Topic: RAM

[FEVER]

 I just made an ebay goof. A guy was selling 1gig sticks for $25, and 2 gig sticks for $50.....kinda cheap......i assumed the 2gig was for 2x 1 gig sticks due to price......well, i was wrong. SO.....I ordered another 2gig stick = 2x 2gig sticks.
 Problem is, I now will be pulling my 2x 1gig sticks & not utilizing them.
 Question: My girlfriends pc has Generic 2x 512 sticks of pc4200 533MHz DDR2 240Pin.........would my Corsair 2x 1028 sticks of pc5300 533/667MHz DDR2 240Pin be backwards compatable? (her MB supports 2 gigs)

[Nicao]

As long as her old stuff is DDR2 it should work just fine.  Most of the time ram will run fine at a clock speed lower than what it is rated for.  There is the odd occasion that it won't due to bad motherboard design, but the vast majority of cases work out just fine.

[FEVER]

 Thank You very very much Nicao buddy ......My girlfriend thanks you too 

[FEVER]

 So, another goof, I was under some brainfart conception that XP32 would recognize 4 gigs, just nothing above that. Instead I've been edumacated that it'll be lucky to see 3 (hardware depending?)
 Im just curious if this lovely little bonus will haunt me into Vista32 as well. I searched a little here looking for someones reply to me as to why Vista64 wasnt so much of a benefit either........

[Fujitsu]

Vista 32 bit won't be able to use 4 gigs either, it will be the same as XP and only use 3.4 gigs

Vista 64 bit will be able to see all 4 gigs of ram, however your not going to see any huge performance increase though as most tests with 32 bit and 64 bit vista are pretty similar

[FEVER]

 3.4 sounds great to me......i heard anywhere between 2-3 depending on who u asked 
 BIOS reads 4096MB Installed, 4095 Usable. XP shows 2.75GB & 3DMark06 says System Mem. 2816MB & under "details":
 Total Physical Memory   2.73 GB     
Free Physical Memory   2.31 GB     
 

 I stumbled across this  http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms791558.aspx    and alot of similar stuff RE: a "3GB switch".......this is the first mention I did happen to come across stating those with video adapter drivers cannot do this. I dont know what im doing  besides chasing my tail 

 BTW.....just scored 386 3DMark points over 1 year ago, same resolution. Could this be due to newer forceware or nvidia quality/performance settings or RAM upgrade or ?
 

[Fujitsu]

might be a combo of the two, your ram isn't going to affect something like 3dmark too much, but might add a hundred points or so, but new drivers might add a bit too

[Zeus]

Extra 3DMark is quite likely a result of new drivers.  A year or so ago, a new driver could easily add 500+ points to a benchmark score.  As drivers get more optimized, performance naturally improves.

[FEVER]

 So, I  got my new motherboard, 2 round cables & waiting for 64bit version vista to arrive Ordered a new Q6600, G0, SLACR, batch# L737b277 off ebay, which should be here soon.
 Now.....my 4 gigs of 667 CL5 corsair value ram is needing replacement I guess. Im still up in the air about selling off my old hardware, or giving to my girlfriend.
 Either way, im undecided on RAM.... 4gb crucial ballistix tracer 800 CL4, or 4gb ocz reaper 3-4-4-12's ??
 Dunno, trying to stick with MSI "Supported Memory" list, which includes buffalo, corsair, kingston, crucial, ocz & Mushkin.
 I may need some open opinions on ram. Is SLI or CrossFire certified ram a sales pitch, or is it just the frequency & latencies that "certify" as compatable?
 My MSI P35 says it supports 667/800 DDR2......should I just upgrade my RAM to PC2-6400 or can I go higher, say pc2-8000 or pc2-8500?
  ...... waiting on my paypal check to arrive to order the 3870x2.

[Zeus]

I'd go with DDR2-800 and suggest a 2x2GB kit of OCZ or Crucial.  Both should work fine although you'll likely have better system compatibility with the Crucial.  Also, you'll find better system stability going with 2GB sticks that 4x 1GB sticks.

In reality, DDR performance is not simply the result of faster RAM speeds.  CPU Multiplier, Speed, and FSB have a lot to do with it.  DDR2-800 is fast and you won't see any visible difference when it comes to gaming and such.

[FEVER]

 Recieved my vista 64bit & proc. Just finished ordering some Ballistix (non tracer)
 Not to go off topic, but this will end the thread. Since i'm coming over to the dark side (from nvidia) im not familiar at all with the card manufacturers for ATI ......except MSI- which is pricey, but im leaning towards them because theyre the only brand I know.......(and same manufacturer as my P35).  Any particular brand I should lean towards or avoid?

[Zeus]

Most of these cards follow reference design and have equally good warranty.  Go for the brand that has the best price/warranty ratio.  Sapphire is as good as AMD/ATI or any of them.