I need some RAM!

[Tigerj]

Hi Gamecop - Reviewed the thread including the grabs of CPU-Z which i would have recommended too.

 

If youre looking at playing more modern games then 2GB is gonna be about what you need - youll only notice more if you need to alt-tab to the desktop frequently.

 

I would personally go with Patriot ram here http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820220144 I have 4GB of this ram in my system. (for those interested 3.25GB is usable after a windows load and i have Graphics and sound cards 2 Sata drives and usb installed)

 

Your choice then is either to run at the same latencies as the ram you already have installed or better still imo pull the existing ram out and run the new stuff at the lower latencies, Intel based systems are more responsive at lower latencies, whereas AMD seem to prefer more grunt (Mhz).

 

In order to run at the lower latencies youll probably have to go into bios and set the cas latencies manually to 4-4-4-12, but thats a simple enough thing.

 

Although im running a quad core q6600, my hard drive is nothing special but in a multiplayer game, Im one of the first into game after a map change, so the ram keeps up and suits me fine.

 

One final point to note is that the Patriot ram comes with a lifetime guarantee, not that i think thered be cause to use it

Well, my current 1GB of ram with two 512mb sticks have a Cas Latency of 5. Wouldn't it conflict with this Patriot ram since it has a Cas Latency of 5? Remember, I do want 3GB of ram, not 2GB, so I'm not going to remove the current ram in the system and put completely new ram. I'm also running on an AMD system, not an Intel.

 

If you can, I would stick with the same memory. Most of the memory that is made by the same company will tend to work well with each other. You're adding another 2GB for a totla of 3GB?

 

But that doesn't mean different memory won't work. As such as recomended for the Patriot memory, if you pop it in, it will run at the speed your current memory is at if it is slower than the Patriot.

 

Also when it comes to latency, I can tell you that you will not see a difference. The cost to performance is so small it isn't worth it. I remember reading on a test of Cosair high speed memory with their Select brand. In a game they gained another 2 FPS, but the memory cost like $300 more.

 

Unless you are overclocking, or a spead freak and must sqeeze everything out of it, you will not see any performace difference over a low latency chip over one that may be slightly higher.

 

Your memory you have now is 5-5-5-18

 

The memory you looking to get is 5-5-5-15

 

And the memory sugested is 4-4-4-12

 

Any of these chips will work... http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList....+800+(PC2+6400)

 

In the end is comes down to reputation on reliability of brand. How do they do their quality control and tests on their modules. Most of the chips on the memory modules are from the same companies, Samsung & Infineon being the most popular.

Edited November 30, 2007 by Tigerj

[Alpha]

Hi Gamecop - Reviewed the thread including the grabs of CPU-Z which i would have recommended too.

 

If youre looking at playing more modern games then 2GB is gonna be about what you need - youll only notice more if you need to alt-tab to the desktop frequently.

 

I would personally go with Patriot ram here http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820220144 I have 4GB of this ram in my system. (for those interested 3.25GB is usable after a windows load and i have Graphics and sound cards 2 Sata drives and usb installed)

 

Your choice then is either to run at the same latencies as the ram you already have installed or better still imo pull the existing ram out and run the new stuff at the lower latencies, Intel based systems are more responsive at lower latencies, whereas AMD seem to prefer more grunt (Mhz).

 

In order to run at the lower latencies youll probably have to go into bios and set the cas latencies manually to 4-4-4-12, but thats a simple enough thing.

 

Although im running a quad core q6600, my hard drive is nothing special but in a multiplayer game, Im one of the first into game after a map change, so the ram keeps up and suits me fine.

 

One final point to note is that the Patriot ram comes with a lifetime guarantee, not that i think thered be cause to use it

Well, my current 1GB of ram with two 512mb sticks have a Cas Latency of 5. Wouldn't it conflict with this Patriot ram since it has a Cas Latency of 5? Remember, I do want 3GB of ram, not 2GB, so I'm not going to remove the current ram in the system and put completely new ram. I'm also running on an AMD system, not an Intel.

 

If you can, I would stick with the same memory. Most of the memory that is made by the same company will tend to work well with each other. You're adding another 2GB for a totla of 3GB?

 

But that doesn't mean different memory won't work. As such as recomended for the Patriot memory, if you pop it in, it will run at the speed your current memory is at if it is slower than the Patriot.

 

Also when it comes to latency, I can tell you that you will not see a difference. The cost to performance is so small it isn't worth it. I remember reading on a test of Cosair high speed memory with their Select brand. In a game they gained another 2 FPS, but the memory cost like $300 more.

 

Unless you are overclocking, or a spead freak and must sqeeze everything out of it, you will not see any performace difference over a low latency chip over one that may be slightly higher.

 

Your memory you have now is 5-5-5-18

 

The memory you looking to get is 5-5-5-15

 

And the memory sugested is 4-4-4-12

 

Any of these chips will work... http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList....+800+(PC2+6400)

 

In the end is comes down to reputation on reliability of brand. How do they do their quality control and tests on their modules. Most of the chips on the memory modules are from the same companies, Samsung & Infineon being the most popular.

I would usually stick with the same brand, but Corsair has been having problems fulfilling their rebates. Therefore, I'm probably going to go with the G-Skill ram or the Patriot. Although, I'd rather not buy any online, but it seems retail stores no longer want to sell internal hard drives or the latest ram.

 

It's a real shame.