I'm glad you consider it a discussion instead of an argument ;>)
People pay more for matched sets because some of them, like you, believe
it's the best or only way to guarantee two sticks of ram will work together
in dual mode.
That's NOT true.
It IS true that the latest Intel Springdale and Canterwood chipsets are
picky about ram, and some of the first boards built with them had trouble
booting with specific brands and modules -- including the Corsair you are
using. But that has been largely fixed with bios updates by motherboard
manufacturers and changes in the SPD setup by memory makers.
My experience has been the opposite of yours. I bought two sticks of
inexpensive ram rated 2.5,3,3,7. They weren't "matched," but they run dual
channel at 2,3,2,6 in my Abit IC-7.
In fact, posts here and on a variety of other forums across the web show
very few people ante up the extra money for matched pairs, and there are
many using sticks from different makers with different ratings in dual
channel. (For the record, ALL memory on Springdale and Canterwoods is DDR,
whether used in single or dual channel mode. Check your terminology.)
Whatever you buy, timings are not set in stone. Because there is no JEDEC
standard or certification process for anything beyond PC3200, most
PC3500,3700 and 4000 is simply overclocked by the manufacturer using relaxed
timings.
If you read the fine print on most PC4000, the SPD timings are usually
3,4,4,8. Some of it will run with tighter timings at lower fsb, some of it
won't.
The good thing about most Springdale and Canterwood boards is that they
offer a range of manual settings for fsb, ram timings and voltage. If you're
willing to experiment, you can often get a lot more performance with no loss
of stability.
For example, you might be able to get a higher fsb than 200, or better
performance at your existing fsb, by raising the DDR voltage and lowering
the timings one at a time, using MemTest86 in between to check stability.
Try 2,3,3,8 -- then 2,3,3,7 -- then 2,3,2,6 -- which is where I wound up.
Bios settings are critical to overal system speed and bad configurations can
kill overclocking chances or limit performance at stock settings. There's a
very good guide at
www.rojakpot.com that helps make better sense of them
than the average owner's manual.
It all depends on your components and willingness to spend some time
tweaking your system. It has very little to do with how much money you're
willing to spend on ram with fancy heat spreaders and expensive labels.
Some of the best overclocks are done with brands like Crucial and Buffalo
Tech, Kingston Value Ram, etc.
My rig:
P4C 2.4g @ 3.3g (275x12)
2x256 Buffalo Tech PC3700 running 5:4, 220mhz, 2,3,2,6 @ 2.8v.
Abit IC-7
Sapphire Radeon 9500 modded and overclocked to 9700 Pro
Sandra scores 10K+ cpu, 5800+ memory
3DMark 2003, 5200+
