Quick memory upgrade question

[Adam_151]

Brother's machine, DFI Lanparty nf 3 250gb board, AMD skt 754 machine with 3400+, got one stick of crucial ballistix 512meg atm (I think "DDR PC3200 • 2-2-2-6 • UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR400 • 2.8V • 64Meg x 64" )

He wants to upgrade (or replace) with another 2gig of memory, most of the crucial basistix memory on OCUK is DDR2, which I'am not sure is required, or will even work?

Can anyone recommend suitable sticks of memory for this upgrade, sorry, I'm very much of a memory new-bie

Thanks,

Adam

EDIT: thats 512meg currently, sorry, was typing in a rush on the laptop

 

[Gommsta]

Most people seem to like the G SKill stuff, Corsair also v good. Crucial Ballistix seem to have quality problems although overclock very well.
Needs to be DDR for your setup, DDR2 won't work.

 

[Adam_151]

Thanks for the advice (sorry I've not checked back for a few days)

Do you know if the board that i've got (or rather my brother has) can take advantage of matched pairs?

Is PC3200 the right one to go for?, or would it work better with PC4000, or does it (as it did in the PC100/133 days) just run it at 3200 speeds?

What do thing like "memory timeing 2-3-3-6" mean? is there a good resource to learn about things like this? heard of CAS lattency as well.

 

[Minstadave]

Stay away from 2Gb sets of Ballistix, their failure rate is atrocious.

Timings wise lower is better, the best you can get for 2x1Gb kits is 2-3-2-6.

The Gskill ZX is cheap and does those tight 2-3-2-6 timings, there's also similar products from OCZ and Corsair.

You want PC3200 DDR (not DDR2)

 

[Adam_151]

Thanks , so

Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2 (MY-079-CS) - £153 inc [ 2-3-3-6 ]

G.Skill 2GB DDR ZX PC3200 (2x1GB) CAS2 Dual Channel Kit (F1-3200PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-007-GS) - £140 inc [2-3-2-5]

OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum Series EL-DDR CAS2 (OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K) (MY-057-OC) - £146 inc [ 2-3-2-5]

Are all suitable?



I'm leaning towards the OCZ, because I've not heard of G.Skill before and I'm a little wary of it tbh but whats the difference between the platinum one above and this



OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Gold GX XTC Series EL-DDR CAS2 (OCZ4002048ELGEGXT-K) (MY-059-OC) £164 inc [2-3-3-8]

it seems to have slower timings and is more expensive... how does that work then?, similar situation with the G.skill:

G.Skill 2GB DDR HZ PC4000 (2x1GB) CAS3 Dual Channel Kit (F1-4000USU2-2GBHZ) (MY-008-GS) - £143 inc [3-4-4-8] is a little more expensive and has slower timeings than the G.skill listed in the orginal three, with this the CAS is even 3

Thanks again

 

[Minstadave]

Thanks , so

Corsair 2GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS2 (MY-079-CS) - £153 inc [ 2-3-3-6 ]

G.Skill 2GB DDR ZX PC3200 (2x1GB) CAS2 Dual Channel Kit (F1-3200PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-007-GS) - £140 inc [2-3-2-5]

OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum Series EL-DDR CAS2 (OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K) (MY-057-OC) - £146 inc [ 2-3-2-5]

Are all suitable?



I'm leaning towards the OCZ, because I've not heard of G.Skill before and I'm a little wary of it tbh but whats the difference between the platinum one above and this



OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Gold GX XTC Series EL-DDR CAS2 (OCZ4002048ELGEGXT-K) (MY-059-OC) £164 inc [2-3-3-8]

it seems to have slower timings and is more expensive... how does that work then?, similar situation with the G.skill:

G.Skill 2GB DDR HZ PC4000 (2x1GB) CAS3 Dual Channel Kit (F1-4000USU2-2GBHZ) (MY-008-GS) - £143 inc [3-4-4-8] is a little more expensive and has slower timeings than the G.skill listed in the orginal three, with this the CAS is even 3

Thanks again

GSkill are a relatively new company, they've been mainstream for about a year and make some really nice RAM, backed up with decent support/

The cheaper OCZ is actually the better of the two, so I'd go with that one.

The second GSkill set you mention is PC4000 not PC3200, hence the slower timings as it will clock to higher FSB.