would you buy ddr500 ram ?

[siresword]

It would help if you stopped classifying RAM by its speed rating. There are a lot of DDR400 modules that will OC better, than DDR500, and plenty of DDR500 that outperform DDR400. When it comes to overclocking, you should be reading reviews and gathering information on overclocking results and the ICs used rather than paying attention to the speed rating. When you're looking for the best OC'ing RAM, look past the "PC3200/PC4000" sticker.

I have PQI Turbo 2-2-2-5 PC3200 - it's TCCD on brainpower PCB. It's Prime95 stable at 255MHz 2.5-3-3-7, and I've never tested higher. It's good stuff.

I understand that, but if you overclock (some)DDR500 won't it perform better than the DDR400 ram? The extra bandwidth must help in overclocking.
anyway, again, I'm kinda scared of overclocking ram (i've only had ****ty ram my whole life) and I'm mainly going to focus on oc-ing my cpu and gfx cards, so I just want ram that won't limit my other overclocks.

 

[johan851]

I understand that, but if you overclock (some)DDR500 won't it perform better than the DDR400 ram? The extra bandwidth must help in overclocking.

Sure. And if you overclock some DDR400 RAM, it'll perform better than DDR500. Some DDR500 sucks, some DDR400 sucks. Pay attention to the reviews and to the ICs used - that'll give you a better idea of what it'll overclock to.

I'm trying to point out that my RAM could easily be found rated as DDR400 2-2-2, or DDR500 2.5-3-3. It's the same stick, just different ratings from the manufacturer.

 

[Quest For Speed]

When you buy DDR500 ram the manufacturer has speed binned the chips and tested the ram at that speed. When you buy the cheaper DDR400 they will OC in many cases just as good but is not quaranteed to reach a certain speed.
Best performance is when the ram and cpu are overclocked to their highest stable speed.

 

[siresword]

Sure. And if you overclock some DDR400 RAM, it'll perform better than DDR500. Some DDR500 sucks, some DDR400 sucks. Pay attention to the reviews and to the ICs used - that'll give you a better idea of what it'll overclock to.

I'm trying to point out that my RAM could easily be found rated as DDR400 2-2-2, or DDR500 2.5-3-3. It's the same stick, just different ratings from the manufacturer.

OHHHH

that. explains a lot, I had no idea.
Alrighty, then I have one more thing to add, what happened if the DDR500 ram that I proposed buying was ocz gold revision 2, and that it is only $5 more expensive than the ocz el plat revision 2 that I was originally going to get (DDR400-if you didn't know)

even though the ram might be similar, the price difference is *only* $5. what do you suggest?

 

[johan851]

It looks like the DDR400 ones are TCC5, which should do at least 250 @ 2.5-3-3, maybe with tighter timings.

The benefit of the DDR500 is that they're already rated and guaranteed for those timings. I would get the DDR500, though they might both be TCC5.

 

[Blooz1]

Just out of curiosity, have you tried going to the OCZ Forum and searching for both types of ram to see what success/problems people have had with each one?

http://www.bleedinedge.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=45

People here have given you some VERY good advice!

 

[siresword]

people here helped a LOT
so thanks! again and i'm going to go to the dfi and ocz forums