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View Full Version : Memory question - MB vs MHz - Which is better?

JoeLouie
04-09-2005, 10:31 AM
Here's my dilemma. I just ordered some more memory. Here's what I will have once the new stuff arrives. They're all generic no-name brands, nothing fancy, but they get the job done.

- 512MB PC3200
- 512MB PC3200
- 256MB PC2700

Right now I have one of the 512's and the 256 in here. Would I be better off putting them all in there and having 1280MB of ram running at the same speed as the PC2700, or just having the 1024MB running at the speed of the PC3200? I was kinda leaning towards the 1GB @ PC3200, I figured I won't notice a huge difference with the extra 256MB and the little bit of extra speed will allow me to boost my overclock up a tiny bit. Does that sound about right?
analogue40
04-09-2005, 11:19 AM
I say go for 2x512MB 3200 rather than force your nice new 400mhz ram to run at 333Mhz - 1GB is easily enough. Plus if you're PC2700 is holding back your OC, get it the hell out of there lol.
tarzan99
04-10-2005, 02:33 AM
I have to agree, it would be a shame to hold the system speed back because of one module. I guess that 1GB of memory is as much as most applications would currently address anyway!
y2k103
04-10-2005, 05:44 AM
It's the same as setting up an Raid hard drive system. It's only going to be as fast (& large) as the slowest drive! I say drop the pc2700.
freonchill
04-10-2005, 04:57 PM
you could always increase the latency and run them all @ pc3200
assuming that the 256MB PC2700 can pull that
ie: 2-3-2 or 2-4-2 rather than 2-2-2 (or whatever the pc3200 wants to default to)

though you could corrupt some files that are opened into memory and then saved back corrupted

good way to test is try to do a windows NT/2k/XP install (if memtest86 completes w/out a problem) and see if there are any read errors from the cd; b/c normally if there is a problem w/ the memory (ie: overclocked or bad) it will give you an error there when it copies the files from the cd to memory before putting them on the HD
JoeLouie
04-14-2005, 08:39 PM
Got my memory today :)
I've got 2x512MB PC3200 in here now. Quite a noticable difference from the 512 and 256 @ 333MHz I had in here before. :cool2: