4-4-4-12 , 5-5-5-15, 800 or 1066mhz...???

[lasseht]

I really want to go and buy

4Gb ram (4 x1gb)
a 680i m/b EVGA must likely atm, but the asus looks good too
a 8800 GTX (just 1 with the option for going SLI later)
a gamer XF-i sound card
150 raptor (OS + games) + a 300Gb SATA for media and office applications.
tagan 800W psu for now and the future...
and a E6600 cpu (with the look to get a quad core next year)


my really big sticking point was the memory. 1066Mhz is around £100 more expensive than 800Hz (for 2x1Gb modules) and its almost impossible to get hold of.

I quite like to OC the E6600 to 3Ghz, I see little need to push it further.

in your expert opinion, a 3Ghz OC with 800Mhz memory is OK :?:

Was looking at crosair memory.

also could you kindly tell me if 4-4-4-12 timings are better than 5-5-5-15 cause it makes no sence to me :?:

performance wise (overall) in games what do I loss in performance with 800MHz memory compared with 1066 :?:

 

[Guest]

With DDRII 800 you are good to OC up to 3.6ghz while running the RAM 1:1 with the Front Side Bus.

The performance you will 'loose' should be minimal and most likely pretty negligible especially in games!

To give you an idea, increasing the FSB from 1066 to 1333 , (what you are planning to do with the 3.0ghz OC) will give you a 2.4% performance benefit on average. That 2.4% doesn't take into account the fact that your CPU is running faster than a C2D X6800 by the way, its only a bandwidth increase.

Now that is while running the FSB synchronised with the ram, just running the ram faster should yield even smaller advantages.

Bottom line is get PC6400, DDRII-800 at CL4 and you are good to go up to 3.6ghz.

 

[lasseht]

Thanks lab, this is my shopping basket:

2 X 2Gb (2X1Gb) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, EPP £375.27


Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, Socket 775, 2.4 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, Conroe Core, 4MB Cache, Retail £204.32


EVGA 122-CK-NF68 NF680i SLI, S775, PCI-E(x16), DDR2 1200/533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX + Game £210.33


Stock cooler ok or should I go for a zalman?

 

[Guest]

Damn you are paying a lot for this ram! Might be normal, I don't know aboout UK price just saying.

If you have access to ram like the Crucial Ballistix or other you cans ee if you find something in PC6400 less expensive, we'll tell you if it's any good.

I wouldn't recommand the zalman. For 3ghz Stock cooler should do a good job!

 

[MarkPatterson]

im looking to build an almost identicle system with a quad core - Ram is expensive what can people recommend and can I OC the QC cpu?

should I be ok with the stock cooling fans?

 

[lasseht]

For 3ghz Stock cooler should do a good job!

Right, system build as above, was up to 3:30am 8O

How should I go about doing the OC to 3Ghz ?

ill get the latests P21 bios first.

Sidenote: the Akasa case I got for it was real easy to work with

Full spec:
[code:1:8a717d11b9]2 x 2GB (2x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, EPP £159.69 £319.38

1 LN15049 Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, Socket 775, 2.4 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, Conroe Core, 4MB Cache, Retail £173.39 £173.39

1 LN16492 EVGA 122-CK-NF68 NF680i SLI, S775, PCI-E(x16), DDR2 1200/533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX + Game £179.00 £179.00

1 LN16517 768Mb Palit 8800GTX PCI-E (x16), Mem 1800 MHz, GPU 575 MHz, 128 Streams, 2 x Dual Link DVI HDTV+Game £349.88 £349.88

1 LN13733 320 Gb Western Digital WD3200YS RE, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms £58.79 £58.79

1 LN12802 150 Gb Western Digital WD1500ADFD Raptor Enterprise, SATA150, 10000 rpm, 16MB Cache, 4.6 ms, NCQ £124.55 £124.55

2 LN9036 120mm Akasa Amber Case Fan, 3 Pin, 2 Ball Bearing , Ultra Quiet and Long life £6.79 £13.58

1 LN8282 Akasa Eclipse-62 Midi Tower Case - Hi-End £69.94 £69.94

1 LN3807 Akasa AK-PAX-2 PaxMate II Acoustic Sound Proofing Kit for Case - Midi to Full Tower £7.79 £7.79

1 LN15179 800W Tagan Dual Engine TG800-U25 SLi Ready PCI-E SATA EPS12V £102.19 £102.19

1 LN16783 Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtream Gamer Fatal1ty Professional £69.89 £69.89

1 LN16470 LiteOn SHM-165S6S-11C 16x16 ±R SATA Dual Layer DVDRW Writer OEM Black £19.95 £19.95

1 LN7120 Mitsumi FA404M 1.44 Black FDD+Int USB2 7 in 1 Card Reader (SM/MMC/SD/CF/MD/MS) Fits in 3.5" FDD Bay £11.99 £11.99

1 LN16373 Epson Stylus R260/R265 5760x1440dpi CD/DVD Direct Printing £67.00 £67.00


Around £1850 inc VAT[/code:1:8a717d11b9][/quote]

 

[Guest]

The QC generate quite a lot of heat, I would suggest, if you budget is tighter, a Artic Cooling Freezer 7 pro, should do a better job with less noise. Your Ocing should be rather limited on the stock cooler.

