CAS 2 Vs. CAS 2.5

[Maxil223]

people on other message boards told me to get RAM with low latency/CAS. I looked up the cheapest stuff and I found 1.5 gig Mushkin 2.5 DDR400 the day after thanksgiving. They said it sucked because of high CAS. Well then I found some Kingston Hyper something and it was also 2.5, and they said it is great. Well whats the difference?? The only things different about them is the heatspreader and the voltage.

 

[ukDave]

Probably little to ZERO difference.

RAM modules are a little more complicated than they used to be back in the PC133 etc days, when CAS 2 / 3 were really the only things to measure performance on (apart from the FSB ofcourse).

These days with DDR, you get numbers like 3-8-8-4. These numbers stand for other more refined timings in the BIOS, but for your average user don't matter. The first number (3) is the CAS value - and this is where most of the performance can be guaged. CAS2 is significantly better than CAS 3.

However, CAS 2 DDR is still fairly new and limited to the high end chips liek Corsair, OCZ and Crucials new Ballistix RAM.

2.5 CAS for DDR is fine for an averga euser who is not an overclocker. Don't worry about your friends

 

[Maxil223]

they arent my friends anymore, they were the posters on Techtv Forums. I got banned from there the other day because I was irritated and no one would answer my question. Unlike here where I get many answers and I respect everyone.

 

[ukDave]

It's difficult to find many non-n00bified forums these days. I fear even Anandtech Forums has gone down hill from my experience in this section over the past 30 minutes or so. I have been away for about 2 or 3 years though, so things are bound to have changed heh.

Luckily the main site is still quality.