mem problems with nvidia chipset?

i'm looking at the folling cpu/mobo combo for an upgrade:

- ASUS A7N8X Deluxe
- Athlon XP 2600+
- Memory ? Corsair 512MB PC3200 ?

i'm concerned about memory compatibility, i hadn't heard anything negative
until i called a local pc shop and the guy there was certain that it was
almost impossible to find memory that worked with the nvidia chipset
mobos... it sounds like horse poo to me... but i wanted to confer with the
board first

what are the memory considerations i need to make when purchasing this
board?
also, viewing the corsair memory on newegg (512/pc3200) was a daunting
task... there were tons of options that met those criteria... i admit memory
is one area in which i am fairly weak in knowledge

any advice is greatly appreciated!

- kevin

Creeper wrote:
i'm looking at the folling cpu/mobo combo for an upgrade:

- ASUS A7N8X Deluxe
- Athlon XP 2600+
- Memory ? Corsair 512MB PC3200 ?

i'm concerned about memory compatibility, i hadn't heard anything negative
until i called a local pc shop and the guy there was certain that it was
almost impossible to find memory that worked with the nvidia chipset
mobos... it sounds like horse poo to me... but i wanted to confer with the
board first

what are the memory considerations i need to make when purchasing this
board?
also, viewing the corsair memory on newegg (512/pc3200) was a daunting
task... there were tons of options that met those criteria... i admit
memory is one area in which i am fairly weak in knowledge

Essentially... don't buy crap ram, for a start it's false economy.

You'll be fine with any Corsair XMS. (or Geil, OCZ - specced close to the
limit, but still good, Crucial - can't find any with good timings but good
solid ram... I've missed one...)

I have the A7N8X Deluxe, Barton 2500+ and Corsair TwinX1024-3200LL - it went
together like a dream.

The ram can do 5-2-2-2 at 220MHz.

The most important consideration for timing is CAS Latency, make sure you
get CAS 2.0

Corsair 3200C2 is CAS 2.0, but the other timings are a little more lax (I
think C2 is specced at 8-3-3-2, LL is 7-2-3-2). The difference isn't
massive in terms of performance, but the LL will be better if you plan to
overclock as it is more likely to hold the tighter timings when you increase
the FSB.

I would (did) get the Barton 2500+ over the 2600+ as the increased cache is
beneficial. You can always clock it slightly different (recommend trying
11*200MHz for a laugh - thats 3200+ spec, most will do it.)

Ben
--
I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...

Ben Pope wrote:
I have the A7N8X Deluxe, Barton 2500+ and Corsair TwinX1024-3200LL

You don't need to spend extra on "Dual Channel RAM", the TwinX worked out
cheaper than 2x 512MB XMS3200LL and is exactly the same.

Dual Channel is a feature of the board, not the RAM, anybody telling you you
need Dual Channel RAM is outright wrong. Expect about 5% performance
increase with it, on that board. It's not that great, but it is free.

Ben
--
I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...

"Creeper" wrote in message
...
i'm looking at the folling cpu/mobo combo for an upgrade:

- ASUS A7N8X Deluxe
- Athlon XP 2600+
- Memory ? Corsair 512MB PC3200 ?

i'm concerned about memory compatibility, i hadn't heard anything negative
until i called a local pc shop and the guy there was certain that it was
almost impossible to find memory that worked with the nvidia chipset
mobos... it sounds like horse poo to me... but i wanted to confer with the
board first

what are the memory considerations i need to make when purchasing this
board?
also, viewing the corsair memory on newegg (512/pc3200) was a daunting
task... there were tons of options that met those criteria... i admit
memory
is one area in which i am fairly weak in knowledge

any advice is greatly appreciated!

