DDR2 533 vs DDR2 800 - Price:Performance

I'm building a new PC

Intel C2D E6400
ABIT AB9 Socket T Intel P965 Express ATX Motherboard
XCLIO GOODPOWER 500W ATX 500W PSU
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 case
XFX Geforce 7900GS 256Mb

I'm on a pretty tight budget and was debating between

Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800
and
Corsair ValueSelect DDR2 533

I know they're both only 1Gb, I plan to eventually upgrade but I can't afford the extra 120 bucks on my initial purchase for 2Gb... I've already gone over budget upgrading to a decent motherboard and power supply. On the same token I don't want to be stuck with RAM that is going to greatly degrade my potential system performance.

Is the extra 267Mhz on the RAM really worth the twenty extra dollars? Would I notice a considerable improvement with the 800 compared to the 533 and/or are there different timings I should be worried about? I don't plan to initially overclock but, if in ten months down the road I feel it might help, I may eventually consider lightly overclocking the processor as the stock HSF allows. I'm not looking for something that will impress me as much as I'm looking for something functional, but this is a game machine and I don't want the RAM to completely ruin me. Anyone have any suggestions? Should I bite the financial bullet and get the better memory or is it not totally necessary. (like I said, I know it's "only" $20 but I want to make sure it's not $20 better spent somewhere else or better left in my pocket )

P.S. I included a link to the motherboard I will be purchasing, anyone have any experience with that mobo and Corsair memory? I haven't ever bought and built a computer from scratch and wouldn't be sure if there are any BIOs settings I'd have to worry about.

If you have any plans of doing even the smallest overclock, you will want memory faster than the 533. You are also comparing XMS2 and ValueSelect RAM. There are DDR2-800 modules that are cheaper than the XMS2 - consider them.

Russell said:

If you have any plans of doing even the smallest overclock, you will want memory faster than the 533. You are also comparing XMS2 and ValueSelect RAM. There are DDR2-800 modules that are cheaper than the XMS2 - consider them.

Click to expand...

Well, I simply went to Newegg and searched through all DDR2 800 until I got to a name brand I trusted AKA that I knew worked.

EDIT: Out of G.Skills, Geil, and Wintec (which I haven't heard of) which is a better more reliable brand?

P.S. After doing some investigating I may change my Mobo to the GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 - I didn't realize it was the exact same board as the Gigabyte DS3 but without the solid state capacitors - if that has an effect on which ram is better

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I've got the same question. I'm building a machine in the next few weeks, and am wondering if there's a reason (beyond overclocking) to go with 800 vs 667 or 533. How much of a performance difference might I expect to see between them (assuming everything else is at stock)?

I'm looking into this too.

Check out this link for an interesting discussion on DDR2-533 vs DDR2-800 RAM.

^^^ From that article (which applies to C2D and links to a similar article for AM2), it looks like the clock speed of the RAM made little difference on the computer's performance in real-world scenarios with everything at stock. Good to know. Thanks for the link!

I was able to push my 533mhz sticks up to 800mhz (10 hours Prime stable) - so I'm glad I stuck with these instead of buying new stuff.

yep...I thought and read extensively about this.

it seems...for systems running on stock. just stick with DDR533 and keep FSB at stock.

honestly, *slight* overclock probably isn't even worth it anymore with the C2D systems, unless you use the e4300

you can get DDR800 to *futureproof,* but even that won't give you a substantial boost...at least not as much as getting more RAM.