If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
What memory to use with X2 ?
I am building a new PC, AMD X2 is the only thing I am sure of. As for
mobo, probably Abit. What I am having the most trouble is pinning down exactly what memory I should put in this thing. First, let me say, I am not a gamer, so that is not a consideration. I do some occassional photo scanning and video capture and rendering, but this will mostly be a software test and support environment. I will be running VMware with multiple OSs (thus the dual core AMD), and 4GB of RAM. I am concerned about performance, but since VMware is picky about clock timings on dual core, I don't dare OC. I will stick with whatever performance I can buy off the shelf. Do I need dual channel ? Do I care about CAS ? I heard somewhere that on a 939 chip set, if you load the max 4GB RAM, even if you use PC3200, it will throttle the speed back to 2700, or some such nonsense - is there any truth to that ? The person I heard this from said there was some memory threshhold beyond which this phenonmena would occur - he wasn't sure if it was 2GB or 3GB. Also, what video card would be satisfactory for this need ? As I said there will be some video work, but I don't have the same needs as a gamer. Last, I am concerned about noise, so don't mind spending a little extra to quiet things down. What should I use ? It appears that the better power supplies are pretty quiet any more, and with a good Zalman cooler on top of it, I may be able to keep things down in the 20db area, possibly. Thanks much in advance, Scott |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
What memory to use with X2 ?
On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 10:10:40 -0800, ScottHW wrote:
I am building a new PC, AMD X2 is the only thing I am sure of. As for mobo, probably Abit. What I am having the most trouble is pinning down exactly what memory I should put in this thing. First, let me say, I am not a gamer, so that is not a consideration. I do some occassional photo scanning and video capture and rendering, but this will mostly be a software test and support environment. I will be running VMware with multiple OSs (thus the dual core AMD), and 4GB of RAM. I am concerned about performance, but since VMware is picky about clock timings on dual core, I don't dare OC. I will stick with whatever performance I can buy off the shelf. Do I need dual channel ? Do I care about CAS ? I heard somewhere that on a 939 chip set, if you load the max 4GB RAM, even if you use PC3200, it will throttle the speed back to 2700, or some such nonsense - is there any truth to that ? The person I heard this from said there was some memory threshhold beyond which this phenonmena would occur - he wasn't sure if it was 2GB or 3GB. Also, what video card would be satisfactory for this need ? As I said there will be some video work, but I don't have the same needs as a gamer. Last, I am concerned about noise, so don't mind spending a little extra to quiet things down. What should I use ? It appears that the better power supplies are pretty quiet any more, and with a good Zalman cooler on top of it, I may be able to keep things down in the 20db area, possibly. Thanks much in advance, Scott The spec on the X2s is 166MHz for two double sided DIMMs and 200MHz as long as one of the two DIMMs is single sided. However if you get better quality memory you can probably run two double sided DIMMs at 200MHz. I have an MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum with an X2 4400+ and 4G. Originally I had two pairs of OCZ Value memory in the system and the system wasn't stable at 200MHz, it was fine at the default speed of 166MHz. I moved one pair of DIMMs to a system that had a pair of single sided DIMMs in it and then put in a pair of OCZ Performance memories, OCZ 1Gx2 D400 OCZ4002048PFDC-K R. I also upped the voltage on the DIMMs slightly. Now I'm able to run at 200MHz without any problems. The system has been running 24/7 for months without a problem. One obvious difference between the value DIMMs and the performance DIMMs is that the performance DIMMs have metal shields on them which I assume act as heat sinks. The DIMM manufacturers may also be doing some speed binning on the RAMs they use so even though a value DIMM and a performance DIMM may have the same components on them there may be more margin in the performance parts (this is just a guess based on a sample size of 1). Any mid-priced Nvidia card will do for video. Avoid ATI because they have mediocre Linux support. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
What memory to use with X2 ?
I know that if you use 4 sticks it will probably auto-set to pc2700, but you
can set it to pc3200 manually and run memtest86+ and prime95 torture test to see if it has any problems. But first, just put in one so it will auto-set to pc3200 and note down the timings the bios set. Then put the timings to manual so it will stay that way and not tighten them up if it falls back to pc2700, so that when you go to pc3200 with 4 sticks it will be at the slower pc3200 timings. And check to be sure they stay there. -- Ed Light Smiley :-/ MS Smiley :-\ Send spam to the FTC at Thanks, robots. Bring the Troops Home: http://bringthemhomenow.org Fight Spam: http://bluesecurity.com "ScottHW" wrote in message oups.com... I am building a new PC, AMD X2 is the only thing I am sure of. As for mobo, probably Abit. What I am having the most trouble is pinning down exactly what memory I should put in this thing. First, let me say, I am not a gamer, so that is not a consideration. I do some occassional photo scanning and video capture and rendering, but this will mostly be a software test and support environment. I will be running VMware with multiple OSs (thus the dual core AMD), and 4GB of RAM. I am concerned about performance, but since VMware is picky about clock timings on dual core, I don't dare OC. I will stick with whatever performance I can buy off the shelf. Do I need dual channel ? Do I care about CAS ? I heard somewhere that on a 939 chip set, if you load the max 4GB RAM, even if you use PC3200, it will throttle the speed back to 2700, or some such nonsense - is there any truth to that ? The person I heard this from said there was some memory threshhold beyond which this phenonmena would occur - he wasn't sure if it was 2GB or 3GB. Also, what video card would be satisfactory for this need ? As I said there will be some video work, but I don't have the same needs as a gamer. Last, I am concerned about noise, so don't mind spending a little extra to quiet things down. What should I use ? It appears that the better power supplies are pretty quiet any more, and with a good Zalman cooler on top of it, I may be able to keep things down in the 20db area, possibly. Thanks much in advance, Scott |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
What memory to use with X2 ?
