8GB PC2 6400 or 4GB PC2 8500?

[edm]

Looking at the current prices, you can get 8MB (4x2gb) or pc2 6400 for practically the same price as 4GB (2x 2GB) PC2 8500.

So considering the price is almost equal, what would be the better set up for a gaming machine?

Other specs:
ASUS P5Q-E
E8400 or e8500
Vista Home Premium x64
HD 4870

 

[JustaGeek]

Originally posted by: edm
Looking at the current prices, you can get 8MB (4x2gb) or pc2 6400 for practically the same price as 4GB (2x 2GB) PC2 8500.

So considering the price is almost equal, what would be the better set up for a gaming machine?

Other specs:
ASUS P5Q-E
E8400 or e8500
Vista Home Premium x64
HD 4870

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

With a 64 bit OS - the 8Gb choice

 

[DSF]

For gaming there really isn't any direct benefit to having more than 4GB. There may be in the future, but not right now. What 8GB would do for you, if you're the type of person who likes to have things running in the background, is let you run programs with large memory footprints behind games without choking Vista.

Are you planning to overclock your CPU? If so, how far were you hoping to go?

 

[z1ggy]

8 gb. More ram>> Less ram that is faster. Seems like you have up to date gpu..cpu..mobo.. etc. So Having 8gb of ram is just one less thing you will not have to upgrade in the future. If you are running a lot of photoshop..video encoding... etc this is def the best choice. Esp if you want to OC you might as well get some good ram that can OC and you will most likely be able to come close to PC8500 speeds anyways.

 

[edm]

Thanks for the replies so far. I am not planning to overclock. The RAM I'm looking at is the OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2gb) PC6400.; right now it's $50 AR. so it would be around $100 for 8gigs. Or the corsair xms2 for around $130 AR.

 

[z1ggy]

Well both are good memory making companies..If you are taking up 4 DIMM slots OC'ing might not work as great for you anyways...I think the OCZ should be fine.

 

[QuixoticOne]

8GB of affordable memory >>>>>> 4GB of slightly faster memory.

Faster memory usually will make virtually no difference in real world performance because not that many things you'd run are memory bound / limited AND run for a considerable length of time while using a lot of actual RAM. Sure there are exceptions in simulations / scientific computing / some kinds of video editing or whatever, but that's not mainstream stuff.

MORE memory and a 64 bit os like VISTA 64 / LINUX x64 will benefit everything you do by making the PC have to read / write stuff to and from the slow hard disc so often because almost all your OS and applications will be cached completely in memory after the first time it is accessed.

I'm happily running 8G DDR2 PC2-6400 commodity 5-5-5-15 memory on a Q6600/P35 with LINUX and VISTA 64 and its great.

 

[DSF]

There are only a couple concerns.

1) Running four DIMMs doesn't always work the way it should in some motherboards. You may need voltage bumps to the RAM and/or NB to get things running stably.

2) That OCZ requires 2.0V just for 5-5-5-18 operation, which is pretty crappy. The Corsair needs 1.9V, so be aware of that. It's something you're most likely going to have to set manually. If you're willing to spend a couple bucks more, I'd personally go with this Mushkin in your situation:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820146731
Slightly more expensive, but it's rated for DDR2-800 operation at 1.8V.

3) Make sure you can file the rebates for both kits. Sometimes you can and sometimes you can't. It will say on the rebate coupon.

 

[n7]

8 GB.

You have a good mobo.

I recommend the same Mushkin DSF linked to.
Post your rig in their forums, & Mushkin Greg will set you up with all settings/timings for operation of such.

I can help as well as i have basically the same board & 8 GB.

 

[DSF]

Quick update. In the fine print on the Mushkin rebate it states one rebate per household. If you have a friend willing to help you out, that would take care of it. It wouldn't surprise me if all the kits were restricted the same way.

 

[geokilla]

8GB is the way to go. However you might run into a bit of trouble trying to overclock with all 4 RAM slots filled.

I currently am using 2GB for my current and future rig. Should be enough for games like Crysis and CoD4.

 

[z1ggy]

Yeah you will like 8gb of the mushkin..I wish I could get 8gb..being in college and poor really sucks. Haha

 

[Zapper48]

I was reading OCZ support forums and found that setting tRFC to 54 lets me run my 8gb of PC 6400 at 1.8v:thumbsup:

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Originally posted by: Zapper48
I was reading OCZ support forums and found that setting tRFC to 54 lets me run my 8gb of PC 6400 at 1.8v:thumbsup:

Mui Importante, Senor Zapper!!

On my 2GB system, I've tweaked the tRC down to just tRP + tRAS (maybe + 1 or +2). I get an enormous bandwidth increase that way.

But you're talking about tRFC, and I'm very interested in getting some more voltage-headroom without sacrificing too much bandwidth. I'm working with a single 2x2GB memory kit. [And I'm about ready to spawn a new thread -- looking for some "easy" insights as I surf the web for some reviews about these Corsair DHX-ers.]

Could you elaborate on this matter? I would be very appreciative.