going round in circles ...

teknix

teknix

teknix

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Joined
1 May 2007
Posts
16
hello folks :)

1st post and im asking for advice, pls forgive my bad manners.

a little over a month ago i took stock of an Intel E6600 cpu, Asus P5W64 Pro mobo and a Coolermaster 850w Real Power Pro psu. as u can imagine i was over the moon when they came, funds in place for the rest of the components, happy days right ?... i then read thru the destruction manual for the mobo, i get to the page explaining about the ram and it might as well of being written in swahilli (this is when my bubble bursts with an almighty pop). now my nice new bits are stood gathering dust in the corner of my living room :(.

since then ive been going round in circles, not exactly knowing what ram i need to buying. i desperately need some guidence here before i eitherr waste my money on excellent (but uncompatible) ram, just buy absolute rubbish or my cpu becomes obselete (its already £30 cheaper now lol)

id really appreciate it if could someone answer these few (probably very basic) questions for me and add anything else they feel will also help potter on and finish my quest ? :)

1. i intend on having 4gb of ram (2gb to start with). which is the best, single or double sided ram ?
2. EEC or non EEC ?
3. i know that the lower the ram timings, the better performance u get. so would pc6400 with 4-4-4-12 timings be better than pc8000 with 5-5-5-15 timings ?

im a pc based musician (who likes his games too) so im not looking for the ram with the best overclocking potential, rather just a solid, reliable performer, preferably with a lifetime guarentee :) hehe

heres a link to the mobo page in case u need it, manual link is also on that page too :
h**p://uk.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=248&l4=0&model=1341&modelmenu=1

many thanks in advance

:)
 
teknix said:
hello folks :)
Click to expand...
Hello and welcome to the forums! :)

Bit of a chunky post there and I'm a bit bashed to explain everything so I will just point you to a set of memory that would work well with your setup, its also on offer this week only!


2GB Kit - £82.24 inc VAT

If nobody else comes along to explain everything to you and you just wanna get your system up and running nicely then the Memory kit pictured above would be ideal . . . The Price of DDR2 is very very good atm, its one of those bits of computer hardware where the value can change quite a lot. Those sticks were about £180 a few months ago! :eek:

If you wanna learn all about memory then I suggest you take it easy and read some more posts from others until the penny drops and if something isn't clear then make a post asking for help. If you make it a small post asking just one question your much more likely to get a reply, rather than a large full on bit of block text :)

I was compelled to answer because its your first post, also the bit about Swahilli made me laugh, but most importantly it must be frustrating as hell having all that new kit gathering dust because you can't sus out the memory malarky!
 
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Welcome. Big.Wayne already hit the most important part so I think I'll answer a couple of your more peripheral questions.
teknix said:
1. i intend on having 4gb of ram (2gb to start with). which is the best, single or double sided ram ?
Click to expand...
Single sided RAM went out of style long ago, didn't it? The physical configuration of the chips on the DIMM (dual in-line memory module, AKA memory stick or memory module) doesn't matter as it all has contacts on both sides of the circuit board. SIMM memory went out of style about 10 years ago so fear not.
teknix said:
2. EEC or non EEC?
Click to expand...
Non-ECC. ECC RAM is mainly used in high-end workstations and servers. Very few consumer motherboards take ECC RAM. :)
teknix said:
3. i know that the lower the ram timings, the better performance u get. so would pc6400 with 4-4-4-12 timings be better than pc8000 with 5-5-5-15 timings?
Click to expand...
Probably but it all comes down to how you run the RAM. If you're running PC2-6400 at, let's say, 430 MHz you're running it at more than its rated speed. Memory speeds are rather confusing but suffice it to say that the actual speed is half the rated speed. PC2-6400 is rated to run at 667 MHz but because it's double data rate (DDR) this is twice the actual speed.

