pc3200 vs pc3500 (or whats the point of pc3200?)

CaxusCaxus
edited February 2004 in Hardware
So i'm building a new athlon 64 system and i was originally going to get pc3200 ram but shouldn't i just go as high as i can go? Is there any point to buying pc3200 ram over pc3500? Never understood how all that works. I mean i understand that they're different speeds and in the past i've always just just stuck to what the processor was (pc2700 for a 333 fsb barton). But when people talk about buying 400 mhz ram and then overclocking to 430 i'm thinking why not just buy pc3500? Wouldn't it be able to go higher?

Comments

  • DisvengeanceDisvengeance
    edited February 2004
    Id go with pc3200, because i beleive (could be wrong) that the new amd64's at the moment arent that great of overclockers. And if you get some good pc3200 you should be able to get the ram higher than 400.
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited February 2004
    Caxus wrote:
    So i'm building a new athlon 64 system and i was originally going to get pc3200 ram but shouldn't i just go as high as i can go? Is there any point to buying pc3200 ram over pc3500? Never understood how all that works. I mean i understand that they're different speeds and in the past i've always just just stuck to what the processor was (pc2700 for a 333 fsb barton).

    Overclocking is a crap shoot. You can increase your odds by buying ram that rated higher than what FSB your shooting for. At least that way you can limit you OCing variables (to the CPU and Mobo)

    But when people talk about buying 400 mhz ram and then overclocking to 430 i'm thinking why not just buy pc3500? Wouldn't it be able to go higher?
    Not necessarily. Early Twinmos PC3200 DDR400 BH5 chips could do ~240mhz (DDR480). Some current PC3500 won't even do 225mhz (DDR450)

    In any event wait until Apr for the new 2nd gen KT800Pro and NF3-250 mobo to arrive, in both Socket939 (Dual Channel) and Socket 754 (single channel) versions. Both chipsets supports HT1000 and async AGP/PCI. (at least for the VIA / NF3 async support is sketchy). I bet these board will boards will OC into FSB450 225mhz (or higher) territory.

    There are some scattered reports about current Chaintech ZF3-150 mobos OCing as high as 230mhz.
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    One reason to get higher speed memory is to allow you to run tighter (faster) settings at lower speeds. You need to be careful about this. There is some high speed memory rated cas3 at 400, and it will not run faster than cas3 at any speed.
    The real deal, if you are going to run 200 fsb then get memory rated for the fastest settings possible at that speed.
    Worry about OC later.
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