PC 2100 vs: PC 3200

Opinions and facts please!

When running virtual PC (I know this is off topic for the general news
group, but many excellent people hang out there), which of the following 2
configurations would perform better on an Asus A7N8X Deluxe ver 2.0
motherboard? This would be in conjunction with an Athlon XP 3200+ processor
(400 meg capable FSB speed)

Two 512 meg modules of PC 2100 DDR ram running at (of course) 266 meg FSB
speed

OR

Two 256 meg modules of PC 3200 DDR ram running at 400 meg FSB speed

The PC 2100 RAM would be set up to run "out of sync" with the front side
bus. The PC 3200 would run "in sync" with the front side bus!

Does anyone have empirical accumulated data? How about some gut feelings?

This is not for a gaming machine, but for a machine using Virtual PC 2400!

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)

Richard Urban wrote:
> Opinions and facts please!
>
> When running virtual PC (I know this is off topic for the general news
> group, but many excellent people hang out there), which of the
> following 2 configurations would perform better on an Asus A7N8X
> Deluxe ver 2.0 motherboard? This would be in conjunction with an
> Athlon XP 3200+ processor (400 meg capable FSB speed)
>
> Two 512 meg modules of PC 2100 DDR ram running at (of course) 266 meg
> FSB speed
>
> OR
>
> Two 256 meg modules of PC 3200 DDR ram running at 400 meg FSB speed
>
> The PC 2100 RAM would be set up to run "out of sync" with the front
> side bus. The PC 3200 would run "in sync" with the front side bus!
>
> Does anyone have empirical accumulated data? How about some gut
> feelings?
>
> This is not for a gaming machine, but for a machine using Virtual PC
> 2400!

My gut feeling is that twice as much more memory would be more helpful than
a slightly faster bus speed, under the circumstances. When it comes to
memory requirements for virtual PC you need enough for the host machine to
run comfortably AND enough for the guest too.

--
--
Rob Moir, Microsoft MVP for servers & security
Website - http://www.robertmoir.co.uk
Virtual PC 2004 FAQ - http://www.robertmoir.co.uk/win/VirtualPC2004FAQ.html

Kazaa - Software update services for your Viruses and Spyware.

Thanks! I am thinking the same way.

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)

"Robert Moir" <bofh@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:uzWnSFj$DHA.1956@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> Richard Urban wrote:
> > Opinions and facts please!
> >
> > When running virtual PC (I know this is off topic for the general news
> > group, but many excellent people hang out there), which of the
> > following 2 configurations would perform better on an Asus A7N8X
> > Deluxe ver 2.0 motherboard? This would be in conjunction with an
> > Athlon XP 3200+ processor (400 meg capable FSB speed)
> >
> > Two 512 meg modules of PC 2100 DDR ram running at (of course) 266 meg
> > FSB speed
> >
> > OR
> >
> > Two 256 meg modules of PC 3200 DDR ram running at 400 meg FSB speed
> >
> > The PC 2100 RAM would be set up to run "out of sync" with the front
> > side bus. The PC 3200 would run "in sync" with the front side bus!
> >
> > Does anyone have empirical accumulated data? How about some gut
> > feelings?
> >
> > This is not for a gaming machine, but for a machine using Virtual PC
> > 2400!
>
> My gut feeling is that twice as much more memory would be more helpful
than
> a slightly faster bus speed, under the circumstances. When it comes to
> memory requirements for virtual PC you need enough for the host machine to
> run comfortably AND enough for the guest too.
>
> --
> --
> Rob Moir, Microsoft MVP for servers & security
> Website - http://www.robertmoir.co.uk
> Virtual PC 2004 FAQ -
http://www.robertmoir.co.uk/win/VirtualPC2004FAQ.html
>
> Kazaa - Software update services for your Viruses and Spyware.
>
>

"Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:%23Q6bpCj$DHA.2180@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> Opinions and facts please!
>
> When running virtual PC on an Asus A7N8X Deluxe ver 2.0
> motherboard with an Athlon XP 3200+ processor
> (400 meg capable FSB speed)
>
> Two 512 meg modules of PC 2100 DDR ram running at (of course) 266 meg
FSB
> speed
>
> OR
>
> Two 256 meg modules of PC 3200 DDR ram running at 400 meg FSB speed
>
> How about some gut feelings?

My gut feeling is that when the difference in price between 1 GB of PC
2100 and 1 GB of PC 3200 is all of about $20.00, it is silly to spend
$200.00+ on a 3200+ and try to skimp on memory speed. If you don't have
the bucks, go for a cheaper processor. The difference in performance
between 2800+ 333 and 3200+ 400 is really not as great as the difference
in price; the difference between 333 and 400 on XP platforms is trivial
in practical terms.

1 GB of RAM is going to feel faster and smoother than 512 MB, regardless
of the front bus speed.

What are you going to run within Virtual PC? Creating a virtual PC on
a PC seems a little odd to me.

Richard Urban wrote:
>
> Two 512 meg modules of PC 2100 DDR ram running at (of course) 266 meg FSB
> speed OR
> Two 256 meg modules of PC 3200 DDR ram running at 400 meg FSB speed

If your apps will use more than 512 of ram then go with the gig of ram.


