Corsair TwinX vs. Corsair XMS2

The second one is the best, but any would do. e5300 has a x13 multipliar, so even at 4ghz which it won't reach the 800mhz ram would be more than you need. Id personally go with an 800mhz 4-4-4-12 timing set.

Are you overclocking it? If not you can probably buy any ram whatsoever. OCZ or corsair are my favourites.
 
The second one is the best, but any would do. e5300 has a x13 multipliar, so even at 4ghz which it won't reach the 800mhz ram would be more than you need. Id personally go with an 800mhz 4-4-4-12 timing set.

Are you overclocking it? If not you can probably buy any ram whatsoever. OCZ or corsair are my favourites.

Sorry, you lost me after the first sentence.

What's an "800MHz 4-4-4-12 timing set"? I do intend on overclocking the CPU, yes, but only to get the E5300 to about 3.4GHz so nothing major. Is the XMS2 (£37) RAM the outright best or best for its price?
 
That's ok, I'll offer a more complete answer. 1066mhz ram is normally better than 800mhz ram. 4-4-4 is better than 5-5-5, it's how long it takes the ram to do specific things. So 4-4-4 is quicker than 5-5-5 at a given speed. Out of the three, the 1066mhz ram is the best as they all have the same timings, i.e. they're all 5-5-5.

For your processor, it has an internal speed and a speed at which is communicates with the rest of the system. The internal speed is 13 times the communication speed, the communication speed is called fsb. So at 3.4ghz, the fsb is 3.4ghz/13 = 0.262ghz = 262 mhz.

Everything in the computer is based around this fsb, you will overclock by increasing it from it's default. DDR2 ram runs at twice the speed of the fsb, that's what the 2 means here. So as long as your ram can run at least 262*2=523mhz, it wont hold you back. So the 800mhz ram is a bit overkill really. 1066mhz ram is a complete waste of time, it's useful for processors with multipliers of about x8 rather than x13.

I personally would buy this, I've used ocz for a long time and am very pleased with them.

Throwing you in at the deep end a bit, if you let me know which parts you follow and which don't make sense I'll take another stab at it
 
Jon,

Think I get you just fine there - thanks for shedding light on the subject. As I'm trying to skimp where I can, I think I'll stick to the £37 Corsair sticks as opposed to the £39 OCZ sticks. Although I hear very good things about OCZ, if one performs as well as the other, I'll save the pounds.

It's a minefield, this PC-building virgin lark!
 
i have the XMS2 8500C5 which is the cheaper one of the 3 (don't know why) and it run at 800mhz 4-4-4-12 without any problems. The sticker states 5-5-5-15 at 1066 but for some reason they put 5-6-6-18 in the specifications.
 
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