best ram for an XP2800

[chittnp]

Im planning on building a new system, and the whole ram issue really has me confused. I'm planning on using an athlon XP2800 and a chaintech 7NJS Zenith mobo. I'm under the impression that I want to go with pc2700 because it operates best with the 333FSB that the cpu uses. Im also debating on getting (2) 512mb sticks or just one, or possibly (1) 512 and (1) 256. I keep hearing about "matched ram", does it make that big a difference? should I buy (2) matched sticks of 512? I'm tentatively planning on using corsair XMS pc2700 DDR 333 ram, which I can get from tiger direct for $95 dollars a stick....anyone know of something that will perform as well, if not better for cheaper? or where I can find this memory cheaper?? all your advice and help is appreciated!!!

 

[CrashOveride]

wel it really depends on your motherboard. what kinda of motherboard do you have? (the minimum is probably PC2700 though)

get 512 in one or 2 sticks, doesnt REALLY matter unless you ahve NForce2 and can run dual channel- then get 2

corsair XMS is good ram. try newegg.com for possbily cheaper prices- also look at Buffalo- the stuff is supposed to be pretty good and is probably cheaper now

 

[nerdlogic]

The problem in using 2 sticks is that some RAM might not OC as well as others, so your FSB speeds will only go as high as the lower potential module. Dual channel does not give you much of a boost from what I've read on here. Corsair is a great RAM manufacturer and so is Crucial. If you plan on OCing, I would suggest 1 module of 512 PC3200. Then the only factor that would limit your OC (for FSB speed under 400MHz) is your CPU. Plus, if you still can't get close to 200 FSB on your OC, you can improve your RAM performance by setting it to tighter timings without much of a problem (since it will be working below frequency specs)

 

[chittnp]

ok the chaintech is an nforce 2 mobo, so if I want 512 mb of ram...I should buy (2) 256 sticks and run it dual channel....or 2 512 sticks and use it dual channel?? what exactly does dual channel mean??

the stupic questions will continue untill I get an answer dumbed down enough for me to understand

 

[CrashOveride]

i think there is a thread that explains it well, was trying to be a sticky but i dont hinkn it got there... basicly its like RAID 0 for memory, sends half the info to each stick for storage... so it SHOULD be twice as fast but its really not... and AMD's cant use as much as the bandwidth as it should so its most helpful if you are using hte pooy onboard video, then you would use the extra badnwidth

 

[chittnp]

well, since I'm going with an AGP graphics card...dual channel doesn't seem like something I need to mess around with....but I'm still comfused about it....is it an option that I would set in the BIOS....or does it do it automatically?

 

[CrashOveride]

i would say it is worth messing with, you just set it on in the BIOS pretty much, you just need to similar sticks... 2 of hte same brand is best- you dont need a dual set though like they try to sell, just 2 of the same sticks will work

 

[chittnp]

so the theory behind it is instead of seeing 1024 mb of Ram (2 512 sticks)...it would see 512 MB of ram total, but would be twice as efficient

 

[markedmundb]

THe question is "How much cash you got to splash?"

If you got enough to go for 1GB, go for the Gig (unless you still running 98 or ME :¬p} -AFAIK don't support more than 512MB really).

If you aint, buy 1 512MB stick, at least that way when you got enough to buy another stick, you aint clogged up 2 ram slots for the same size of RAM...

Also you don't have to run the RAM at full rate, i.e. buying 400DDR so it's got a bit of expandability if you buy a 3200+ later, but running it at 333DDR for the time being (also should be able to lower the latency some...)