what would you do?

[nawfal]

ok basically

i HAD

amd 3200 venice

x800gto2

a8n-e s939

1gb 2x512mb cheap stuff

i thought let me buy some cheap upgrades to tide me over, as i dont see the point in buying am2 because of no performance gains. (i dont buy intel)

anyways, at first, i thought let me upgrade my processor, so bought an x2 4400 and have ocd if to 2.8

then i thought let me buy a ne graphics card so got an x1900xtx, which is no big deal because i can move it to another computer.

now im playing gothic, and it needs more ram. so i am undecided, should i just

1) buy some good 2x1gb ddr 400 ram, which basically means i have changed everything apart from my mobo. and you know this means ill be stuck on this platform for a while longer

2) or cut my loses and sell everything and more to AM2 now

3) just buy an extra cheap 512mb of ram, but that will mess up ddr, or buy 2 more cheap 512mb, but then it might mess up my oc?

thanks a lot

amd x2 4400 @2.747

1gb generic ddr400

x800 gto2 @ 850xtpe SOON TO BE X1900XTX 512mb

asus a8ne s939

2x400gb sata 2 seagate

24 dell 2407wfp

 

[ionicle]

no real point moving to AM2 the performance difference is marginal, you mightaswell just get some better ram for the time being, and wait for AM3

 

[Ham]

Id say get 2x1gb sticks of PC4000. Then you can get rid of (or at least reduce) the stupid divider too. Id did this a while back, but went from 2GB in 4*512 of PC3200 to 2GB in 2*1GB of PC4000 and ive not looked back since.

 

[nawfal]

Id say get 2x1gb sticks of PC4000. Then you can get rid of (or at least reduce) the stupid divider too. Id did this a while back, but went from 2GB in 4*512 of PC3200 to 2GB in 2*1GB of PC4000 and ive not looked back since.

can you go over that? whats the advantages of this

isnt pc 4000 ddr2?

my mobo is ddr400 PC3200, can i use PC4000?

 

[Ham]

PC rating of ram is to do with its bandwith. Im not entierly sure of its workings. But the rating (eg PC3200) is proportional to the speed (in mhz) of the ram.

PC 3200 is rated to run at 200mhz. The stardard.

PC4000 is rated to run at 250mhz. Used by overclockers and general enthuisats.

As long as the modules are DDR, not DDR2, you can use them in your motherboard.

DDR2 PC4000 is actualy rubbish for DDR2.

Hope that helps a little....

Add: Advantages:

Main good point is lower (if not 1:1) diveider when overclocking

2*1gb lets you use a 1t command rate (tbh i thought it had to be 2t with dual channel, but my DFI proved me wrong)

Leaves you open for another 2GB in the future

 

[nawfal]

PC rating of ram is to do with its bandwith. Im not entierly sure of its workings. But the rating (eg PC3200) is proportional to the speed (in mhz) of the ram.

PC 3200 is rated to run at 200mhz. The stardard.

PC4000 is rated to run at 250mhz. Used by overclockers and general enthuisats.

As long as the modules are DDR, not DDR2, you can use them in your motherboard.

DDR2 PC4000 is actualy rubbish for DDR2.

Hope that helps a little....

Add: Advantages:

Main good point is lower (if not 1:1) diveider when overclocking

2*1gb lets you use a 1t command rate (tbh i thought it had to be 2t with dual channel, but my DFI proved me wrong)

Leaves you open for another 2GB in the future

cheers man

i just didnt know there was ddr500

its gonna cost me around 160 quid, so i just wonder if its worth it.

ill think about it!

thanks for your help tho

 

[Rastalovich]

Hey nawfal, how does Gothic feel in u`r system atm ? Is the req. of memory coz u want to bust the game up a peg or is it that it needs it otherwize it plays pretty crap ?

 

[Raging]

Not sure on the price/availability now..but 2gb if some g.skill hz DDR500 would be pretty good value if your in need of an upgrade,if you can find some.

cheers.

 

[nawfal]

Hey nawfal, how does Gothic feel in u`r system atm ? Is the req. of memory coz u want to bust the game up a peg or is it that it needs it otherwize it plays pretty crap ?

its actually kinda unplayable, it keeps on paging. graphics is good on x1900xtx, but you definately need 2gb ram

 

[Jonas^]

if you like overclocking buy a pair of 2x1gb ddr500 (for example, gskill hz), or if you dont like to oc buy another pair of 2x512 and put them with 2T timming or buy a cheap 2x1gb pair.

 

[BUFF]

There's no penalty for using a divider on K8 when overclocking so you don't need DDR500 RAM.

In dual channel at DDR400 you've already got more bandwidth than the CPU can use.

Bandwidth is only good if you can actually use it.

Even the hit from 2T (if you decided to save money & go 4x512Mb) which results in about a 15% drop in bandwidth will typically only show about a 2-3% performance drop in apps. rather than synthetic tests.

so either 1) or the 2nd part of 3) but not 2)