Ram question - CAS3vs.4; 2 gig sticks, ECCv. Non-ecc

[Jeff]

I'm looking to build a new machine and haven't decided on the memory yet
other than to probably go with either the Corsair dominator 2x1GB DDR2 800
in CAS3, which is a bit on the expensive side at $463 for the pair, or the
Corsair XMS2 in CAS4 with all other specs the same at $262. I'm already
using the latter in an existing machine. ...not sure that the $200 premium
for the dominator version with the lower latency is really worth the price.
This is mostly for a business type machine that might be running multiple
pieces of software at the same time, some of which might be processor
intensive. ...and software that might use a good bit of ram to store data
for analysis tasks. ...no games. ...but perhaps I should not be looking at
either but instead looking more at ECC and/or registered ram to minimize the
possiblity of data errors, that once made will be stored for eternity.
....I'm still a bit fuzzy on the differences and advantages of ECC and/or
registered ram versus ram without those specs. ...it also might be wise to
consider 1 or 2 2gig sticks so that I could get 8 total gigs in the future
if I end up with a 64 bit OS that can handle this. ...but 2 gig sticks
aren't all that common and I don't know where to look for them (more common
in server type ram?)

Given this minimal description about the use of my machine, what type of
real-life benefit would I get from the CAS3 vs. CAS4 ram (e.g., will this
only be noticed on high-tech games that I don't intend to use) and would
that $200 best be spent on a better processor or in other ways? Should I
consider ECC ram, and are good high-performance 2 gig sticks even available.

....probably looking at one of the AMD X64 5200+ processors if that matters,
and will likely run XP in 32 bit for about a year until switching to 64 bit
vista when I can get a discount price on it.

Jeff

 

[Paul]

I'm looking to build a new machine and haven't decided on the memory yet
other than to probably go with either the Corsair dominator 2x1GB DDR2
800 in CAS3, which is a bit on the expensive side at $463 for the pair,
or the Corsair XMS2 in CAS4 with all other specs the same at $262. I'm
already using the latter in an existing machine. ...not sure that the
$200 premium for the dominator version with the lower latency is really
worth the price. This is mostly for a business type machine that might
be running multiple pieces of software at the same time, some of which
might be processor intensive. ...and software that might use a good bit
of ram to store data for analysis tasks. ...no games. ...but perhaps I
should not be looking at either but instead looking more at ECC and/or
registered ram to minimize the possiblity of data errors, that once made
will be stored for eternity. ...I'm still a bit fuzzy on the differences
and advantages of ECC and/or registered ram versus ram without those
specs. ...it also might be wise to consider 1 or 2 2gig sticks so that I
could get 8 total gigs in the future if I end up with a 64 bit OS that
can handle this. ...but 2 gig sticks aren't all that common and I don't
know where to look for them (more common in server type ram?)

Given this minimal description about the use of my machine, what type of
real-life benefit would I get from the CAS3 vs. CAS4 ram (e.g., will
this only be noticed on high-tech games that I don't intend to use) and
would that $200 best be spent on a better processor or in other ways?
Should I consider ECC ram, and are good high-performance 2 gig sticks
even available.

...probably looking at one of the AMD X64 5200+ processors if that
matters, and will likely run XP in 32 bit for about a year until
switching to 64 bit vista when I can get a discount price on it.

Jeff

Your post covers a lot of territory, and a lot of what-ifs.
To answer it properly would take a lot of work.

If you are doing a business application, then you aren't fooling
around. Buy some ECC memory.

DDR2-667 CAS5 2x1GB kit, with ECC ($279)
http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?imodule=CT2KIT12872AA667

In the SuperPI chart here, between DDR2-533 memory and DDR2-800
memory, the application returns an answer 2.7% faster. So a slower
memory won't be the end of the world.

http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2916&p=5

And for some info on ECC on the Athlon64/X2 for AM2, look here.
Section 4.6.5 on PDF page 146, shows the ECC capabilities. In one
Asus motherboard BIOS I just looked at, not all the settings are
exposed.

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/32559.pdf

Paul

 

[themattiskool]

Your post covers a lot of territory, and a lot of what-ifs.
To answer it properly would take a lot of work.

If you are doing a business application, then you aren't fooling
around. Buy some ECC memory.

DDR2-667 CAS5 2x1GB kit, with ECC ($279)http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?imodule=CT2KIT12872AA667

In the SuperPI chart here, between DDR2-533 memory and DDR2-800
memory, the application returns an answer 2.7% faster. So a slower
memory won't be the end of the world.

http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2916&p=5

And for some info on ECC on the Athlon64/X2 for AM2, look here.
Section 4.6.5 on PDF page 146, shows the ECC capabilities. In one
Asus motherboard BIOS I just looked at, not all the settings are
exposed.

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_do...

Paul

only talking about ram getting over 2gig of ram is huge overkill
unless you are dooing a big big big visual program with thousands of
points that you need to look at, over 2gig is overkill

 

[Jeff]

only talking about ram getting over 2gig of ram is huge overkill
unless you are dooing a big big big visual program with thousands of
points that you need to look at, over 2gig is overkill

On occasion, I deal with data containing a few million cases with the
potential to go to 300 million or possibly more. Some of programs load this
into ram and it will run out at even 4 gigs requiring the use of a 64 bit
system and around 8 gigs. I don't do this frequently enough to worry too
much about it, but it would be nice to handle anything that comes along
without moving to a different machine. So far, for home use, my 2 gigs seems
to be more than enough even with multiple programs open including video
editing software and virtual PC which is relatively ram intensive (so yes,
you have a good point and I would generally agree).

Jeff