RDRAM PC1066 or 800?

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lowis5

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Feb 14, 2005
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Hi guys, hopefully someone can help me out. I have Dell Dimension 8250 with a 2.4GHz P4 533MHz FSB. I want to upgrade my 256MB of RAM and unfortunately I am stuck with RDRAM. So at the time I bought it I didn't notice how expensive this type of RAM was..but anyway. It seems to me that I can pair up my existing memory with either PC1066 or PC800 RDRAM, but PC1066 is recommended by Dell. Problem is, it costs about $160 for 256MB, I need to buy in pairs...so that's $320. I can find PC800 for $95 for 256MB. Is PC1066 required for my memory to work, or is it only a recommendation to get the most out of the memory? If so, would it be big difference?
Thanks for any help

Lowis
 
Are you looking at Canadian prices. You can get 256 MB of Samsung PC1066 RDRAM for around $100 us dollars at zipzoomfly, memorysuppliers, or ebay for a lot less.
 
US dollars but....at the DELL website. I found other places though, they have some for $70 at Digi4me.com, the only problem is that they are out of stock. I'll check out the other places u said. Yeah, it's 184 pins. How safe is buying memory from ebay, any experiences?
Keep the help coming, I really appreciate it.
One more question, I think I have pc1066 installed now,so if I buy pc800, will there be a notable difference compared to buying pc1066?
Thanks again
 
I would not buy from Digi4me. They sold me Samsung memory, but sent some junk. I RMA'ed the memory. I've never tried to buy memory from ebay, but it should be fine. I think you will find the better price there. Just make sure it is Samsung or Kingston.

You will noticed a 25% difference. Check what brand of memory you currently have. If you install PC800, all your memory will run at PC800. Run CPUZ or Sandra to see your memory speed. Check if Dell has any utility to determine your system configuration. You can also run your Intel processor check program.
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by peterjedi on 02/14/05 10:30 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 
There's a latency issue with running PC800 with a 533 bus CPU. Because of that, Intel recommends lower latency PC800-40 (40ns rather than the standard 45ns). But since you won't likely find PC800-40, you're better off with PC1066.

BTW, PC1066 is 35ns. There were some companies (OCZ) re-marking PC800-40 as PC1066, with resulting heat issues.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>
 
Thanks for all the help guys, I found some SAMSUNG 256MB RDRAM-1066 at bananapc for $83, and it's in stock! So I think I'll go for it. Just one more question, it is not ECC, will it make a difference?
Thanks again
 
You should be fine with non ECC.

Also.. the part numbers for the timings are as follows:
40ns Samsung original module part number ends in CM8.
45ns Samsung original module part number ends in CK8.

As a distributor myself, I can tell you that the demand for CM8 is much much greater than CK8.
 
PC1066 should be 35ns

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>
 
peterjedi, when you say there's a 25% difference, won't that be offset with respect to overall performance since there will be more RAM available?

I'm in a similar situation to lowis5. I just bought some Samsung/Simpletech RAM to add to my system. However, I accidentally purchased PC800 instead of PC1066. (I *swear* it said 1066 when I ordered it...) Anyway, if I can use the PC800 in my system, then I'd rather not go through the hassle of returning it, but if its overall not going to improve the speed of my system, then there isn't much point, is there?

Like lowis5, my system currently has 256 Mb RDRAM, and I'm adding 2 x 256 Mb of the Simpletech.
 
I assume you have two sticks of 128 memory and that you are adding two more sticks of 256. Most RDRAM motherboards require two sticks for dual channel. One motherboard that does not require two sticks is Asus P4T533.

Are your two sticks currently at PC1066 or PC800? By adding more memory you will notice a performance increase to your overall system. If you want faster performance and that you already have two sticks of PC1066 then I would return the PC800 memory for the PC1066.

Try downloading Sandra Sissoft. See what performance you get with the PC800. Now return the PC800 and get the PC1066. Run the same test. You should see a 25% increase in performance. Assuming you have setup your FSB to 1066.
 
Yeah, I have the same system as lowis5 in the first post, with 2 sticks of 128 at 1066. I finally broke down yesterday and added the 800 MHz RAM. I'm using it to play a game, and the load times have dropped dramatically. I'm more than satisfied with the performance, so I'm not going to worry about tracking down faster RAM. This RDRAM is a pain.

Thanks for your input, though. Before this thread I was unaware that I could put the 800 MHz in my system, so this was a great help!
 
The RDRAM you can run in single slots on P4's is still dual-channel. It's a special kind of RDRAM with 2 16-bit pathways, rather than 1. It fits a different slot style.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>
 
holly crap d00d, for those kinda prices you could buy yourself a new motherboard that supports DDR RAM + 1GB of dual channel DDR.

I think thats a far better option.
 
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