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Is 1 Gig ram, 1 stick or two? Also performance?

Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2003 12:48 am
by canton_kid
I was looking to see what 1gig ddr ram is running. Kinda looks like most of what I found at Newegg is 2 sticks of 512, not 1 stick of 1gig? Is that correct?
CORSAIR MEMORY XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series, Low Latency (Twin Pack) 1GB(2 x 512MB) 2x(64MX64) PC-2700LL With Heat Spreaders.
Specifications:
Speed 333 MHz
Organization 2 x 64M x 64


Or
GEIL 1GB (2x 512MB) PC-3500 (433MHz) DDR RAM, 6 Layer Lower Noise PCB Copper Heat Spreader, Dual Channel SPD Enhanced Model# GL5123500DC
Specifications:
Dual Channel SPD Enhanced PC3500 Dual DDR 1GB. Special design for dual channel motherboard
Type: DDR Memory
Capacity: 1024MB
Speed: PC-3500(433MHz)
Voltage:2.6-2.9
CAS 2 6-3-3 1T


Some of them say 2 sticks and some don't.
If the price was not too awfull much higher I was thinking of buying 1 stick of 1gig, instead of running 2 sticks of 512mb. Figure I would keep the extra slots open for more latter.

Also, is 1 gig gonna make that much difference for speed? Opening 2k, capturing video, editing video, rendering animation (I'm sure :) ) and in generall? I'm figuring the system will be faster in general at everything running files over 1 gig and multie tasking. Is there a limit to how much ram is worth having? A point where extra is just unused extra? I remember once you could install a ton of ram, but only so much was actually used. I think that was Dos and Win 3.1, but does it still happen at higher limits?

Is one stick of 1 gig gonna be better than 2 512 sticks.

If I am getting 2 sticks as 1 gig (like corsair) is it worth the extra money to buy it that way instead of just ordering 2 512 sticks for the lower price? Is it matched or something? And if so what happens when I add extra latter, loose any gain I got with matching?

Planning to make the jump from AMD 266fsb to AMD 333fsb soon. Not sure what CPU I'll get, fastest for $100 probly and looks now to be a 2500XP.

Looks like I can get a 333 M/B and CPU for about $200, pretty good.
Kinda bad when you think about $255 for 1 gig ram though!! So I am leaning towards $140 for 2 512's instead, but uncertain.

Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2003 12:52 am
by xsiled
only get the pairs if you get an nforce2 mobo to use on the dual channel ddr, other wise jsut buy singles. as for the 1gb stick, you are better off getting sticks of 512, 1gb sticks are flippin EXPENSIVE.

Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2003 12:56 am
by canton_kid
Oh ya,

would this be a decent deal at $138 for a 333 system not overclocked?
CORSAIR MEMORY Kit 512MBx2 PC2700 VALUE SELECT. DDR RAM - OEM
Specifications
This Kit Contains 2 Matched 512MB Modules, for 1GB Total Memory Model#: VS1GBKIT333


When getting into 333 fsb M/b and Cpu's is the ram up'ed to higher speeds also or just the cpu?

Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2003 1:20 am
by blade
Please don't get geil ram. That is probably made by ocz. When you see ram in the refurb part of newegg, 99% of the time it is geil.

Corsair is among the very best, along with mushkin, samsung, twinmos and others.

Ram seems to be getting higher now so if you need to buy, I'd say do so as soon as you can.


What will you be using this with?

Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2003 7:27 am
by b-man1
i'd go 2x512 as well...what do you need to keep the slots open for? if the pc is anything but a high throughput server running a database, exchange, or huge website, etc...i don't think you'll get any benefit out of spending more $$ on ram.


.02

Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2003 11:08 am
by matt719
You can just buy two single sticks of the same brand and size and save a lot of money rather than buying the two sticks marked as "matched sticks"

Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2003 11:16 am
by nexus_7
actually blade, geil isnt. so thats a good sign.

Greg

Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2003 5:25 pm
by canton_kid
Not sure what I will be using it with yet, but it will be doing videos, aditing and animation.
It will be 333fsb and the fastest AMD Cpu for around $100.

Since prices drop so fast, now It looks like a 2500xp, but in 2 weeks or so??

Not decided on the M/b yet. wondering if I care about serial ATA drives or not? Looks like some WD or Maxtors are getting close to Ide prices. Still a bit higher, but not alot for the same sizes.

What the advantage of a 7,200rpm sata over a ide, and if I got a board with Sata and ide, does that mean I can run more drives without having to install a pci controller card? Or do I have to lose an ide to run the sata?

Not up on this stuff yet.