Would faster memory improve things?

[RobJM]

I currently have 2 x 1GB PC2700 memory and was wondering if I would see any improvement upgrading this to faster memory, specifically in gaming.

I have a ASRock 775Dual-VSTA Motherboard with Core Duo 6400 and a Ultimate X1950pro graphics card (256MB), running XP Pro.
I will not be overclocking.

According to here http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listparts.aspx?model=775Dual-VSTA

the max speed I can get is DDR2 PC2-8500 , but wondered if I would actually benefit from that or something inbetween and cheaper/value for money

Thanks

Rob.

 

[ausch30]

You currenty have DDR333 and your board supports DDR and DDR2 so yes you would see an improvement going with DDR2. Are you overclocking? Something like this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211066
or this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146118
would increase your performance significantly

 

[Evilonigiri]

You currenty have DDR333 and your board supports DDR and DDR2 so yes you would see an improvement going with DDR2. Are you overclocking? Something like this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211066
or this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146118
would increase your performance significantly

He just said he wouldn't overclock. Well those rams are fine, some fine tuning would probably be required.

 

[ausch30]

Sorry about that I didn't see that part

With no overclocking I would go with something like this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231044
or this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145527
Both have low latency and would run 1:1 with your CPU and would give you a good performance increase

 

[CNeufeld]

But really, how much of a performance increase would you actually see? Take a look at this article:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/09/22/corsair_xms2_dominator/page3.html#fear

There was zero frame rate difference going from generic memory to overclocked tighter timing memory when looking at games. The only tests that showed any real difference was for video encoding, and that was limited to 3%, unless you wanted to overclock (7%). Dropping in a faster processor would make a much better investment, although the memory upgrade is probably a cheaper upgrade currently.

Clint

 

[CNeufeld]

BTW, I am curious about how much performance you would gain, and why you say there would be a significant performance increase.

 

[ausch30]

That is comparing similar memory with slightly different speeds and timings while the OP is currently using DDR333 so going to DDR2533 will give a performance increase.

 

[GSTe]

Although I have no experience of changing ddr for ddr2, I think that AUsch30 is predicting a performance increase on the basis that DDR2 pc5300 will be twice as fast as PC2700, and will bring about a performance increase, especially as it will now be running in a 1:1 ratio with the CPU fsb.

 

[CNeufeld]

Ah, but I don't think it is twice as fast. Check out this review that was done when DDR2 memory came out:

http://www.overclockercafe.com/Articles/DDR_vs_DDR2/index.htm

They compared PC3200 (DDR) with PC5400 (DDR2) memory, and found basically no difference.

Here's an AnandTech article on the OP's original board:
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2810

Same results. So again, I'm just looking for something that shows the difference, rather than a gut feel.

Clint

 

[bornking]

I agree with those who say no real diff.
You will see a 10-30% increase in just ONE component of the communication in your PC. Overall it will be negligable: i.e. less than 10% overall, probably only about a few percent.

 

[GSTe]

Ah, but I don't think it is twice as fast. Check out this review that was done when DDR2 memory came out:

http://www.overclockercafe.com/Articles/DDR_vs_DDR2/index.htm

They compared PC3200 (DDR) with PC5400 (DDR2) memory, and found basically no difference.

Here's an AnandTech article on the OP's original board:
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2810

Same results. So again, I'm just looking for something that shows the difference, rather than a gut feel.

Clint

PC5400 runs twice as fast as PC2700.... 667MHz as opposed to 333MHz. Obviously this won't double the performance of your machine though :lol: The difference will just be a few percent, and nothing that would be distinguishable to the user, without using benchmarking software such as Sandra.

 

[CNeufeld]

PC5400 runs twice as fast as PC2700.... 667MHz as opposed to 333MHz. Obviously this won't double the performance of your machine though :lol: The difference will just be a few percent, and nothing that would be distinguishable to the user, without using benchmarking software such as Sandra.

Where do you get the idea that PC2-5400 memory runs twice as fast as PC-2700 memory? I guess it depends on your definition. But show me a memory benchmark (or any other benchmark) that shows more than a few percent improvement in performance. Did you even look at the second link I posted? It's got the OP's actual board, specifically testing DDR and DDR2 memory. The memory bandwidth went up by a whopping 3% (page 3 of the article). The Business Winstone went up by 2%. For games, Far Cry did a whole 0.1 to 0.2 FPS better (0.3%). UT2004 did a little better, at just under 4% (3.8 FPS). Now one thing I will give you is that they compared PC2-5400 with PC-3200 memory (instead of PC-2700). But at stock speeds, this review (http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1229&page=2) shows zero difference (basically) between PC-2700 and PC-3200. However, the PC-3200 has more overclocking room, which the OP said he wasn't going to do.

So as far as I'm concerned, the answer to the OP's original question of "Would faster memory improve things?" is "Not really". It would likely be a disappointment if he plunked in 1GB of DDR2 PC2-5300 memory and expected to see his games run any faster. Now if he was thinking about increasing the amount of RAM in his system, I'd definately recommend plopping in 2x1GB of PC2-5300 (or better) memory, as opposed to trying increase the amount of DDR memory in his system, but that's a different question. Personally, I can't imagine running with only 1GB of memory anymore.

Clint

 

[tcman41]

Just from general experience, upgrading memory really doesn't do that much. You will see a lot more difference if more memory is added that's for sure.

TC

 

[RobJM]

Thanks for all the help and links

Think I'll leave that upgrade then , put the money towards something else when the time comes.
Just thought I'd check first as my memory is the last remnants of my old system and thought it may be holding my system back.

Rob.

 

[GSTe]

Where do you get the idea that PC2-5400 memory runs twice as fast as PC-2700 memory?

Its not an idea mate, its fact. Memory speed is rated in terms of its frequency in MHz, and PC5400 is twice as fast as PC2700. As I clearly stated in the post you quoted, this does not translate into a noticeable performance increase. In response to your immaturely stated question, no I did not look at the second link you supplied because I didn't need to, I already knew that there would be no significant difference, as I stated in my post I think you mistook my original post as supporting AUsch30's opinion, when really I only intended to clarify how he had formulated it.