Different Types Of Memory

[DoggyDaddi]

I'm looking to upgrade, and don't really know the difference between memory types and speeds. I see a bunch of different boards, and most of them list certain capacities, some with conditions and restrictions based on speed limitations, etc etc etc...

Im currently still running an Asus 939 board with 2gb DDR 133, and Vista Ultimate 64. Got a nice little Asus Top 3870 & a ATI 1950 Pro.

No one has more then 2gb capacity per chip in the higher speeds memory, so which would be better? Sticking with 8gb of hi speed, or going lower and maxing out with capacity? How much of a difference would 16gb of DDR2 1066 have against 8gb of DDR3 1333?

Also, since I'm looking at an AMD build, how does a Phenom II X4 940 AM2+ with 6mb L3 @ 3.0Ghz compare to a AMD Phenom II X4 810 with 4mb L3 @ 2.6Ghz?

I know these are a lot of questions, but I'm certain you are the guys to ask.. been here a long time, and you guys never let me down before.

 

[InvisiBill]

No one has more then 2gb capacity per chip in the higher speeds memory, so which would be better? Sticking with 8gb of hi speed, or going lower and maxing out with capacity? How much of a difference would 16gb of DDR2 1066 have against 8gb of DDR3 1333?

Are you (going to be) using more than 8GB? If you're not actually utilizing it, it's going to have zero effect on your performance. I upgraded from 4GB to 8GB (of DDR2-800) because I got it dirt-cheap and saw no difference whatsoever. The stuff I was doing didn't max out the 4GB, much less 8GB.

If you're working with more than 8GB of data, then you'll be filling up the smaller, faster RAM and swapping out to disk a lot and slowing things down quite a bit. The small increase in memory speed probably won't make up for all the disk swapping. If you're working with less than 8GB, then the extra speed would be better.

Get enough RAM, then get the fastest option for that RAM.

 

[DoggyDaddi]

Still would like some info on the differences in performance between a Phenom II X4 940 AM2+ with 6mb L3 @ 3.0Ghz & a Phenom II X4 AM3 810 with 4mb L3 @ 2.6Ghz