Corsair Value Select vs XMS

[Reviere_Jackson]

Sorry if this is in the worng forum, it is basically an overclock question.

Im planning on building a AMD 2500+ and taking it to 3200+ speeds or higher if possible. From everything I have read the Value Select should be fine for getting me to dual channel 200 FSB goodness. From what I gathered the difference from a CAS 2.5 (Value Select) versus a CAS 2 (XMS) is maybe 3-5 FPS in a game like Doom3. With only that small difference Id rather save the $70 bucks and get the Value Select.

My question is if I want to go higher than 200 with the FSB is the $70 difference going to be obvious? The CPU is going to be air cooled with a stock heatsink off the bat. I dont know if a standard heatsink would let me utilize the potential of the XMS memory anyhow. Like I said earlier I know that I get better timings with the XMS memory but am I going to hit a limit with the air cooled CPU before I would hit a limit with the XMS memory?

I guess I have more than a single question any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Reviere_Jackson]

Anybody got any ideas?

 

[Mav451]

Well this depends on the mobo you are running.

If you are running an NF7-S/DFI board, then yes, the the $70 does make a difference.

B/c the Value Select may not run cas2 stable at all, while the XMS can, then if you drop the xms to 2.5, i can guarantee you will get a substantial FSB overclock on it.

If all you're running is 200FSB, and nothing more, save the money and use that for a sound card/video card upgrade.

 

[wickedld9]

I've got a pair of the value select 256's (CAS 2.5 model, newegg lists a 2.5 and 3) in dual channel on an NF7. I've run it to 220Mhz at the lowest voltage setting available. Passed a few hours of prime 95 testing. I haven't bothered with testing it any higher since I'm selling that particular computer. Runs that FSB with timings of 2.5-3-3-11 no sweat. As always YMMV.