So how important is ram when overclocking?

[Trunks]

Just wondering, do I need to buy really fancy expensive ram to overclock or will the normal stuff do? Now don't get me wrong I know you guys thrive for the corsair stuff but I'm curious, do you need it, or could I overclock a 2500+ to a 3200+ without it?

[undergroundtech]

Your memory is very key, in the performance of your system. If your going to be using a locked CPU, you most definitely want the good stuff. Due to the fact that your OC will come from increasing your FSB alone, most of your OC will depend on two things.
(1) Heat
(2) your memory

Now if your using an unlocked CPU, you can take some strain off your memory by increasing the multiplier.
Even so, if your planning on OC'ing much at all, it's not something you want to cut corners on.

[Alfonse]

If you got the MOBILE(!), then yes, you can just crank up the multiplier. A straight multiplier OC isn't going to up your performance as much, though.
Genric RAM is not likely to go past its specified mhz rating, nor is it likely to run very low latencies.
You could buy some ultra high mhz RAM and throw latencies out the window. You gotta make sure you're getting a board with a PCI lock if you're going to be cranking up your FSB. But that's pretty common nowadays.

[silenze]

Yeah you want ram that matches your frontside bus speed or higher since you're planning on overclocking, how high depends on how much you want to spend. we buy the expensive stuff because like they already mentioned it's thoroughly tested to run at it's rated speed & timings. Dual Channel pairs are hand-picked matched sticks of ram, more likely to overclock well.. and the high end stuff has lower timings which effect the overall performance, as they mentioned. :D

I wouldn't trust that generic ram would overclock well, but the basic corsair/crucial/kingston stuff will probably overclock some without problems..

Bus Speed / Effective Speed:
pc2100 133/266
pc2700 166/333
pc3200 200/400
pc3500 216/433
pc3700 233/466
pc4000 250/500
pc4200 266/533
pc4400 275/550

[Trunks]

The Ram I was looking at is labeled 512 MB 184 Pin DDR-400 CAS 2.5 and is 150 canadian, however I don't know the brand. Does the numbers mean anything to you?

[Trunks]

Just found out the brands are samsung and something like infinity.

[Alfonse]

If you're planning on having 512mb of RAM, and you want a lil bit more performance, get two sticks of 256. Though I've heard that Dual Channel is almost pointless for an AMD, I can't confirm it.
Infineon? Pretty stock stuff, same with Samsung. PC3200 is the minimum you should go for here, and you won't be able to squeeze much, if anything more, out of those brands. You definitely get what you pay for with RAM. (unlike the mobile)

[silenze]

Dual Channel isn't completely pointless on an XP -- the advantage is shown more with Bartons (512kb cache vs 256kb on thoroughbreds).

But the performance gains are small vs single channel, really... not all applications benefit from it.

[Alfonse]

In the case of 2x256 vs 1x512, two single-bank sticks are still going to go faster than one double-bank, dual-channel or not. Is that not the case?

ps: I read somewhere that they're not calling them 'banks' anymore, they're calling them 'ranks.'

[silenze]

Not necessarily...

"RAM Banks and performance

The advantage to having multiple banks on one DIMM is that each bank can have a row (or "page") active and waiting to spit out data. You'll remember from the previous edition that only one row at a time in an individual bank can be active, and that whenever you need data from a row other than the active one, 1) you've got to precharge the new row, 2) close out the active row, and then 3) open the new row for reading. All of this stuff that's involved in switching rows eats up valuable time, so it's best to keep a particular row active as long as possible. Plus, when a row is active, you can strobe column addresses to it without having to repeat the row address, which allows you to burst data from those columns onto the bus, one column after another. So the more rows of memory that a system can have open at once, the quicker the memory can get data to the CPU whenever it asks for it. And since only one row per bank can be active at a time, having more open rows means having more banks. "

"On an added note, this discussion illustrates why two, 512MB DIMMs of SDRAM will outperform a single, 1GB DIMM. Since each DIMM can have up to four banks, regardless of its size, spreading your memory out among multiple DIMMs offers better performance because of the increased number of banks."

( http://arstechnica.com/paedia/r/ram_guide/ram_guide.part3-1.html - bottom..)

Really depends on your configuration..

[DaMiEn]

but....regardless of how well dual channel works on amd systems...yes, yes ram is important as i have recently found out. when i got my new(ish) system i got it with 1gb of generic hynix ddr400 ram (thanks dad) and thats the main thing holding me back from high overclocks. i can get my 2600+ up to and past 2300mhz but it aint stable...damn i wish i had that corsair xms stuff about now

[Trunks]

My computer buddy the guy I'm buying my new system from uses the samsung stuff in his overclocked systems and he says it can easily put a 2500 Barton to a 3200, thats all I want

[silenze]

That's a simple task...

Barton 2500+ runs on a 166/333Mhz frontside bus... so you buy a motherboard with a chipset supporting 400Mhz frontside bus (most do) -- then some pc3200 (400Mhz effective) ram, turn the barton to 200Mhz frontside bus... (since the multiplier is 11, 11 x 200 = 2200 of course) effective 400Mhz.. you're overclocked to 3200+ spec, and synched 1:1 FSB:DDR. So really... any generic 400Mhz ram will work, but I of course recommend something with a good reputation.

[Trunks]

And I respect that, I do, howver right now most of my money is going towars tuition I'm bugeting:) When I get a good job I will upgrade to the mighty corsair but until then, baby steps:)