RAM question..? which is faster?

[FEINT]

I recently installed some new RAM in my computer. I don't know a better place than KB to ask!

I just purchased 2x512mb Cosair DDR400 SD-RAM. I am running them in dual-channel mode.

I was running Kingston 2x256mb DDR-400 SD-RAM.

WHen I plug in the both the cosair and kingston, my RAM clock speed drops to 333mhz instead of the 400mhz. If I only have 1 brand installed, it runs at 400mhz. From this, I gather there is some conflict between the different manufacturers.

I am wondering if

1) Run 2 x 512 mb Cosair at 400mhz. (total of 1024mb)

OR

2) Run 2 x 512 mb cosair + 2 x 256mb kingston at 333 mhz (total of 1500mb)

??????

[White trash]

RAM offers more eficiency as you get going faster, effectivley pressurizing the air box and feeding more air to the engine.

The faster you go, the more the pressure. Also, the bigger the mess.

[WRT]

Also, RAM's go extremely fast when followed by White Trash - they heard what happened to the EWE's.

Feint - check your BIOS settings, they may have been set for specific settings on the original modules, and if the latencies are too low for the new RAM then your PC will slow the speed of all RAM to match. Go over them carefully, and set them to the slower settings off the two types, or just go for an "auto" config.

[flash]

im not a pro, but ild say their about the same?.

run memtest (a geek program)
or try pcmark, 3dmark, aquamark and see which way gives you the most points

[Sparky Mark]

Feint - check your BIOS settings, they may have been set for specific settings on the original modules, and if the latencies are too low for the new RAM then your PC will slow the speed of all RAM to match. Go over them carefully, and set them to the slower settings off the two types, or just go for an "auto" config.


Also it might be an idea to check the BIOS version is up to date before going through the configs.

[FEINT]

im not a pro, but ild say their about the same?.

run memtest (a geek program)
or try pcmark, 3dmark, aquamark and see which way gives you the most points

i might go and try memtest or some other memory testing program.. not a whizz at computers, so I dont think I want to try messing with my bios. I think it is currently on AUTO.

[WRT]

The memtest should just confirm what we already know - 400mhz is better than 333mhz. However, this is not really what Feint means.

Question is, will the OS benefit from more memory at a slower speed or less memory at a higher speed? For that, your best bet is to chuck in the extra memory and see if you cant spot any difference yourself. Open a few apps, play a few games, see what happens.

[cowpoos]

you'll find that texel's are the fastest....followed by suffox's.... although a freashly shorn perindale has a good turn of speed but run out of puff quickly...but quite hard to get a hold of because they a freashly shorn... rommeny's are just too bulky and big to move quickly... but that makes them easy to catch :spudbooge

[WRT]

I think what Poos is saying is fuck the slow RAM, and just run with the fast RAM? In other words, he votes for the 1024Mb of 400mhz.

[FEINT]

The memtest should just confirm what we already know - 400mhz is better than 333mhz. However, this is not really what Feint means.

Question is, will the OS benefit from more memory at a slower speed or less memory at a higher speed? For that, your best bet is to chuck in the extra memory and see if you cant spot any difference yourself. Open a few apps, play a few games, see what happens.

exactly!! that is what I need to know.. Is it beneficial to have more RAM at a slower speed!

Thank you. :woohoo:

[James Deuce]

Feint, motherboard bus throughput capacity comes into the equation as well. Is this s PCI-X mobo, or an AGP?

[Marmoot]

the real question lies in the price difference and performance difference.

Would the performance difference justify the cost difference?

If the cost is about the same, and the performance is about the same, would the difference justify worrying about it?

And if the end result is not much different, would it justify losing riding time on worrying about it? Or worse, losing time to surf porn....

Actually, that was my original question but I forgot....would more memory makes your PC faster when surfing porn?

[flash]

The memtest should just confirm what we already know - 400mhz is better than 333mhz. However, this is not really what Feint means.

Question is, will the OS benefit from more memory at a slower speed or less memory at a higher speed? For that, your best bet is to chuck in the extra memory and see if you cant spot any difference yourself. Open a few apps, play a few games, see what happens.
memtest puts the RAM under heavy strain and counts how fast and how much your ram is transfering from the north bridge to the south. it doesnt just tell you 400 is better than 333.....

