CW Design

I currently have 1024 megs of PC2700 DDR memory installed in my system.

I want to add more memory, but since my board can handle PC3200 I am in a quandry of sorts.

Do I just buy another gig of PC2700, or spend some more to replace what I have with the PC3200. Will there be a noticeable difference between using the PC3200 over the PC2700?

Thanks in advance

CW

CW Design

BTW, I am currently running

ASUS P4P800SE mobo
Intel P4 3.0 mghz Prescott
Ultra 512 PC2700 DDR memory X2 - 1 gig total

I was looking to upgrade to dual channel sticks, 2 gig in total...I was eyeing the Corsair memory here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...nc.-_-20145579

But the apparent high failure rate disturbs me a bit. My other option is as et of PC3200 Ultra dual channel sticks for a few dollars more.

Tumbleweed36

This one is a tough call. For example, if you wish to add to what you have, the cost is much less than replacing all with the PC3200.

Sure, there is a "slight" gain for you, but if you look at the cost, then the gain is IMHO, not worth the extra dollars that are involved for this older board. If you were going from PC2100 to PC3200, then I would recommend going with the PC3200.

In addition, if you have any upgrades scheduled in the next year, you might want to re-evaluate if 4 gigs at this point is worth the money that you will want to spend. 2 gigs is pretty darn good for what is out there, unless you have some special thing that dictates a need for more memory than that.

Some will not agree, but that is my opinion.

CW Design

Well right now, I am shooting to top out at 2 gigs.

Either by adding 2 sticks of 512 PC2700 DDR, or by tossing the 512 sticks and buying 2 sticks of 1024 PC3200 dual channel DDR.

I know a one gig stick is faster than 2 512 sticks, so I was curious if that coupled with the upgrade to PC3200 plus the benefit of dual channel would have me see any serious difference instead of just adding 2 512 PC2700 sticks to my current setup. Or is it going to be so negligible that I should not waste the money?

Tumbleweed36

Sorry, I misead what you had and somehow thought you had two gigs already. That alters the recommendation that I would make, because the need for 2 gigs instead of one can be justified in many cases. You most likely will see some gain with moving to the PC3200, coupled with the change from 1 gig to 2 gigs, especially if you do any gaming or intensive applications.

Please understand, you won't see a big difference, but if you are looking to go to 2 gigs from 1 gig, then if this were my rig, I would sell the PC2700 on Ebay and just get two 1 gig sticks of the PC3200. That should optimize out this board (which is a great board BTW) and give you very good performance.

Sorry for misreading what you said the first time around...just missed that part of the story. Have a great day.

CW Design

Thanks Tumbleweed!

That basically what I was getting at, I know I'll get a boost going from 1 to 2 gigs, but the big question is which is better

4 512 PC2700 sticks

or

2 1024 PC3200 dual channel sticks

and does the additional cost for the PC3200 balance out the benifit I will get from them compared to 2 gig worth of the PC2700.

linderman

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php



first off I would check how much $$$$$ diff are we talking about


the ideal set-up would be 2 sticks of one gig each PC3200

there is no big improvement from PC 2700 to PC3200 I would "expect" the improvement in speed to be about the same as going from one gig to two gigs ?????????

unless you are running in single channel mode now from having mismatched sticks

if you are running in single channel mode now, then hell yes

sell off your old sticks on ebay and get two gigs of matched PC3200

you could get 4 x 512 of crucial ballsitix used on ebay for about $100.00 thats very fast ram and an easy price to swallow

4 sticks doesnt hurt an intel platform, if does however reduce the capability of an AMD system because of the memory controller engineering

download CPU-Z (free) then click on the memory tab >>>> see if you are now in dual channel or single channel


if you are in dual channel now, I would buy PC3200 and it will run at PC2700 speeds

unless their is a decent savings to be had from buying PC2700 ?????

dotn hesitate to buy used ram, there are some great deals floating around on ebay

a month ago I sold off 4 sticks of PC3200 crucial ballistix and only got $50.00 a pair for them >>>>> I paid wayyyyyyyyy more than that one year ago

CW Design

Thanks Linderman.

I just ran CPU-Z and sure enough I am running my 2 sticks of 512 PC2700 in single channel.

So I would definately benefit from upgrading to two 1 gig sticks of PC3200running in dual channel mode?

I was looking at this for memory BTW:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...374&CatId=1352

Which seems to be compatible with my Asus p4p800se board

I also saw similar memory here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145579

But it doesn't say it's dual channel, even though it's presented as a two stick kit.

EDIT: after checking the manufacturers part number both item seem to be the same.

linderman

yes that memory would work



you should also check the prices of 4 x 512 sticks


between more memory, dual channel and faster memory you should be a performance boost >>>>> it wont be huge boost, but it will be nice

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Crucial-1GB-...QQcmdZViewItem

you can get these used for cheap >>>>> 4 sticks for $100.oo this is very fast ram, faster than the sticks you linked, although that may not mean a big diff to you.

but the $69.00 savings does it for me

you can get regular corsair value select memory used 4 x 512 sticks for $40.00 a pair


food for thought

enjoy

CW Design

Thank you!

I'll put my two old 512 sticks into my wifes PC, and pick up the Corsair value select 2gb dual channel set from New Egg. $100 for 2GB of ram is a fine deal by me.

linderman

once you get them installed give us a shout and let us know what you think ??????

CW Design

will do