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2gb ram, need help!

A

alexdg

n00b
Joined
Jul 12, 2002
Messages
63
i've finally settled on my new upgrade... nothing too crazy, mostly workstation plus occasional FPS gaming.

2.8C p4
ABIT IS7
120GB WD SATA x2

now... my main question is... it's been a while since i upgraded and so many new memory types are out there... (i'm running athlon xp 1200 LOL)... i do plenty of photoshop graphics and other memory hungry apps... so i'm thinking to get 2gb of ram/...

i'm not at all familiar with what those "steppings" are... or dual-single channel... i'd like to get best bang for the buck without going completely crazy...

can i get 4x512mb? will this be a good performer? if so... what brand/steppings etc...

thnx!!!!
 
Honestly I think you'll do fine with just a gig and becasue your running a P4, depending on what your FSB is you might want to run dual channel. Personally I'd get advice from somone other than me cause I'm an AMD advocate but I was feelin' sorry for ya cause no one had responed yet so I threw you a bone. Anyhow, that's my $.02
 
I'm getting 512MB, then Windows XP (so I can get over 512MB supported), then another 512MB stick so I can get 1GB. This might take a bit of saving though. I needed to upgrade my CPU, but to do that needed a new mobo, which only supports the new 184-pin memory. I hate it when stuff like this happens. lol
 
see... the thing is i know for a fact that 1gb ISNT enough... here's what i need to use, often at the same time

photoshop
fireworks
dreamweaver
illustrator
flash
outlook
powerpoint
and 5-6 opened IE and Mozilla windows

i'm a web developer... so that's an average work day for me...

i wish someone could simply tell me that this and that RAM is good and will work best with 2.8c and IS7...

thnx!
 
I would recommend Mushkin or Kingston HyperX RAM. And get PC3500 at the least for bandwidth and speed. I would even go higher if you have the money, PC4000 maybe. Those are some of the BEST ram you can buy. It WILL cost you though. I would also recommend making your purchase on eBay if you want to save a buttload of money. make sure you buy from a powerseller though so you don't get robbed.
 
I would go for Mushkin Level 2 special edition (BH6 chips = good overclockers with lots of voltage) or some older Mushkin (with the BH5 chips) if you can find it. Either way you can run some high FSB (if you wish to overclock) with low latency.

Have you considered going to a dual system? Dual Opteron with 2GB (or more if you wish) would absolutely fly with those applications and certainly beats the p4c for multitasking.
 
Oh yeah, and I've done the research and made the mistake myself so I know from experience, so whatever you do, DO NOT buy generic ram!! The stuff SUCKS! and you will be miserable. High quality name brand only!! Mushkin, Kingston, Corsair, OCZ are all high quality. Also when you buy, try and get a series that supports very low timings. 2-2-2-7 for example. i've noticed for me anyway with heavy multitasking like you're doing, setting the ram at lower timings make a HUGE difference in how fast programs load, your data gets processed, and overall performance. That's me though. But to get low timings, you need to set them yourself in the bios for one, and two you need high quality ram that can support the timings like i said before. get some HyperX or better yet Mushkin Level II PC3500 or PC4000 that supports 2-2-2-7 as stated above as well, and you will be very happy!
 
Lower Latency is less important on P4 overclocks, so a higher FSB rated memory like HyperX3500 or 4000 might server better, depending on the overclocking you plan on doing.
 
Lower Latency is less important on P4 overclocks, so a higher FSB rated memory like HyperX3500 or 4000 might server better, depending on the overclocking you plan on doing.
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yeah for sure. i was talking about the tRCD and tRP though. I don't notice any difference in performance with my CAS being changed from 2.0-2.5 except that I can clock higher with it set at 2.5. The performance difference I was talking about with the timings came from dropping my 3-3 down to 2-2. So I ended up with 2.5-2-2-7 instead of 2.5-3-3-8. That made a HUGE difference for me in my program load speeds and data processing.
 
yeah, you can do 4x512MB just fine. This is actually recommended for 865 and 875 mobos [filling all four slots]. Also, you don't really need to buy much faster than DDR400 because you will be running in dual-channel and not overclocking that much.
 
