566552). That is the reason for my previous questions.

Also, you may find using 4 sticks putting too much strain on the motherboard which in turn lower the motherboard frequency and ability to oc.

You're most welcome:)

[AJZ]

Thanks guys, the help is much appreciated. I'm going to use the 2x1gig sticks and as repilce said see if I can get them down to the timings I want.

Blazing fire thanks for the links as well those were some enlightening reads.

[Blazing fire]

Oh you're most welcome! You definately boosted my ego :P

[SAnusha]

2x1gb is enough

[Blazing fire]

If you read this (http://www.corsairmemory.com/_appnotes/AN804_Gaming_Performance_Analysis.pdf), 4GB is much faster than 2GB in terms of alt-tabbing in most games.

"The effects of using 4GB of RAM can be clearly seen in our results. With 4GB installed the average frame rate in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts increased by 21% and the minimum frame rate rose by an incredible 460%. Similarly, with 4GB installed the minimum frame rate in Crysis rose by 46%, making the game run much more smoothly and enjoyably.
Game loading times were also significantly enhanced by installing 4GB of RAM; a game of Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts loaded 75% faster with 4GB installed compared to 2GB.
In addition, using 4GB of memory also provides secondary benefits such as increased multi-tasking flexibility. Switching between a game and a forum window in order to make a post is more than 11 times faster with 4GB than with 2GB.
As games become more and more complex the need for 4GB of system memory will only increase, and this means that 4GB of memory is now an essential upgrade for gamers."file:///F:/Users/Alwyn/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg