How to understand memory needs

[Capman]

Hi,

I am thinking of trying to build a PC for the first time and know
nothing about memory.

I had a couple motherboards in mind.

EPoX EP-8RDA3i
ABIT NF7-S

The processor choice was either a

AMD Athlon XP Mobile 2500+
AMD Athlon XP Mobile 2600+

I was looking at Newegg and they won't accept returns on the
ABIT NF7-S so that worried me a bit, but alot of folks seem to swear
by it so I am not sure what way to go. Most people seem very happy
with either of the AMD Athlon XP Mobile processors. The price
difference was only a few dollars, so I was leaning towards the 2600+
unless someone has any suggestions otherwise.

When it comes to buying memory, I am at a total loss at what to buy. I
want to eventually learn to overclock and get the most from the AMD
Athlon XP Mobile processors. If it's possible, I would also like to
buy memory that can be transferred to a AMD 64 based motherboard. Is
there any good sites that explain what the PC2700, DDR400 and the CAS
stuff means? I would like to offer myself the best upgrade path as
well as allow for overclocking and using with a different motherboard
in the future.

I was trying to keep the motherboard and processor price down while
still building a fairly speedy system. This is the first time I will
be building a system, so I wanted to work on less expensive parts just
in case I screw anything up. I wouldn't mind spending a little extra
to get good memory knowing I can transfer it to a better system next
time.

If you have any recommendations on good heatsink/fans I would also
appreciate that.

Thanks for any help you may offer.

 

[Wes Newell]

When it comes to buying memory, I am at a total loss at what to buy. I
want to eventually learn to overclock and get the most from the AMD
Athlon XP Mobile processors. If it's possible, I would also like to
buy memory that can be transferred to a AMD 64 based motherboard. Is
there any good sites that explain what the PC2700, DDR400 and the CAS
stuff means? I would like to offer myself the best upgrade path as
well as allow for overclocking and using with a different motherboard
in the future.

PC2700 refers to the data throughput of the ram. It's rated for a 166MHz
bus. PC3200 a 200MHz. PC3700 - 233MHz Bus, etc. DDR means Double Data
Rate. IOW's DDR400 is PC3200 ram (2x200MHz bus). A lot of places put MHz
behind the DDR rate as 400MHz, so be careful. CAS stands for Column
Address Strobe and isn't critical although others will probably disagree
with this. In reality, cas 2 won't perform much better than cas3 under
normal operation. Maybe 1% diff. Of course memory benchmarks will show
this as greater, but it really means nothing unless you plan on running
memory benchmarks 24/7.

I was trying to keep the motherboard and processor price down while
still building a fairly speedy system. This is the first time I will be
building a system, so I wanted to work on less expensive parts just in
case I screw anything up. I wouldn't mind spending a little extra to get
good memory knowing I can transfer it to a better system next time.

At a very minimum, you want something that will do 200MHz, so that's
PC3200. Some will do 200 and more, some won't even though maybe rated for
it. My approach to this is to always buy cheaper ram with higher ratings.
if you can find out what the actual ram chipused is and check the
propagation delay of the part that will give you the best indicator of how
it will perform IMO. IOW's if you find a stick for $80 that uses the same
ram as a stick that cost $200, then you can be fairly confident that the
cheap stick will perform as good or close to as good as the high end ram.
I'm using PC3700 ram in my A64 system that I moved up from my old XP
system. I've had it for a while and I thnk I paid about $90 for a single
512meg stick. If you can find PC4000 or faster for about the same price,
you might want to get that. Fast rated ram will always run slower, but
slower rated ram won't always run faster.

If you have any recommendations on good heatsink/fans I would also
appreciate that.

Good, quiet, and cheap, TR2-M1. The best, probably Thermalright SLK
models. But you'll pay for the best, and IMO, it's not worth it for most
people.

 

[Capman]

At a very minimum, you want something that will do 200MHz, so that's
PC3200. Some will do 200 and more, some won't even though maybe rated for
it. My approach to this is to always buy cheaper ram with higher ratings.
if you can find out what the actual ram chipused is and check the
propagation delay of the part that will give you the best indicator of how
it will perform IMO. IOW's if you find a stick for $80 that uses the same
ram as a stick that cost $200, then you can be fairly confident that the
cheap stick will perform as good or close to as good as the high end ram.
I'm using PC3700 ram in my A64 system that I moved up from my old XP
system. I've had it for a while and I thnk I paid about $90 for a single
512meg stick. If you can find PC4000 or faster for about the same price,
you might want to get that. Fast rated ram will always run slower, but
slower rated ram won't always run faster.

Can you recommend a few good choices of memory for me to buy?
I went to Newegg and there is so many options, it's a bit
overwhelming.

 

[Yassir Dotsmah Beh-Beh]

When it comes to buying memory, I am at a total loss at what to buy.

Is
there any good sites that explain what the PC2700, DDR400 and the CAS
stuff means? I would like to offer myself the best upgrade path as
well as allow for overclocking and using with a different motherboard
in the future.

<snip>

Try here:
http://www6.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20040119/index.html

For more than you even want to know, try here:
http://arstechnica.com/paedia/b/bandwidth-latency/bandwidth-latency-1.html

Best Regards,

Yassir

 

[Wes Newell]

Can you recommend a few good choices of memory for me to buy?
I went to Newegg and there is so many options, it's a bit
overwhelming.

Here's some. but read the reviews and make up your own mind. I have a
stick of the first one, but I'm only running it at 166MHz. Didn't try
anything faster.

PC3200

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-207-014&depa=1

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-146-219&depa=1

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-479&depa=1

PC3500

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-156-008&depa=1

PC3700

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-156-010&depa=1

PC4000

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-156-012&depa=1

You might also want to check pricewatch.com for memory, They have several
512meg PC4000''s for $74 shipped.

 

[Capman]

Here's some. but read the reviews and make up your own mind. I have a
stick of the first one, but I'm only running it at 166MHz. Didn't try
anything faster.

PC3200

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-207-014&depa=1

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-146-219&depa=1

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-479&depa=1

PC3500

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-156-008&depa=1

PC3700

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-156-010&depa=1

PC4000

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-156-012&depa=1

You might also want to check pricewatch.com for memory, They have several
512meg PC4000''s for $74 shipped.

Thanks alot for all the examples and the URL's Yassir passed along.
It's going to take a bit before this all sinks in, but at least I have
some material to read over.

I am still wondering why Newegg.com has a no refund policy on the
ABIT NF7-S.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-127-166&depa=0

The board has alot of bells and whistles which I would like, but it
makes me wonder if it's trouble prone and that's why Newegg insists
any problems be dealt with by Abit themselves.

 

[JAD]

IMO,
if there is a policy like that on anything I don't buy it....your
right!, there must be a high rate of return, I cannot think of any
other reason for doing so. So high that newegg uses that tactic, then
something is up.

 

[Jon Danniken]

I am still wondering why Newegg.com has a no refund policy on the
ABIT NF7-S.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-127-166&depa=0

The board has alot of bells and whistles which I would like, but it
makes me wonder if it's trouble prone and that's why Newegg insists
any problems be dealt with by Abit themselves.

The easiest and least fallacy-inducing method would be to contact Newegg directly via e-mail and ask them
what the reason is.

Jon