Which RAM? Identical price.

Nirvana · 22 Mar 2006 at 12:18

I'm not particularly knowledgeable with pc's so best ask the experts. I'm beginning to build a new system, starting with the ram which can be thrown into my current hunk of junk whilst I decide what other parts to buy, anyway, I want a 2gb kit which will most probably be being used along side an opteron 146 cpu (it will definately be an amd cpu, either opteron or a dual core jobby, dunno if that makes a difference), and 7800 gpu. So which ones are actually best:

G.Skill 2GB DDR ZX PC3200 (2x1GB) CAS2 Dual Channel Kit (F1-3200PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-007-GS) £146

OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum Series EL-DDR CAS2 (OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K) (MY-057-OC) £146 (this week only)

I assume the ocz due to the slightly higher price, but I have always been told that gskill make the best ram?

I will most probably have a tinker at overclocking them, but nothing life threatening.

Thanks in advance.

pieman109 · 22 Mar 2006 at 14:37

I've got 2gig of the ocz and its superb. No compatibility issues, runs nice and stable at 208mhz @ 2-3-2-5-1t, stock volts. I think is uses the same chips as the Gskill 3200, but I went for ocz because of the reputation and having had some before and that worked perfectly too.

platty · 22 Mar 2006 at 14:46

Know a couple of people with the OCZ and they all love it. Got the 4000 myself and its good RAM, never had a problem with OCZ. Always been good stuff.

pieman109 · 22 Mar 2006 at 14:51

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ agreed!

Nirvana · 22 Mar 2006 at 16:44

Thanks, ordered

mutters · 22 Mar 2006 at 18:11

hey - sorry to threadjack, but just bought some g-skill 2gb sticks. have 1x512mb corsair which *could* run along side it. same timings and CAS2 as well.

should i bother or will it reduce the overall system performance? mixing memory make & it'll probably drop into single channel.

cheers,
james

ted34 · 22 Mar 2006 at 18:14

mutters said:
hey - sorry to threadjack, but just bought some g-skill 2gb sticks. have 1x512mb corsair which *could* run along side it. same timings and CAS2 as well.

should i bother or will it reduce the overall system performance? mixing memory make & it'll probably drop into single channel.

cheers,
james

No i wouldnt bother. 2gb is more than enough these days and if you run the extra 512mb then you dont run in dual channel which isnt so good. If you need the extra memory then do it - if not then dont use it

mutters · 22 Mar 2006 at 18:20

cheers for the expedient reply chap! will give them to needy members of family!

ademcg · 24 Mar 2006 at 15:39

pieman109 said:
I've got 2gig of the ocz and its superb. No compatibility issues, runs nice and stable at 208mhz @ 2-3-2-5-1t, stock volts. I think is uses the same chips as the Gskill 3200, but I went for ocz because of the reputation and having had some before and that worked perfectly too.

What was the maximum MHz you got out of these 2*1024mb OCZ 3200 chips ??

I only ask as I am hopefully going from mem in sig (2*512mb OCZ 3200 Pt rev 2.0) to the 2 Gb (2*1024mb) 3200 Platinum but my memory at the minute is on a divider meaning they are actually running at 240MHz [my CPU is clocked to 290 MHz]

.

Will the OCZ 2 Gb kits go that high ???

smids · 24 Mar 2006 at 16:08

ademcg said:
What was the maximum MHz you got out of these 2*1024mb OCZ 3200 chips ??

I only ask as I am hopefully going from mem in sig (2*512mb OCZ 3200 Pt rev 2.0) to the 2 Gb (2*1024mb) 3200 Platinum but my memory at the minute is on a divider meaning they are actually running at 240MHz [my CPU is clocked to 290 MHz] .

Will the OCZ 2 Gb kits go that high ???

A good set might at CAS2.5 but beyond 235mhz, it really is hit and miss.

ademcg · 24 Mar 2006 at 16:26

Cheers,
I have just got home and CPU-z reports them running at 235.7 MHz, so perhaps I will be ok ?

This is my Dram config:
Dram Freq: 166 (Dram / FSB: 5/06).

CAS = 2
Trcd = 3
Tras = 8
Trp = 3
Trc = 7

smids · 24 Mar 2006 at 16:29

ademcg said:
Cheers,
I have just got home and CPU-z reports them running at 235.7 MHz, so perhaps I will be ok ?

This is my Dram config:
Dram Freq: 166 (Dram / FSB: 5/06).

CAS = 2
Trcd = 3
Tras = 8
Trp = 3
Trc = 7

You'll have to run CAS2.5 but the other timings look OK. Then again, a bad kit might hit a wall at 230mhz. These kits are risky for running higher FSB but may well do it. I would use a lower divider and stick closer to 200mhz.