General RAM Question

2 X 1GB ram, cause then you can add more ram, but it all depends on how much memory your motherboard supports.
 
When will more than 2gb ram make a noticable difference? I'm asking only cause i haven't worked on a machine with more than 1gb before.

I am looking at building a new PC based on AMD with the 4800+ processor and just want to make sure that i do the right thing ito ram.
 
Well I went from 1gb to 2GB and what I did notice was that games would load slightly quicker. Going beyond 2GB I can't see major differences other than being able to have more apps running at the same time.
 
Make sure to go for a motherboard that supports dual channel memory, it effectivley doubles the memory speed (say from 400Mhz to 800Mhz), ddr 2, sata 2 and get a dual core 4800+. Nforce ultra mobo's are cool, look for one that supports Nvidia ntune.
 
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Sudt said:
Make sure to go for a motherboard that supports dual channel memory, it effectivley doubles the memory speed (say from 400Mhz to 800Mhz), ddr 2, sata 2 and get a dual core 4800+. Nforce ultra mobo's are cool, look for one that supports Nvidia ntune.
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AMD does not support DDR2 yet so if you buy now you will be looking for DDR. Or wait till socket AM2 is out because that will support DDR2.

Ntune works with any Nforce board it is Nvidias wn tuning software.

Think he already said he want to get the 4800+ ;)

If it were me I would get the 4400+ because if prices are still close to what they were a little while back the increase in price from the 4400+ to the 4800+ is just not worth it.

EDIT - Price for the 4400+ is R3620 while the 4800+ costs R4979. So is it worth paying 37% more for about 5-10% increase in performance or would you rather save the money and overclock slightly like I did?
 
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You make a good point. Maybe I shall rather go with the 4400+. I was thinking of the asus A8N32-SLi Deluxe. Is this also overkill? If so what model should i look at. Please excuse my ignorance as my knowledge is fairly limited on this subject.

I've also seen people mentioning timing of RAM, is this something i should look out for?

Thanks
 
With AMD, get 2x1GB sticks.

The memory controller onboard the Athlon 64's dont like 4x512MB's sticks as much as the other option, it lowers something called the T1 timing that can have a 3 to 5% performance impact.

Edit: As to your new question, some Corsair or other quality brands ValueRam should be good enough, the Athlon 64's controller is much more forgiving on timings than a P4 chipset.
 
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Sudt said:
Make sure to go for a motherboard that supports dual channel memory
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It's a 4800+. So it's Socket 939. All 939 boards support Dual Channel memory.

2 GIGs is a sweet spot with a 4800+. Games really load much quicker and especially in Battlefield 2 you'll notice a difference.

Go for 2 x 1 GIG modules as you'll be able to run the memory at optimal settings i.e. a 1T timing instead of 2T which is what 4 x 512MB modules usually run.
 
PearlJam said:
When will more than 2gb ram make a noticable difference?
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Bill Gates once said, "No one will ever need more than 640KB of RAM"

Well, actually he didn't, but it is accredited to him often :)
 
caroper said:
Bill Gates once said, "No one will ever need more than 640KB of RAM"

Well, actually he didn't, but it is accredited to him often :)
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didnt he also say something like that the 286 is the ultimate mulit-media PC?
 
PearlJam said:
When will more than 2gb ram make a noticable difference?
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One word... Photoshop, then you will notice a difference
 
4 X 512MB would be more stable and work faster than 2 X 1 GB.

If you dont plan to upgrade this PC in say the next year I would say go with the 4 X 512MB.
If you plan to upgrade then go with the 2 X 1GB because you can always add another 2 X 1GB sticks in. The way the RAM is going now, i would say go with the 4 X 512MB now and get the extra performance because by the time you upgrade again we'll all be using DDRII or higher anyway.
 
Person said:
4 X 512MB would be more stable and work faster than 2 X 1 GB.
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Nonesence.

Source.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/memory/display/2gb-ram.html

PCMark05 Overall - highest score 2 x 1GIG

At the same time the system with four 512MB DIMMs stands out a little bit. This memory configuration works slightly slower than the systems with only two memory DIMMs installed. This phenomenon is a great illustration of the performance drop caused by the forced 2T Command Rate timing setting that jumps in place of 1T in this case. With more memory modules in the system the number of managed memory banks increases and hence the memory bus of the Athlon 64 processor gets loaded more intensively.
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PCMark05 Memory - highest score 2 x 1GIG
3DMark06 - highest score 2 x 1GIG
3DMark06 CPU score - highest score 2 x 1GIG
Sciencemark 2.0 - highest score 2 x 1GIG

However, it allows to clearly see the evident drawbacks of having all four memory slots occupied.
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WinRAR 3.5 - highest score 2 x 1GIG

However, the performance of data compression utilities appears more sensitive to memory subsystem latency. According to our results, a system with four DIMM modules working at 2T Command Rate falls over 7% behind the same system with two DIMM modules and 1T Command Rate.
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MPEG 4 Encoding - best score 2 x 1 GIG
Adobe Photoshop CS - best score 2 x 1 GIG
We can see that the test script is running somewhat faster in Adobe Photoshop CS2 when the amount of system RAM grows bigger. However, once 4 memory DIMM modules are installed instead of two, the advantage we have just gained disappears because of the increased memory latency. So, installing more RAM will get you a definite performance improvement, but only if you use 2 memory modules x 1GB each.
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Adobe Premier Pro - same
3ds max 7.0 - best scores 2 x 1 GIG
Far Cry - best score 2 x 1 GIG
Half Life 2 - best score 2 x 1 GIG
FEAR - best score 2 x 1 GIG
Quake 4 - best score 2 x 1 GIG
SYSMark 2004 SE (various tests) - same and best scores 2 x 1 GIG

Conclusion

Well, it’s high time we summed up the results of our today’s discussion. 1GB of RAM will be enough for almost any mainstream system. This amount of system memory guarantees comfortable work in all contemporary applications. You will even be able to run a few programs at the same time without much trouble when switching between them. The previous generation games will also run without delays with the maximum quality settings, and the latest games released in the end of last year will work fine with medium texture settings.

However, high-performance systems have to get 2GB of RAM. Gamers feel the need for this amount of system memory more than anybody else, if they want to be able to play the latest games with the high-quality image settings. Moreover, 2GB of RAM or even more than that will be very handy for professionals working in “heavy” applications processing large amounts of data.

So, I have every right to state that hardware enthusiasts do need 2GB of RAM in their systems. And this need will keep growing with the time. Therefore, we are going to take a closer look at the 2GB memory kits from the leading memory makers available in the today’s market in our next article. Especially, since we have already proven: the best way to install 2GB of RAM into your system is to get a 2-DIMM kit with 2x1GB modules.
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Ahhh someone who actually backs up his talk with facts,nice dual.
Fact is if you get 4 sticks then you have high chances of getting one stick which doesnt match the others timings,then your system only runs at the settings of the weakest stick.
Goodbye to dual channel with 4 sticks which is a performance hit itself,1t is a big bonus.....
Dont say the performance hit of what I have stated above is not big because this guy wouldnt be purchasing 2gigs of Random access memory if he didnt want performance....
Verdict:2x 1gig
 
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