- kevin


The local guy has his head you know where!
I've got a couple ASUS A7N8X Deluxe's here, one running Geil Golden Dragon
and the other Geil el-cheapo. They both run fine at 200MHz (DDR400) using
XP2500+ Bartons at 11x200.
I ever tried a couple of bargain Samsung chip sticks of PC3200 in one of the
PC's, and it worked as well.
You'll be fine with Corsair. It's quality stuff.

thanks much for all that info guys... it's pretty much what i thought, but
that dood weirded me out for a second...

i have no intentions of overclocking... stability is my main focus... and
Ben, you're saying the Barton 2500+ over the 2600+ ?

well the price (for retail versions) of both of these is comparable, so it's
a 6-in-1 there... and you certainly know more about it than me

maybe i'll go that route after all... either way it should be a sizeable
increase from my Thunderbird 900

many thanks..

- kevin


"Creeper" wrote in message
...
i'm looking at the folling cpu/mobo combo for an upgrade:

- ASUS A7N8X Deluxe
- Athlon XP 2600+
- Memory ? Corsair 512MB PC3200 ?

i'm concerned about memory compatibility, i hadn't heard anything negative
until i called a local pc shop and the guy there was certain that it was
almost impossible to find memory that worked with the nvidia chipset
mobos... it sounds like horse poo to me... but i wanted to confer with the
board first

what are the memory considerations i need to make when purchasing this
board?
also, viewing the corsair memory on newegg (512/pc3200) was a daunting
task... there were tons of options that met those criteria... i admit
memory
is one area in which i am fairly weak in knowledge

any advice is greatly appreciated!

- kevin

sorry, shoulda put this in my last post...

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...ion=20-145-026

that's the memory i'm looking at... i'm not sure what the CAS is on it...
opinions?




"Creeper" wrote in message
...
i'm looking at the folling cpu/mobo combo for an upgrade:

- ASUS A7N8X Deluxe
- Athlon XP 2600+
- Memory ? Corsair 512MB PC3200 ?

i'm concerned about memory compatibility, i hadn't heard anything negative
until i called a local pc shop and the guy there was certain that it was
almost impossible to find memory that worked with the nvidia chipset
mobos... it sounds like horse poo to me... but i wanted to confer with the
board first

what are the memory considerations i need to make when purchasing this
board?
also, viewing the corsair memory on newegg (512/pc3200) was a daunting
task... there were tons of options that met those criteria... i admit
memory
is one area in which i am fairly weak in knowledge

any advice is greatly appreciated!

- kevin

It says CL 2.5 which also means CAS 2.5.

"Creeper" wrote in message ...
sorry, shoulda put this in my last post...

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...ion=20-145-026

that's the memory i'm looking at... i'm not sure what the CAS is on it...
opinions?

I've not had any problems with Kingston Hyper X, OCZ, or Geil.

Sounds like horse crap to me.


"Creeper" wrote in message
...
i'm looking at the folling cpu/mobo combo for an upgrade:

- ASUS A7N8X Deluxe
- Athlon XP 2600+
- Memory ? Corsair 512MB PC3200 ?

i'm concerned about memory compatibility, i hadn't heard anything negative
until i called a local pc shop and the guy there was certain that it was
almost impossible to find memory that worked with the nvidia chipset
mobos... it sounds like horse poo to me... but i wanted to confer with the
board first

what are the memory considerations i need to make when purchasing this
board?
also, viewing the corsair memory on newegg (512/pc3200) was a daunting
task... there were tons of options that met those criteria... i admit
memory
is one area in which i am fairly weak in knowledge

any advice is greatly appreciated!

- kevin

"Creeper" wrote in message
news
thanks much for all that info guys... it's pretty much what i thought, but
that dood weirded me out for a second...

i have no intentions of overclocking... stability is my main focus... and
Ben, you're saying the Barton 2500+ over the 2600+ ?

I'll recommend the 2500+ over the 2600+. The 2600+ is a Thoroughbred, IIRC
and the 2500+ is a Barton with twice the cache. In addition, the 2500+ is
*easy* to overclock to 3000+-3200+ speeds just by upping the multiplier.

Creeper wrote:
sorry, shoulda put this in my last post...

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...ion=20-145-026

that's the memory i'm looking at... i'm not sure what the CAS is on it...
opinions?

I would recommend Corsair XMS memory.

The choice is yours, but I think going Cas 2.5 instead of CAS 2.0 gives you
about a 5-10% performance drop.

Ben
--
I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...