More RAM questions

[CidHighwind]

Okay, I'm using the EPox socket 754 board that got first place in the 754 reviews. Also, I'm using the Athlon 64 3000+ CPU.

Okay, see the wierd thing is, most high performance RAM I see (especially Corsair XLT models) use a voltage of 2.75 volts. My board has support for Auto, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7 and 2.8. NO 2.75! Would running these chips aty 2.7 or 2.8 hurt them, or cause any performance issues? If so, then why did such an annoying board get ranked so highly? If so, good.

Now, next, I'm looking for just the right DDRRAM chips for me. You see my board up there, and I'm looking for nice high performance 512MB chips, preferrably in a twin pack. I'm going out on a limb here, because I dont completely know what is good and what isnt, simply due to the differences in RAM chips are so... little. I'm not looking to pay and extra $50 for the top 10% of all ram, as you know the price shoots up at you reach the best few parts. Gaming is the goal here, BTW. Should I break the PC3200 barrier? Is that worth it? Or does the performance get driven down due to increased timings? I'm gonna look at what you guys say, and judge based on that.

 

[CraigRT]

I'd honestly just get a set of PC3200 Valueram if you are not going to overlcock, as they will be fine. if you bump the voltage up, chances are they can run tighter timings than advertised anyways. the cost for CAS2.5 or even CAS2 sometimes doesn't necessarily make it worthwhile honestly... and NO, running it at a higher voltage, especially that little over, will not hurt the memory.

 

[boshuter]

To answer the question about the voltage, no, it won't hurt to run it at 2.7 or 2.8 most ram, especailly corsair likes more than rated voltage..... at least mine does

For the second part, unless you plan to oc, get some decent ram rated to run at the speed you need with your cpu at good timings and don't worry about anything else.

Now, just out of curiosity..... wtf is the "PC3200 barrier"?

 

[boshuter]

hehehe, you type faster than i do!

 

[toleraen]

I'm guessing that the "pc3200 barrier" he is referring to is going beyond pc3200, ie pc3500 or higher.


Like the others said, unless you're overclocking there's not much reason to get the higher cas/speed. Skim through this article from Tom's Hardware, mainly the benchmarks. It shows very little performance increases on the A64 platform for the cas 2/2.5/3 memory.

I just put together an A64 system, and put in 2 of these: Geil Value Memory. The memory works great.

 

[CidHighwind]

I called it the "PC3200 Barrier" because no mobos I know of support 3200 directly, and shopping for 3200+ can get expensive, and confusing. Clocking goes up, timings go down, insanity ensues!

So is it when I overclock the CPU, or the RAM itself that I need 3200+? (o/c newbie here, but gonna give it a shot in time)