"Ed Light" wrote in message news:yT3Sf.727$5F1.344@fed1read08... I know that if you use 4 sticks it will probably auto-set to pc2700, but you can set it to pc3200 manually and run memtest86+ and prime95 torture test to see if it has any problems. But first, just put in one so it will auto-set to pc3200 and note down the timings the bios set. Then put the timings to manual so it will stay that way and not tighten them up if it falls back to pc2700, so that when you go to pc3200 with 4 sticks it will be at the slower pc3200 timings. And check to be sure they stay there. BTW I'm running 4 Kingmax 512 pc3200's at pc3200 in a Gigabyte K8NS-939 with a Winchester. Probably earlier model K8's couldn't do it. -- Ed Light Smiley :-/ MS Smiley :-\ Send spam to the FTC at Thanks, robots. Bring the Troops Home: http://bringthemhomenow.org Fight Spam: http://bluesecurity.com |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
What memory to use with X2 ?
I am using 4G Crucial PC3200 at full rated speed. NO problem, micron chips
are expensive though. Stop using cheap mem stick, those would only give you lots of blue screen and an unstable system. "ScottHW" wrote in message oups.com... I am building a new PC, AMD X2 is the only thing I am sure of. As for mobo, probably Abit. What I am having the most trouble is pinning down exactly what memory I should put in this thing. First, let me say, I am not a gamer, so that is not a consideration. I do some occassional photo scanning and video capture and rendering, but this will mostly be a software test and support environment. I will be running VMware with multiple OSs (thus the dual core AMD), and 4GB of RAM. I am concerned about performance, but since VMware is picky about clock timings on dual core, I don't dare OC. I will stick with whatever performance I can buy off the shelf. Do I need dual channel ? Do I care about CAS ? I heard somewhere that on a 939 chip set, if you load the max 4GB RAM, even if you use PC3200, it will throttle the speed back to 2700, or some such nonsense - is there any truth to that ? The person I heard this from said there was some memory threshhold beyond which this phenonmena would occur - he wasn't sure if it was 2GB or 3GB. Also, what video card would be satisfactory for this need ? As I said there will be some video work, but I don't have the same needs as a gamer. Last, I am concerned about noise, so don't mind spending a little extra to quiet things down. What should I use ? It appears that the better power supplies are pretty quiet any more, and with a good Zalman cooler on top of it, I may be able to keep things down in the 20db area, possibly. Thanks much in advance, Scott |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
What memory to use with X2 ?
On the Crucial site I see these 2 2GB kits:
2GB kit (1GBx2) CT2KIT12864Z40B DDR PC3200 · CL=3 · UNBUFFERED · NON-ECC · DDR400 · 2.6V · 128Meg x 64 US $229.99 2GB kit (1GBx2) CT2KIT12864Z335 DDR PC2700 · CL=2.5 · UNBUFFERED · NON-ECC · DDR333 · 2.5V · 128Meg x 64 US $229.99 So will I fare better with PC2700 CAS 2.5 or PC3200 CAS 3 ? |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
What memory to use with X2 ?
Go get the Crucial PC3200 if you are asking me for recommandations. I always
have good luck with micron chips. I have tried some other brand of mem sticks, only gives me lots of troubles. The PC failed to load windows or become unstable and blue screening me. Just remember you get what you pay for. "ScottHW" wrote in message oups.com... Good grief, I just found this on outpost.com: Corsair 2GB PC3200 400MHz 2-128x64 XMS Dual-Channel DDR 184-Pin, Model #TWINX2048-3200PT - Lifetime Warranty $169.99 That seems like an awfully good price. Wouldn't that do just as well as the Crucial ? |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
What memory to use with X2 ?
So you might say the decision is "crucial" ? Sorry, couldn't resist.
So will I fare better with PC2700 CAS 2.5 or PC3200 CAS 3 ? I understand the definion of CAS, but in practicial, real world terms, I am uncertain if I should really pay any attention to it. Thanks for all your input, Scott |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
What memory to use with X2 ?
On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 07:06:09 -0800, ScottHW wrote:
So you might say the decision is "crucial" ? Sorry, couldn't resist. So will I fare better with PC2700 CAS 2.5 or PC3200 CAS 3 ? I understand the definion of CAS, but in practicial, real world terms, I am uncertain if I should really pay any attention to it. Thanks for all your input, Scott You want PC3200, the bandwidth is more important the CAS latency. |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
What memory to use with X2 ?
Buy DIMMs with highest bandwith that your system supports. Since you mention
yours is new AMD X2 system, then DDR PC3200 is the fastest memory your system supports as standard if you don't want to overclock it just like me. I want my PC fast and stable, but stability is more important, that's why I chose Crucial. "ScottHW" wrote in message oups.com... So you might say the decision is "crucial" ? Sorry, couldn't resist. So will I fare better with PC2700 CAS 2.5 or PC3200 CAS 3 ? I understand the definion of CAS, but in practicial, real world terms, I am uncertain if I should really pay any attention to it. Thanks for all your input, Scott |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Which atrributes are critical when matching PCxx00 DDR memory? | Patrick Coghlan | Asus Motherboards | 2 | February 1st 06 08:26 PM |
Newby - [lease be gentle! | John | Homebuilt PC's | 11 | March 13th 05 10:14 AM |
still got performance problems with P4P800-E and Prescott | Johnny | Asus Motherboards | 13 | December 2nd 04 03:48 PM |
I still don't completly understand FSB.... | legion | Homebuilt PC's | 7 | October 28th 04 03:20 AM |
What RAm for A7V8X-X? | Devast8or | Asus Motherboards | 9 | August 2nd 03 02:05 PM |