Sorting out what DDR500 to buy

Hi,

I'm currently building a 3d workstation rig

DFI LANParty UT NF4 SLI-DR Expert
Opteron 170

I'm trying to figure out the best memory i can buy for this system which i intend to overclock... i'm aiming for a stable 250 MHz FSB so i guess buying PC4000 is a wise choice... i currently own a pair of 256 Mb Mushkin DDR500 but they are not enough...

First question, should i buy a kit of 2x512Mb DDR500 and try to run four DIMMS using the memory i already have

Second question, (=no way, your first option is a stupid idea, won't work) should i buy a pair of 1Gb DDR500, and which one of these should i choose:

Mushkin Redline PC4000
OCZ Platinum EB PC4000

both have great reviews, and are recommended around here, not sure if mushkin is worth the price over the OCZ platEB

also heard about OCZ gold maybe being better than the platEB...

Third option, getting only a pair of tighter timmed 512Mb DDR500 will lead to better performance even if i have a Gb less than in the second option. Here, both Mushkin REdline and OCZ Gold VX are contenders.

Any input will be very welcome! Thanks in advance!

There's really no reason not to put 2 gigs in a new system these days, you dont want to go about it with 4 sticks though.

These are your best bet for bang for the buck, price for performance.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231021

yeah, i've heard about the Gskills, what bugs me is the randomness of it all, it just happens that a good batch of them came through and OCed very well... i've been reading that this is not always true with the new batch... my goal is to get a stable overclock on which i can actually work on... do you think this is possible with Gskills, and if so anyone know where to get them in canada?

well i dont see how you cant get ddr500 out of ddr500 stix at least

mine are good for 273, alot of people get more, all for under $200, seems like a good thing to me...

ok, the only place i could find the G.Skill 2Gb kit in canada is 360$CAD and i can actually get the OCZ PlatEB for the same price... lol, they aren't that cheap in Canada it seems!

just my 2cents, but this Free Trade thing is bull****! why can't i order from the states without paying 50$ for shipping plus custom holdup and fees! argh, in the interest of the people....

Either one is good. I think you'll be happy with the performance of either one.

My G skill PC4400 does over 350FSB. GSkills are good but I feel I made a big mistake buying expensive RAM and not using it's potential. I only run 200 to 230FSB to keep system stable. So now I only get these Value Corsai RAM. It does 250FSB with 3-3-3-8. Check out the number of reviews on newegg.

Also ruining the higher 30 to 40 higher FSB does not give very much performance gain. The extra FSB only raise my 3DMARK05 by 5 points. Clock speed is what makes the difference. I've learn my lesson and will not spend the extra $$ on fast RAM. I would just get some cheap reliable RAM like the Corsairs.

<<Spider>> said:

Either one is good. I think you'll be happy with the performance of either one.

My G skill PC4400 does over 350FSB. GSkills are good but I feel I made a big mistake buying expensive RAM and not using it's potential. I only run 200 to 230FSB to keep system stable. So now I only get these Value Corsai RAM. It does 250FSB with 3-3-3-8. Check out the number of reviews on newegg.

Also ruining the higher 30 to 40 higher FSB does not give very much performance gain. The extra FSB only raise my 3DMARK05 by 5 points. Clock speed is what makes the difference. I've learn my lesson and will not spend the extra $$ on fast RAM. I would just get some cheap reliable RAM like the Corsairs.

Click to expand...

we're taking about 2gb kits here not 1gb kits lol

he specifically asked for ddr500 kits.

BTW running 10X250 for instance 1:1 is a huge leap over say 10X250 with a 166 divider for 208ish mhz on the memory.

Aside from that he;s not spending more for "fast ddr500" memory when most ddr400 kits are more than the gskills are. Remember we are talking about 2gb kits.

Try to stay on topic please.

My goal is to run my system at 250FSB to get the Opteron for 2GHz up to 2.5GHz, this is why i'm looking at ddr500... anyone think i could achieve a stable system with low latency Pc3200 ram with great OC potential?

absolutley, but most pc3200 2gb kits dont reach pc4000 or ddr500. Most pc3200 2gb kits are around $200 thats why the gskill pc4000's are such a steal.

but you can go that route with 1gb kit, there's pc3200 kits that do pc4800 or ddr600.

running 10X250 for instance 1:1 is a huge leap over say 10X250 with a 166 divider for 208ish mhz on the memory.

Click to expand...

That's what I thought also until I did several test. On one of the test, I tested at 200FSB and 250FSB. This is 10X250 1:1 and with diver. It barely made any difference is in 3DMARK05. The differenct was only 10 points with the Opteron 148 and unlocked GTO2. Do the test yourself and you'll see what I mean. I really don't want to stress my NB over 10 points.

BTW, he can also get the 1GB corsair. I was just saying those Corsair are the ones I got.

Most likey your card is able to be topped out by your configuration regardless of what extra memory or cpu speed after you've found after your top score. you are gpu limited in other words....

Limted? I don't think so. I was a true believer in higher FSB coming from the XP system. In XP, the FSB made a HUGE difference. But with the 64's HTT memory controler, it really does not make much difference.

Even when I overclock the CPU to 2.9GHz and GPU to 550/600, My 3DMARK05 was around upper 6700s, the difference was still around 10 points using different FSB ratios. The difference in 3DMARK05 was still only around 10 points.