PC6400 or PC8500?

FlakMagnet · 27 Dec 2006 at 19:23

HI.

I am about to build a C2D rig but must admit to being confused by RAM. I was always under the impression that the faster you clock RAM, the better it was, but this doesn't seem to be the case any more?

I'm getting the eVGA 680 mobo and a 6600, and want some RAM I can run at 1066MHz. I will hopefully be overclocking the CPU to 3.0GHz too.

Is it better (i.e. faster in games etc) to buy PC6400 RAM with fast timings, or PC8500 RAM with looser timings?

Sorry if I haven't chosen the right words above

(I are a n00b).

BTW. I can spend about £300 on 2GB, so any pointers as to what to buy for this rig would be appreciated

(was thinking of the Corsair PC8500C5D).

GFresh · 27 Dec 2006 at 20:10

Have a search in some other threads here, you will probably find that most people will recommend you save yourself £90 and buy the Crucial Tenth Anniversary ram.

FlakMagnet · 27 Dec 2006 at 20:55

Yep, was reading all that earlier. But I'm probably not buying until end of Jan, and I bet all that stuff is gone by then

GFresh · 27 Dec 2006 at 21:44

Well you never know, its been in a while now and it looks like theres plenty left

Jonny L · 27 Dec 2006 at 21:56

Or go for the geil and get 4gigs :cool:

.

FlakMagnet · 28 Dec 2006 at 11:32

Thought there were problems with the Geil? Anyway, no one will *ever* need 4GB of RAM!!!

Only kidding. I just want 2GB at the moment as my current system only has 1GB, and can't really justify 4GB of decent RAM as nothing I do really uses that much. At least I will be able to play BF2 without all the jerky jerky stuff with 2GB

I still don't really have an answer to my question though... is lower latency 6400 better or worse than higher latency 8500?

1dmf · 28 Dec 2006 at 12:06

is lower latency 6400 better or worse than higher latency 8500

It depends on what ram you get, I have PC6400 running on CAS4-4-4-8 1000mhz which is better than most PC8500 cas as they generally are 5-5-5-15

If you get good quality PC8500 they may be slacker timings but you will probably get them to clock higher.

I have Team Extreeme and bought them as I had read they would go up to 1200mhz but I don't seem to be able to get them to run @ 1100mhz, yet they seem very happy @ 1000mhz and give very tight timings.

If I was to change them I might pay that little bit extra and go for PC8500 and see how far I could push them as I understand C2D don't mind the slacker timings and love the faster speeds.

however if the PC8500 are rated 5-5-5-15 , you may need to put them @ 6-6-6-18 to OC them, i'm no expert so someone else would have to say if they thought 1200mhz CAS 6-6-6-18 is better than 1000mhz CAS 4-4-4-8.

HangTime · 28 Dec 2006 at 13:02

PC8500 RAM isn't worth the price premium over PC6400 IMO. Spending an extra £100 on the graphics card will make far more difference (for gaming) than an extra £100 on the RAM.

FlakMagnet · 28 Dec 2006 at 16:04

Thanks guys.

I was looking at getting the Corsair PC8500 memory as I can spend up to about £300 for RAM (I have other cash for the graphics card etc

).

I have seen some people getting very good results with the PC6400, so I might look at getting some good quality 6400 and see how far I can push them. The 10th Anniversary stuff looks very good, and hopefully they will still be in stock when I come to buy. If not, I might just go for the 8500 where I am guaranteed good speeds.

Thanks again for all the advice