Education Please - DDR2 Memory

[Peter van der Goes]

I'm planning an AM2 system for later this month (after the CPU price cuts).
Asus M2NE motherboard and a dual core CPU in the X2 4200 range.
Looking at memory offerings at Newegg, I realized that I don't know a thing
about DDR2 memory, other than that I need 2 Gigs of it.
The motherboard says it takes DDR2 533, DDR2 667 or DDR2 800 memory, and I
realize that the speeds are PC2 4200, PC2 5400 and PC2 6400 respectively. Do
I need DDR2 800 memory to get the full performance out of the motherboard?

Reading customer reviews of some of the memory, I see claims that some DDR2
only works with Intel CPU's/Chipsets? I looked for recommended DDR2 on the
Asus web site and could't find a list, although that doesn't mean there
isn't one.

Any suggestions for further reading, speed/brand of memory, etc. gratefully
accepted.

 

[BC]

I'm planning an AM2 system for later this month (after the CPU price cuts).
Asus M2NE motherboard and a dual core CPU in the X2 4200 range.
Looking at memory offerings at Newegg, I realized that I don't know a thing
about DDR2 memory, other than that I need 2 Gigs of it.
The motherboard says it takes DDR2 533, DDR2 667 or DDR2 800 memory, and I
realize that the speeds are PC2 4200, PC2 5400 and PC2 6400 respectively. Do
I need DDR2 800 memory to get the full performance out of the motherboard?

800 is fastest, of course, but, depends on your application: games,
yes. Email/web? Won't make too much difference.

Reading customer reviews of some of the memory, I see claims that some DDR2
only works with Intel CPU's/Chipsets?

True until recently; AMD switching over to DDR2.

I looked for recommended DDR2 on the
Asus web site and could't find a list, although that doesn't mean there
isn't one.

"QVL download" is on the left, under "overview" and "specification".
I would cut and paste it, but, it's in PDF format....

For DDR2800, Kingston, KVR800D2N5/1G

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820134114

The other 800s on the QVL aren't sold at newegg, from what I can see.

Kingston also on 667 list....

For a good DDR 2 review:

http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2790

Any suggestions for further reading, speed/brand of memory, etc. gratefully
accepted.

I have been very happy with Kingston ram....would go for the above
module from Newegg, or, for a few frames per second less, this RAM is on
the QVL, but much cheaper:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820134046

HTH

BC

 

[Peter van der Goes]

HTH

BC

Yes! Thanks very much. Very informative.

 

[NoNoBadDog!]

I'm planning an AM2 system for later this month (after the CPU price
cuts).
Asus M2NE motherboard and a dual core CPU in the X2 4200 range.
Looking at memory offerings at Newegg, I realized that I don't know a
thing about DDR2 memory, other than that I need 2 Gigs of it.
The motherboard says it takes DDR2 533, DDR2 667 or DDR2 800 memory, and I
realize that the speeds are PC2 4200, PC2 5400 and PC2 6400 respectively.
Do I need DDR2 800 memory to get the full performance out of the
motherboard?

Reading customer reviews of some of the memory, I see claims that some
DDR2 only works with Intel CPU's/Chipsets? I looked for recommended DDR2
on the Asus web site and could't find a list, although that doesn't mean
there isn't one.

Any suggestions for further reading, speed/brand of memory, etc.
gratefully accepted.

Depends. If you plan on gaming or using the rig as a multimedia server,
then go for the fastest RAM.

Otherwise, just go with what suits your budget.

Since AMD processors have the memory controller on-die, and the bandwidth
already exceeds that of DDR2, you will not see a benefit on an AMD system
like you would on Intel. Intel still uses the archaic Northbridge/FSB for
CPU-RAM I/O.

I would make one other recommendation; go with Corsair RAM, if you can. It
is the finest RAM available, bar none.

 

[BC]

I'm planning an AM2 system for later this month (after the CPU price cuts).
Asus M2NE motherboard and a dual core CPU in the X2 4200 range.
Looking at memory offerings at Newegg, I realized that I don't know a thing
about DDR2 memory, other than that I need 2 Gigs of it.

Oops, I meant to add the link to the Asus QVL:

http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=101&l3=308&model=1181&modelmenu=1

The "QVL" download is on the left, under "Overview" and "Specification"

Oddly, Corsair RAM is not on either list....and I know Corsair works
with Asus closely, such as they did with A8N32-SLI Deluxe and Corsair
XMS-3500LL Pro.

HTH

BC

 

[John Saunders]

Depends. If you plan on gaming or using the rig as a multimedia server,

then go for the fastest RAM.

Speed will always be 800MHz. Latency is were you start adding dollars
to get faster performance. It seems most modules are 5-5-5-12, but I
see Mushkin modules at 4-4-4-10. I am also new to DDR2 so I don't
know what is available on the market in terms of latencies.

Since AMD processors have the memory controller on-die, and the bandwidth
already exceeds that of DDR2, you will not see a benefit on an AMD system
like you would on Intel. Intel still uses the archaic Northbridge/FSB for
CPU-RAM I/O.

I was wondering about that. Currently I have DDR-400 RAM at 2-2-2-5
timings, if I go to DDR2-800 at 4-4-4-10 timings is the RAM speed
going to be exactly the same for me?

 

[NoNoBadDog!]

Speed will always be 800MHz. Latency is were you start adding dollars
to get faster performance. It seems most modules are 5-5-5-12, but I
see Mushkin modules at 4-4-4-10. I am also new to DDR2 so I don't
know what is available on the market in terms of latencies.

This is incorrect. The core frequency can be 400, 600, 800, 1000. The
CAS/RAS timings are another issue.

I was wondering about that. Currently I have DDR-400 RAM at 2-2-2-5
timings, if I go to DDR2-800 at 4-4-4-10 timings is the RAM speed
going to be exactly the same for me?

No, in some applications that are RAM intensive, the tighter timings
(2-2-2-5) will be a better choice (on AMD). Testing has shown a modest
increase of only about 3 to 7 % when upgrading to DDR2 (assuming your board
supports it). If you game, it may be worth it.

FWIW, AMD went to AM2 and DDR2 support in preparation for when DDR is no
longer widely available, not because of any significant speed increase
gained by the switch.

Bobby

 

[Joe]

Ok let me simplify this question because I have about the same question the
original poster had. If I build a system with a X2 3800 will it work with
any DDR2 memory I select from 533 all the way the way to the fastest? If it
will what would the difference be from the slowest to fastest roughly? Are
we talking we would see maybe a 5% difference or 50% difference? I just do
not want to pay an additional $50 for ram faster ram that will only get me a
few percent in performance.

Joe