RAM options

Spyder · Post by **Spyder** » 2004-05-14 02:14am

I've recently come across a really cheap NForce motherboard and am about to get soem RAM for it. The mobo itself will support up to PC3200 RAM but only supports up to Athlon 2700+ chips, which have an FSB of 333. Is there any point in getting PC3200 RAM or should I save $10 and stick with PC2700?

Comosicus · Post by **Comosicus** » 2004-05-14 02:43am

As far as I know the NForce 2 chips (at least the newer ones) are optimized for synchronuous work of CPU and RAM (when both have the same bus speed). If your board supports also Dual Channel, I'd say to get the PC2700. Maybe if you could have the option of a comparation ... that would definetely help.

Icehawk · Post by **Icehawk** » 2004-05-14 02:43am

Interesting, according to the RAM price listing at my local store a 512 meg stick of PC3200 is $139 CDN and a 512 stick of PC2700 is $138 CDN. A whole one dollar difference...

Anyways, since your Mobo only runs at 333mhz, their isnt any point in getting faster RAM that will only be running at 333mhz anyways.

Comosicus · Post by **Comosicus** » 2004-05-14 02:44am

Comosicus wrote:As far as I know the NForce 2 chips (at least the newer ones) are optimized for synchronuous work of CPU and RAM (when both have the same bus speed). If your board supports also Dual Channel, I'd say to get the PC2700. Maybe if you could have the option of a comparation ... that would definetely help.

EDIT: For Dual Channel you must have two identical modules installed.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-05-14 03:10am

Dual channel RAM is not useful on the nForce 2 unless you use the onboard video.

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-05-14 03:17am

phongn wrote:Dual channel RAM is not useful on the nForce 2 unless you use the onboard video.

Theoretically no, but in practice it does tend to alleviate the overhead and gives a small performance boost (5-10% depending on the situation).

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2004-05-15 03:04pm

To answer the question, I'd go for the PC2700 unless you plan to overclock the chip's FSB to match the clock of the PC3200. If you had a 400MHz Barton, then I'd say go for the PC3200. However, since you've got a 333, I'd stick with PC2700. Your 333MHz Barton will work with the 3200, but it won't run as well with the FSB frequency mis-match so you'd either have to overclock the processor or underclock the RAM.