4x512 or 2x1024?

[alteredNate]

OK, before anyone even thinks of flaming here, just hold on for a few sentences. I build all my own systems, however at work we are looking at ordering a workstation, and quite frankly, I don?t want to be the one supporting it. Everyone bags on Dell, however I feel for a workplace environment, when money is less of an issue, and TOTAL reliability is of utmost importance, I think they?re fine. I have had nothing but good experiences with their higher end systems.

Now that that?s out of the way, if anyone still feels like flaming, please go HERE


My question is this: I?m looking at the Precision 670, and I need 2 gigs of memory. This thing comes standard with 512MB, which I agree is ridiculous considering it?s their flagship workstation. Anyway, I?m in France, and currently they have these two options:

4x512 for 420? extra
2x1024 for 940? extra

(The euro is currently more valuable than the dollar, however for me, I consider them about equal. This is because in general, an item that costs $100 in the states costs 100? in France.)

Knowing that both of these prices are fairly elevated compared to what?s on the consumer market for RAM, my question pertains to performance. Being an A64 owner myself, I?m really only up to date on memory configurations for AMD chips. I searched around a bit, and I seemed to read that for newer Intel chipsets, 4x512 actually provides more performance than 2x1024 (when you?re not overclocking, which I won?t be).

Is this true? Would there be any reason to pay the outrageous 520? MORE for the 2x1024?

It?s not me paying, however we have a budget, and quite frankly I?d rather stick that 520? into the LCD.

Thanks,
Nathan

 

[alteredNate]

bump, title change, no one will take me seriously because "dell" was in the title.

 

[ComatoseDelirium]

i'll just ignore the fact that im helping someone who is going to buy from dell, , anyways, I don't think that their will be a performance gain at all, I would go with the 4x512mb, because its cheaper, and will perform on par with the 2x 1024 mb, and I agree again that that money can be spent better on the lcd, the only thing your paying for, with the 2 x 1024, is upgradability, but, by the time you want to upgrade, a good deal aways from now, you can just sell off 2 of the 512 mb sticks, or all 4, and upgrade, and it will probably be less money then. - peace

 

[alteredNate]

thanks for the help.

I'm open to other options for ordering, however in France suppliers with good warranties are hard to find. But seriously, if you know of any, I'm all ears.

Am I wrong in not wanting to support a computer for an office environment? I don't think so, as the times when I have done it in the past, it's been a disaster when something does go wrong and suddenly everything gets put on hold while we wait for a RMA or have to go buy a replacement part, etc.

 

[ComatoseDelirium]

Nope I'd do the same, but.. i have no morals.

 

[Arcanedeath]

For Intel the performance difference is negligable as long as dell didn't mess w/ the bios and force PC2700 speeds when all the memory banks are populated, this is a common issue w/ OEM systems so make very sure that if you do go w/ 4x 512 that they don't lower the speed of the memory, if they don't then save the cash as 4x 512s performance is about the same as 2 x 1024 on most modern intel chipsets, however if the memory is slowed down by filling all 4 dimm slots then I'd go for 2 x 1024 even w/ the price difference.

 

[alteredNate]

Originally posted by: ComatoseDelirium
Nope I'd do the same, but.. i have no morals.

:beer:

 

[alteredNate]

OK, well, I'll try and contact them and see if I can get a straight answer. I hate the sales people for Dell in the states, because usually they will try and sell you everythign you don't want including their old car along with a computer. I hope they're better here in France, and that they know what they're talking about. Or maybe I'll just call tech support and ask them, as they DO know what they're talking about (well, most of the ones in India, anyway...).

It is frustratin, because with the amount of cash we're going to drop on this thing, I could build a sweet ass rig, but I guess it's better not to think about it.

 

[ComatoseDelirium]

you could also become the scape goat if things don't go well with your build, plus you'd be on call to fix every friggin' error, which would lead you to be upset, and the late hours trying to get an rma.. the sleep deprivation, slowly drives you insane, to the point where you start axe murdering you coworkers.. and all of this could of been prevented with a dell.

 

[alteredNate]

damn, ever thought of working for dell marketing? They need some new ideas for their commercials.