[WRT]

Have no fear, I am well familiar with what memtest is and what it does - however, I think you are missing the point of what Feint is asking. He doesnt care about testing the memory for flaws or seeing how much is being transferred between the north and south bridges, he merely wants to know (as Marmoot so elequently put it) which is faster for downloading porn! (or whatever other tasks he shall choose to use his computer for.)

[SimJen]

diminishing returns over 1gb anyway so stick with the faster memory.

[flash]

Have no fear, I am well familiar with what memtest is and what it does - however, I think you are missing the point of what Feint is asking. He doesnt care about testing the memory for flaws or seeing how much is being transferred between the north and south bridges, he merely wants to know (as Marmoot so elequently put it) which is faster for downloading porn! (or whatever other tasks he shall choose to use his computer for.)
thats why i sugested the game benchmarks cause that will tell him which way is better for high demanding graphics....

simjen: your totally right, cant windows only use upto like 512mbs? (not including other applications)

[Pathos]

wtf...

The 1500mb will ONLY be noticably faster if you are running out of memory and using harddisk virtual memory.

Run the program that uses the most memory and switch to task manager and see how much memory is used.
If its more than 1024mg then go for the 1500mb otherwise it doesn't matter.

DDR 400 runs at 200mhz not 400mhz

My motherboard has two DDR400 slots and one DDR333, yours may also have mismatching memory slots and thus the motherboard on noticing the extra memory has to reduce the speed on all slots.

[SimJen]

thats why i sugested the game benchmarks cause that will tell him which way is better for high demanding graphics....

simjen: your totally right, cant windows only use upto like 512mbs? (not including other applications)

Well, benchmarks aren't really going to show much of an improvement between the memory sizes but memory speed will have a greater effect.
Windows XP can use the whole lot....but whats the point. I've got 2-256 (512mb) of Dual channel at home running at 225mhz or DDR450 if you like and for what I do, webdesign, cad and graphics the differences between 512 and 1024 were so small it wasn't worth the cost. I also had issues cranking the 2-512s (1024mb) to the same speed.
I work on 50mb graphics files regularly and don't really suffer any problems, as long as you have a good overall system.

[N4CR]

Okay, how many programs will use the extra .5gb? Not much unless you are a 3d modeler/CAD etc.

400 vs 333 wont make much difference on an AMD platform but it will on an Intel one as the chipset/chip etc will be different in general.

edit: I'd go for 400.... more overclockable anyway in the future

[Lou Girardin]

you'll find that texel's are the fastest....followed by suffox's.... although a freashly shorn perindale has a good turn of speed but run out of puff quickly...but quite hard to get a hold of because they a freashly shorn... rommeny's are just too bulky and big to move quickly... but that makes them easy to catch :spudbooge

Do you know if their gigs hurt?

[Marmoot]

Okay, how many programs will use the extra .5gb? Not much unless you are a 3d modeler/CAD etc.

There would be a lot of programs using the extra 0.5gb if your comp is infested with so many spywares and viruses :yeah:

[TwoSeven]

Check that your bios settings are 'by spd' - which means get the timings off the ram sticks. Then use everest home edtion to check the spd settings on the ram.

Under the motherboard spd settings you'll get a whole bunch of values - you'll find that there will be values for 200mhz (ddr400), 166 (ddr 333) etc.

Its likely that one of the types of ram has a mismatch spd setting on the ddr200 rate, so the board is dropping down to the next highest setting.

[kro]

Show me an operating system that can effectively utilise more than 1gb of ram, and you get a free blowy.

Go the higher mhz frequency speed, that DDR400 will pillage the other option.

[TwoSeven]

Windows XP :)

If you run BF2 - many people find 2gb to be pretty good - it really does save a heck of a lot of disk thrashing.

[cowpoos]

Do you know if their gigs hurt?

only when ya byte "em"

[Marmoot]

Windows XP :)

Windows XP and 'efficient use' should not be in the same context.