Originally posted by Mad_Pyro
yeah, you can do 4x512MB just fine. This is actually recommended for 865 and 875 mobos [filling all four slots]. Also, you don't really need to buy much faster than DDR400 because you will be running in dual-channel and not overclocking that much.
Click to expand...

I agree. Not everyone can afford to buy two gigs of Mushkin Level 2 ram. Dual channel will give you plenty of bandwidth, so I say go out and pick up 4 sticks of 512mb DDR400 (PC3200) RAM. You'll be a happy camper. :)
 
Actually if you have all those things open at once you might even want to look at a dual CPU system as an option. Some of those programs most likely will take advantage of duals on top of being able to multitask a lot faster with duals. If you don't get something that is state of the art it could cost just as much as your spending now and run a lot smoother for you. $200 for a mobo and $100 for each CPU is probably all you'd really need to worry about and everything else would be pretty straightforward.

As for RAM definately go for a quality brand. It's now all that more expensive and is worth saving you from any problems you might encounter. Corsair, Crucial, Kingston are all good brands. Anything you've probably heard of that wasn't because it "sucked" as a product is probably decent RAM to use.
 
High quality name brand only!! Mushkin, Kingston, Corsair, OCZ are all high quality.
Click to expand...
i personally wouldnt recommend OCZ ram. they dont have a good history. even if their current stuff seems pretty good, i would rather play it safe and get mushkin.
 
Def. get 2GB of RAM. I personally run Photoshop 24/7 and it was a good investment. Couldnt afford low latency ram or PC3500 so I made my decision on 2GB of Corsair PC-3200C2PT, timings is 2-3-3-6 which isnt too bad. Corsair or Mushkin, I'd say.
 
Originally posted by jamestime88
i personally wouldnt recommend OCZ ram. they dont have a good history. even if their current stuff seems pretty good, i would rather play it safe and get mushkin.
Click to expand...

What he said.
 
Watch out if you plan on filling all 4 slots with 4X512MB.

Some motherboards sometimes don't like that too much. Just do your research first.
 
i personally wouldnt recommend OCZ ram. they dont have a good history. even if their current stuff seems pretty good, i would rather play it safe and get mushkin.
Click to expand...

I don't understand why people on this forum must INSIST on living in the past lol. OCZ has some GREAT products now, and I can tell you that from owning a pair of 512mB OCZ Platinum PC3500EL sticks that OCZ has cleaned up their act entirely. This is the BEST ram I have EVER used. The past is the past, it doesn't matter what their problems were, what matters is that they have fixed them, and that the ram OCZ sells now is high performance and highly recomended by many (including myself)
 
who said it was the only ram ive ever used? lol

Actually before the OCZ i have now I had a stick of 512mB of TwinMOS PC3700, believe it or not going from the PC3700 twinmos to the PC3500 OCZ showed more improvements :) (but to be perfectly truthful its cuz the OCZ runs at MUCh tighter timings then the TwinMOS). Before the TwinMOS I had some Corsair PC3200 (256mB), and before that I had some Geil PC2700, before that .. I can't remember what I had
 
None of those compaire to Mushkin lvl2 and Old HyperX 3200 that is BH-5... Oh and 512th Post :cool:
 
Originally posted by jamestime88
i personally wouldnt recommend OCZ ram. they dont have a good history. even if their current stuff seems pretty good, i would rather play it safe and get mushkin.
Click to expand...

I agree that Mushkin is probably the best choice. Even their basic green and blue line stuff is good.
 
Originally posted by Vertigo Acid
Old HyperX 3200 that is BH-5... Oh and 512th Post :cool:
Click to expand...
good luck finding it though...
and if you do, it WON'T be cheap.
 
None of those compaire to Mushkin lvl2 and Old HyperX 3200 that is BH-5... Oh and 512th Post
Click to expand...

Heh I couldn't agree more about Mushkin being the best choice. In fact the only reason I bought this OCZ was cuz i'm Canadian and could find so canadian suppliers carrying Mushkin.

But none the less, I wasnt saying OCZ was the BEST :eek:

just that its good heh
 
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