For good cooling recommendation I suggest a post in the Cooler/heatsink section with the motherboard and case you plan on using, I will help but you will get more input

As for ram, DDR667 should be good for a 3.33ghz OC I think it would be enough. You can look at Ballistix 667Cl3 or the 800Cl4 kit or

Super talent 800

Best priced ram right now with really good memory chips...

 

[Guest]

You will need to change the ram setting and the FSB.

For ram setting you should follow the timing and voltage on the sticker. You should then set the FSB to 333(1333QDR). With a 1:1 divider your ram will only run at 667. You can use the 4:5 Divider and get the FSB at 333 but the ram at 800. Those settings are for linked mode. I cannot tell you which is better for you, you have to play around and you can also try the unlinked mode.

 

[Mondoman]

To the OP: stick with 2GB total RAM, as WinXP won't be able to address more than 3GB or so. Even if you're planning on switching to Vista (which will be able to access all 4GB), stay with the 2x1GB now, and add on 2GB DIMMs later next year to get 6GB total RAM.

 

[Crapola]

MaximumPC recently did a test between those two RAMs(Corsair). And the performance was almost equal. I would get the cheaper of the two.

 

[R0B0T]

To the OP: stick with 2GB total RAM, as WinXP won't be able to address more than 3GB or so. Even if you're planning on switching to Vista (which will be able to access all 4GB), stay with the 2x1GB now, and add on 2GB DIMMs later next year to get 6GB total RAM.

what needs to be clarified here is that only windows XP 32 bit edition cannot address anymore than about 3. something gigs of ram, but if your going 64bit then by all means get 4 gigs

 

[lasseht]

in XP with my system (see spec above) it reports 2.7Gb RAM out of the 4Gb on the motherboard.

Fine for now, when I install Vista 64bit in 2 months time, it will rock, well thats the plan anyway 8O

 

[Guest]

Have you added the /3Gb switch in your boot.ini?

 

[lasseht]

Have you added the /3Gb switch in your boot.ini?

no, did only think it worked on servers, ill give it a go.

 

[NightlySputnik]

Thanks lab, this is my shopping basket:

2 X 2Gb (2X1Gb) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, EPP £375.27


Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, Socket 775, 2.4 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, Conroe Core, 4MB Cache, Retail £204.32


EVGA 122-CK-NF68 NF680i SLI, S775, PCI-E(x16), DDR2 1200/533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX + Game £210.33


Stock cooler ok or should I go for a zalman?

Maybe you should consirer OCZ DDR2-800 memory. Their "high-end part do 4-4-4-15 instead of 4-4-4-12 as for Corsair, but the price is about 30$ cheaper for 2*1GB stick. Well, at least here in Canada. Here it is:

http://www.sohodiffusion.com/produit.asp?shop=&num=3829 (Corsair)

http://www.sohodiffusion.com/produit.asp?shop=&num=3978 (OCZ)

http://www.sohodiffusion.com/produit.asp?shop=&num=4308 (For the lucky/crazy/whelthy one's :twisted: )

The question is the performances impact of the extra 3 cycles. I doubt it's much, but maybe somebody elses here can say if I'm right/wrong.

 

[Guest]

Funny you link that website, worked for them and still do some 'consulting' for them =).

Price might be even cheaper if you mail them =), price change twice a day on ram.

 

[NightlySputnik]

Funny you link that website, worked for them and still do some 'consulting' for them =).

Price might be even cheaper if you mail them =), price change twice a day on ram.

Well, altough I live in Anjou (about 15-20 KM away), that's where I'll get my next system, with Aquagate mini R120 watercooling! Most probably in february.

Quickly: Asus P5B-E, E6600, 2*1GB DDR2-800, TT Armor cases with 25cm side fan, watercooling, SATA300 320GB HDD, X1950Pro (that might very well change from now to february), etc... I'll upgrade to Dx10 VPU when price will come a bit down and/or I'll have some more money aside. I compared with comparable system from CIPC and Microbytes, and they cost the same but without the watercooling, so it's basically free for me in this case...

A big thanks for the info!!! I'll make sure to call them when I'll order to try to get a better price.

 

[Guest]

Still have some contact there, drop me a PM before ordering, I can make sure you're treated well :lol: .

Usually their price are still at the lowest they can be so I don't know if I can make a difference there but I can make sure you get a good week for the CPU hehe.

I am not following it that closely but I can give you a heads up when memory hits a low price, they usually do massive order when it happens and if they know what you want they'll grab it for you.

 

[NightlySputnik]

A big thank you again. I'll keep that in mind for next february when I'll order.

You just made my day!