Need advice on memory to go with my new system build

[steven6282]

Ok so I'm working on a new system build and was planning on ordering Monday (Yesterday) but got delayed and am looking at ordering now.

I was going to order two sets of the OCZ Platinum (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1066 kits from newegg but they are out of stock on them now. I'd prefer to stick to ordering from newegg unless it is a very reputable alternative sight. I've always found newegg to be the best at getting my products to me timely and in the proper condition. I just can't decide what memory to order in place of this? I know Gskill is really popular and cheaper even, but I orderd some GSkill meory when it first started becoming popular and had nothing but problems out of it, so I'm not crazy about ordering that brand again.

I was also considering the OCZ Reaper kits, but I read some reviews that they don't overclock very well.

I'm going to be putting the memory in a P5E board with a Q9450 CPU which I plan to overclock.

Can anyone give some advice on some good memory to go with in this situation? I want at least 1066 mhz speed, but I'd go faster if it's not to much more expensive. Not looking to spend more than around 125 for 4Gbs and even thats pushing it, would prefer to stay closer to 100 per 4gbs (2 x 2gb). Oh and I will be running Vista 64bit just so no one mentions that I need to run 64 bit to use that much memory.

What kind of performance drop would I see if I went with the OCZ Platinum DDR2 1000? I'm really concerned with the memory speed bottlenecking the overall speed of the computer when I start overclocking the CPU. Keep in mind I'm not an expert on the speeds of everything so I could be completely wrong, but always assumed you wanted your memory FSB as close to your CPU FSB as possible.

Thanks!

EDIT:
Ok so I was just reading over at some forums about FSB Vs Memory speed and think I understand it a little better now. I just want to make sure this philosophy is consistent for quad core processors.

With the FSB being 1333 on the q9450, according to the other forums it's really a 333 FSB quad pumped (or transfers data 4 time per clock cycle).
And DDR2 is 2 times per cycle so 1000 mhz memory would really be equivalent to 500 mhz.

So if I'm reading this right, if I went with 1000 mhz memory even if I overclocked the q9450 to a 1600 FSB, DDR2 1000 would still perform fast enough to not bottle neck it correct?

My only question is since this is a quad core cpu, would the memory get hammered 4 times in the same cycle? Meaning to truely not be a bottle neck I'd need 3200mhz, 400mhz x 4 (for the 4 cores) x 2 (for the double rate on memory), memory which does not exist yet to my knowledge lol?

 

[chop_wood]

right.. ddr2 1000 would still be fine at the standard 2:1 ratio. and yes your last toughts dont exist or multiply that way so no worrys there lol. as in my sig im 466x9 so my ram is at 932 so my ddr2 isnt even at stock.

 

[science man]

Steven282 what are the other specs going to be such AS desktop or laptop, cpu and OS?

 

[steven6282]

I'm going to be putting the memory in a P5E board with a Q9450 CPU which I plan to overclock.

Can anyone give some advice on some good memory to go with in this situation? I want at least 1066 mhz speed, but I'd go faster if it's not to much more expensive. Not looking to spend more than around 125 for 4Gbs and even thats pushing it, would prefer to stay closer to 100 per 4gbs (2 x 2gb). Oh and I will be running Vista 64bit just so no one mentions that I need to run 64 bit to use that much memory.

In case you didn't know P5E is a motherboard by asus that can only be used in a desktop. I'm just trying to decide now if I want to go with OCZ Platinum DDR2 1000Mhz, or pay an extra 35 dollars and go with OCZ Reaper DDR2 1066Mhz. (Extra 70 in actuallity since I'll be ordering 2 sets of it) I'm leaning toward the 1000mhz and saving 70 dollars after what I've read in the past little bit, since I dont think I'll ever clock my q9450 over 2000 fsb, so the 1000Mhz should be fast enough to not bottleneck it unless I have misunderstood something. And the reaper only looks appealing really if I have to overclock the memory, otherwise I think the platinum heat spreaders will cool the memory just fine.

 

[science man]

ok then yea go for 4GB. Why does the brand such as DDR2 matter? If you have 4GB it should be as good as anyother 4GB? here

 

[glock19owner]

If you really want to OC the memory and make sure it will not be your bottle neck. Have you checked out the OCZ Flex PC-9200 these are default at 1150Mhz...so 1200 - 1300 with a little voltage should be within range...

Also, dont fill all your slots up...your OC will not be as high or as stable...

You can see my memory specs below...this is what they can do at 2.54v 100% stable...

1300Mhz

 

[Golden Monkey]

I just bought these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166 to go with my E8400 and a Gigabyte GA-X48-DS4.

 

[steven6282]

Those OCZ flex are way above my price range. And as far as not filling all my slots up, I want 8gbs of memory, and the few 4gb sticks that are out there are way to expensive. I've never heard of having all slots filled up causing a problem with overclocking, is this only in regards to overclocking the memory?

I thought about going with a DDR3 setup, but ddr3 is just way to expensive right now. And from all the reviews I've read it really does not perform that much if at all better than lower speed DDR2 sticks due to the high latency on it.

I think right now I'm just gonna go with the OCZ Platinum DDR2 1000, 90 dollars with a 30 dollar rebate in a really nice price, and I can always upgrade to some DDR2 1200 later when the prices come down if I really feel the need to.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone has given!

 

[Rich'[ard]]

OCZ Reaper X. sxc beasts. newegg has the 1000mhz in stock i think. sorry, i'm from Aus, so i dont' check often.

i'm about to get the OCZ Reaper X 800mhz. good timings, cool heatsinks. won't need to worry about them getting hot.