Speed of RAM

[Seeker47]

I got some DDR2 PC5300 667 memory a while back, to be used with a computer I'll be finishing sometime before the end of the year. One of those Black Friday sale items that took me to Fry's -- in vain, because they had negligible stock on it which they sold out immediately -- was 4Gb packs of Crucial Ballistix PC6400 800 memory, at around half or less of the normal price. Since this computer specifies either the 667 or the 800 RAM (and possibly even faster memory, but I'd need to confirm that), it left me wondering whether the performance difference would really be noticeable, for running any common video apps ? The cpu will be an AM2 dual core, if that makes any difference.

If you've tried different RAM, what did you notice ? I could always change the RAM later, if it really makes a difference, and another deal too good to overlook comes along.

[aedipuss]

ram speed is important if you are going to increase the fsb and overclock, but if you run stock speeds, then you won't notice any difference between 667 and 800. the 667 might run 800 with a slightly higher voltage if you tried.

[budz]

Make sure you run Memtest on those Crucial Ballistic's because in the past months they've had many problems with that ram failing. Test one stick at a time.

[glockjs]

you wont notice a HUGE dif. not worth going out of your way to buy imo. and btw budz when balli's fail they flatline so it pretty easy to tell

[Seeker47]

Make sure you run Memtest on those Crucial Ballistic's because in the past months they've had many problems with that ram failing. Test one stick at a time.

In my case, they were sold out, so for now I plan to stick with the regular Crucial PC-5300 667 I had bought earlier. Since Black Friday, I've seen one good sale on Corsair 800 sticks. But in my prior experience Crucial was always the Gold Standard, so it's bad news if they are no longer what they used to be. (But WHO is ?)

MEMTEST is probably a good idea, no matter what you buy.

[sdsumike619]

I have a question along these lines too. A while ago I built a system with an ASRock 775Dual-VSTA motherboard and Core 2 Duo E6300 CPU. Someone told me:

"If you're going to put a Core2Duo in the motherboard, stick with PC4200..as it's best to run the RAM synchronously (1:1)"

Is that true? Should I get DDR2-533 instead of 667 which the board supports? It's all around the same price so I don't really care but it seems weird getting a slower memory than what the board supports.. Please clarify?
[/i]

[redwudz]

I would use the speed and specification the motherboard is designed for if you want the best performance. The most common DDR2 RAM out there right now is probably DDR2 1066 RAM. And that should work with most any MB that can use DDR2. If you use two sticks, most motherboards will operate in in dual channel mode and give you an additional slight boost. Matched RAM modules are commonly available for that.

What you should look for in RAM is if the recommended operating voltage is compatible with your MB, along with the timings, Also I would only buy RAM with a 'lifetime' warranty. If you overclock, then the premium RAM may be a better option. Other than that, I would go with one of the major brand RAM manufacturers.

[sdsumike619]

I found this article which pretty much agrees with what the other person told me about using DDR2-533 in this particular board:

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2810

[jagabo]

Can you change the memory timing in the BIOS? In any case, the performance differences are so small as to be negligible. And from the conclusion of the sited article:

This story told us the choice of components like the CPU, motherboard, or graphics card is far more important to the overall performance of the system than our memory selection on this platform.

[glockjs]

I have a question along these lines too. A while ago I built a system with an ASRock 775Dual-VSTA motherboard and Core 2 Duo E6300 CPU. Someone told me:

"If you're going to put a Core2Duo in the motherboard, stick with PC4200..as it's best to run the RAM synchronously (1:1)"

Is that true? Should I get DDR2-533 instead of 667 which the board supports? It's all around the same price so I don't really care but it seems weird getting a slower memory than what the board supports.. Please clarify?
[/i]

the 1:1 thing is a farce. run as fast as your mobo can support. right now my ram is running faster than my mobo specifies but i have a nice mobo and a p35 northie again though the ram speed doesnt make a HUGE dif unless its running slower and bottlenecking the mobo :/

[sdsumike619]

So I should go with the DDR2-667 since the mobo supports it. There are settings in the BIOS for adjusting but I don't have a clue as to what they all mean or what they should be set at, etc..

[redwudz]

Depends on the MB. Most times, it will figure it out on it's own. I would just run CPUZ afterwards to see if it got it right. If not, then worry about BIOS settings. CPUZ: http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

[budz]

you wont notice a HUGE dif. not worth going out of your way to buy imo. and btw budz when balli's fail they flatline so it pretty easy to tell

The crucial ballistix ram had defects from I'd say 5- 6 months ago. It's the double sided ballistics that were fine but the single sided ram were the ones that had massive failures. Months ago Crucial gave huge $$$ MIR for their ram. Reason for it was because no one was buying their stuff. During that time frame the reviews at Newegg were Supposedly they've fixed the problems but I don't see many positive reviews at Newegg.

[glockjs]

yeah i dunno ive had my balli's for over a year now oc'd and have had 0 probs. i've noticed that alot of sticks that fail are overvolted and also alot of people that got them from newegg. maybe newegg got an overorder of a bad batch x.O i dunno got mine from zzf and like said been working fine for over a year oc'd at 1.9v

[budz]

yeah i dunno ive had my balli's for over a year now oc'd and have had 0 probs. i've noticed that alot of sticks that fail are overvolted and also alot of people that got them from newegg. maybe newegg got an overorder of a bad batch x.O i dunno got mine from zzf and like said been working fine for over a year oc'd at 1.9v

I ordered my ballistix from fry's at the beginning of this year & haven't had any problems as well. It was a few months down the road after I purchased them is when all the problems began. Some who didn't overclock the ballistix still had problems running it at stock speed. If you take a look at newegg there aren't many who are buying crucial ballistix these days. I've taken a liking to GSkill Ram.