--
http://www.bootdisk.com/

Forgot to mention (oops) that I already have all of the aforementioned parts
in my possession. No additional cost is involved. Just looking for the best
performance with Virtual PC, before I begin swapping around parts and
changing the bios settings! I am currently using 512 meg of PC 3200 DDR ram.

At times, the pagefile is being used to the tune of 170 meg!


--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)

"Bruce J. Weiers" <Bruce_J_Weiers@msn.com> wrote in message
news:OIfriRj$DHA.2520@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
>
> "Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:%23Q6bpCj$DHA.2180@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> > Opinions and facts please!
> >
> > When running virtual PC on an Asus A7N8X Deluxe ver 2.0
> > motherboard with an Athlon XP 3200+ processor
> > (400 meg capable FSB speed)
> >
> > Two 512 meg modules of PC 2100 DDR ram running at (of course) 266 meg
> FSB
> > speed
> >
> > OR
> >
> > Two 256 meg modules of PC 3200 DDR ram running at 400 meg FSB speed
> >
> > How about some gut feelings?
>
> My gut feeling is that when the difference in price between 1 GB of PC
> 2100 and 1 GB of PC 3200 is all of about $20.00, it is silly to spend
> $200.00+ on a 3200+ and try to skimp on memory speed. If you don't have
> the bucks, go for a cheaper processor. The difference in performance
> between 2800+ 333 and 3200+ 400 is really not as great as the difference
> in price; the difference between 333 and 400 on XP platforms is trivial
> in practical terms.
>
> 1 GB of RAM is going to feel faster and smoother than 512 MB, regardless
> of the front bus speed.
>
> What are you going to run within Virtual PC? Creating a virtual PC on
> a PC seems a little odd to me.
>
>

Richard Urban wrote:
> Opinions and facts please!
>
> When running virtual PC (I know this is off topic for the general news
> group, but many excellent people hang out there), which of the
> following 2 configurations would perform better on an Asus A7N8X
> Deluxe ver 2.0 motherboard? This would be in conjunction with an
> Athlon XP 3200+ processor (400 meg capable FSB speed)
>
> Two 512 meg modules of PC 2100 DDR ram running at (of course) 266 meg
> FSB speed
>
> OR
>
> Two 256 meg modules of PC 3200 DDR ram running at 400 meg FSB speed
>
> The PC 2100 RAM would be set up to run "out of sync" with the front
> side bus. The PC 3200 would run "in sync" with the front side bus!
>
> Does anyone have empirical accumulated data? How about some gut
> feelings?
>
> This is not for a gaming machine, but for a machine using Virtual PC
> 2400!

Don't waste your money on an XP3200+. Buy a Barton 2600+ and raise the FSB
to 200MHz. Stock Vcore will likely be fine.Run the RAM at 100% (in sync).
Set timings as 8-3-3-2.5 or 8-3-3-3.

Richard Urban wrote:
> Thanks! I am thinking the same way.
>
>

Well I'm happy if i am/was of help. Bruce raises a good question that I
should have talked about, but I'm sure you've considered anyway - what use
do you anticipate putting the Virtual PC to? If you plan to put something on
the virtual machine that has large memory requirements of its own then that
also points towards "more, rather than faster". If you don't intend to
install much more than one OS plus some legacy program you need to run under
an old OS then the requirements may be more modest.

Rob

It is well known that nForce based motherboards, like the Asus A7N8X Deluxe
2.0, do not run well at all when the memory is out of sync with the FSB. My
strong advice would be to use the PC 3200 memory.

"Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:%23Q6bpCj$DHA.2180@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> Opinions and facts please!
>
> When running virtual PC (I know this is off topic for the general news
> group, but many excellent people hang out there), which of the following 2
> configurations would perform better on an Asus A7N8X Deluxe ver 2.0
> motherboard? This would be in conjunction with an Athlon XP 3200+
processor
> (400 meg capable FSB speed)
>
> Two 512 meg modules of PC 2100 DDR ram running at (of course) 266 meg FSB
> speed
>
> OR
>
> Two 256 meg modules of PC 3200 DDR ram running at 400 meg FSB speed
>
> The PC 2100 RAM would be set up to run "out of sync" with the front side
> bus. The PC 3200 would run "in sync" with the front side bus!
>
> Does anyone have empirical accumulated data? How about some gut feelings?
>
> This is not for a gaming machine, but for a machine using Virtual PC 2400!
>
> --
> Regards:
>
> Richard Urban
>
> aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)
>
>

Mike Bernstein wrote:
> It is well known that nForce based motherboards, like the Asus A7N8X
> Deluxe
> 2.0, do not run well at all when the memory is out of sync with the
> FSB. My strong advice would be to use the PC 3200 memory.

I'm interested - are you saying there is a fault or problem that appears if
you do this? If so, do you have sources for that claim?

Or do you simply mean that the boards are not running to their full
potential?

--
--
Rob Moir, Microsoft MVP for servers & security
Website - http://www.robertmoir.co.uk
Virtual PC 2004 FAQ - http://www.robertmoir.co.uk/win/VirtualPC2004FAQ.html

Kazaa - Software update services for your Viruses and Spyware.