Without going into too much detail get the fastest rated speed RAM you can afford if overclocking then try to get as low timings as possible. If you're not overclocking any RAM will do as long as it's rated to the speed you're running at. Your CPU, at stock, wants PC2-4200 RAM. The Crucial kit recommended by Big.Wayne is extremely good and allows for significant overclocking if you're interested some time down the line.
:)
 
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hello guys :)

id just like to say a huuuuuuuge thankyou for your input. u have answered all my Qs perfectly :D.

your are 110% correct, its all very confusing to meer mortals like myself who just drive the blumming things, which i why i asked for your help. i figured u fellas will have forgotten more than ill ever know hehe :).

those crucials u have suggested have been on my short list (thats been getting longer by the week) for a while now, and at 105 squids they come in nicely under budget too. ill definately be order a set up today, im tempted to get all 4gb at once, but knowing my luck, my snobby mobo wont have anything to do with them and ill be lumbered lol.

once again thx lads. my plans for global domination are back on track bcos of u's. ill not forget this :D

p.s. do u reakon OcUK will deliver the ram to my secret underground mountain lair in the bahamas, or will i have to get them sent to me mams house ? ;)
 
BillytheImpaler said:
Without going into too much detail get the fastest rated speed RAM you can afford if overclocking then try to get as low timings as possible. If you're not overclocking any RAM will do as long as it's rated to the speed you're running at. Your CPU, at stock, wants PC2-4200 RAM. The Crucial kit recommended by Big.Wayne is extremely good and allows for significant overclocking if you're interested some time down the line.
:)
Click to expand...

Just to throw in another opinion.

If your not overclocking the type of ram is a lot less important, PC2-4200 is 'stock' for a Core 2 Duo processor.

However, the latency/timings of said chips will still have a large impact on the performance of your computer. If you look at the Corsair range, you'll see there are C3, C4, and C5 versions. Its the faster C3's that you want for best performance at 'Stock Speeds'.

IE 3-3-3-8, will be considerably faster than 5-5-5-15, if both sets of chips are running at 266mhz. (533 once you factor in DDR)

Looks like the Crucial Ballistix is the 'tighest timings' on DDR2 currently available from OCuK, as the Corsair C3's seem to have been dropped off the stock lists.
 
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hi Corasik :)

cheers for the additional info's :) ..

i went straight from this thread and ordered some Ballistix from OcUK this morning, theyll be here on friday (assuming their '# in stock' was correct at time of purchase) :D

big thx to all u guys who helped me, u're all pc jedis in my book ;P
 
No problem :)

I was a bit baffled by the DDR2 memory back in December last year so i know whats its like, you feel like your head is gonna explode, then you start reading some threads and you see guys arguing to death what is the best ram etc, doesn't help!.

Crucial have always been a good memory manufacturer but its only the past few years that they started to crank out stuff that would appeal to the enthusiast crowd, however now quite a lot of other manufacturers are using the crucial stuff on their own sticks.

As has been mentioned the (333MHz) kit you have bought is rated to run faster that what you actually need for the Core 2 Duo at stock (266MHz) but if you get into a little bit of overclocking then you will need this.

Also Intel has a few chips out and more coming soon that will need memory to run at 333MHz so your kit should serve you well for the next couple of years. If you should ever have a problem with it then Crucial has a great U.K based RMA service, just make sure you keep your reciept tucked away somewhere safe in case you need it (unlikely but possible).

BTW: I never heard of your motherboard before but checked it out, looks awesome and I bet it cost a pretty penny!
 
hehe u desciribe exactly what was going round my head, i figured i wasnt the 1st to go thru this and im definately not gonna be the last either. it wasnt helped by Asus's QVL (quality vendors list) been slightly outta date.

a friend reccomended the mobo a while back, paid a little over £150 for it. was just gonna spend about £80 on a board for a core2duo, but he rightly said id be wasting my time with decend components cos the cheap board will hinder their performance. its good to know that theres ppl out there who know what they are talking about and can offer sound advice to people like me. im the type of person who walks into pcworld and comes out with a £1200 commodore 64 hehe :)

blinking eck, just realised im a 'thug' hehe, i hope the next level isnt a 'chav' ... i dont fancy having to tuck my trousers into my socks or a burberry pc case :P
 
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