Speeds.. etc.. advice?

Pimmo2000

Pimmo2000

Pimmo2000

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Joined
11 Nov 2007
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122
As some will have seen I've posted in several areas as I spec and build my new rig.

I plan on using two 2gb chips leaving room for upgrades!

My question is about all the numbers following the descriptions..

For example

2GB (2x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS3, DDR3 PC3-10600 (1333) 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, DHX

This isnt the stuff I want its just an example.

So we have the overal size and the amount of chips, the make and model and then the type DDR3.. this is where I get lost.. I have no idea what the rest means..

I want to buy memory that will work well with my PC but dont want to waste money on things I dont need.:)
 
PC-3200 on DDR was when it ran at 400mhz. Which is done by 400mhz x 8 bits (I think it's "bits") = 3200.

For DDR2 it became PC2-6400 which was just x2 compared to DDR.

For DDR3 it would be PC3-9600. So I assume that the PC3-10600 in this case is just slightly faster RAM than that. Bearing in mind that the 10600 is rounded up a bit, divide the 10600 by 1333 (the bit in brackets) and you get those 8 bits from before (8x1333= roughly 10600).

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240pin, just how many pins it has to connect to the motherboard slot.

Non-ECC Unbuffered, just the type of RAM that most desktop PC's use. Many servers will use "buffered" RAM that uses ECC. I think it's some sort of error correction feature which makes it a bit slower but makes sense in a server environment.

CAS-9-9-9-24, these are the timings of the RAM. Lower numbers mean it's faster but when comparing DDR3 to DDR2, (or DDR2 to DDR) bare in mind that timings are always higher on later generations. So DDR4 timings would be higher than DDR3. At the moment, DDR3 is pretty slow as it's new, but DDR2 was the same when it first came out and is now faster than DDR used to be.

No idea what DHX is I'm afraid.
 
thank you for taking the time to explain that to me...

So would I be wasting my money looking for the faster memory say 6400 to 8000 ?

Will it really make a difference
 
good 6400 is fine unless you are going to be seriously overclocking 4ghz+ what spec machine are you getting? then people can recommend memory
 
well personally would go with P5K-E and GeIL ULL, the board is also very stable with 4 sticks of RAM run all my overclocks with 4*1 Sticks of the the GeIL..

If you want to spend a little more then a Asus Maximus Formula might be worth looking at here
 
Pneumonic said:
well personally would go with P5K-E and GeIL ULL, the board is also very stable with 4 sticks of RAM run all my overclocks with 4*1 Sticks of the the GeIL..

If you want to spend a little more then a Asus Maximus Formula might be worth looking at here
Click to expand...

I dont mind the little more... I just want to be buying the best board without paying for things I dont need :(
 
PC6400 is fine unless your planning on going deeply into 400+ mhz FSB

If your clocking at well over 4ghz then you might want to consider PC8500 which runs your FSB up to 533 before the ram having to be overclocked to match
 
Samps said:
PC6400 is fine unless your planning on going deeply into 400+ mhz FSB

If your clocking at well over 4ghz then you might want to consider PC8500 which runs your FSB up to 533 before the ram having to be overclocked to match
Click to expand...

Thats the info I was looking for thanks !!

6400 it is !!

Any "best" makes ??
 
Pimmo2000 said:
Thats the info I was looking for thanks !!

6400 it is !!

Any "best" makes ??
Click to expand...

It generally comes down to personal preference, so everyone will be teliing you what they happen to run, but there are some compatibility issues between *some* boards and *some* ram. Asus list compatible ram in the manual but it's never a definitive list. Look at some of the OcUK bundles for examples of what components have been proven to work well together.
 
It's not cheap because it's crap. It's cheap because DDR2 prices are at rock bottom, mixed with the very weak Dollar, and the fact that OcUK sell shed-loads of both kits.

Both the Geil and OCZ kits were over £200 not so long ago. They're both amongst the top names in memory. Infact OCZ make the fastest DDR2 kit available.
 
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