a few questions about RAM

[zeridine]

To the technically superior, i gots me a bit of a pickle with regards to my RAM.

OK so i got
Mobo: intel D865PERL - dont laugh or tease.
CPU: P4 3.00GHz Northwood (socket 478) - again, please dont laugh or tease.
and 2x 512Mb PC3200 DDR 400MHz [CPU-Z says: DDR, PC3200 (200 MHz), 512 MBytes, Samsung]
Not that it really matters but the rest of the turkey stuffing consists of: a 500W PSU; 7800GS (AGP); 1x200Gb SATA and 1x250Gb external SATA; and X-Fi elite Pro

I see that i got 4 slots for mem but only using 2, and want to upgrade to 2Gb total.

Now the first question i have is that CPU-Z says the memory runs at 200MHz? is that saying i got shafted when i bought the initial PC in 2004 and paid for 2x400MHz RAM modules and got 2x200MHz? (The BIOS, i think, said its 400MHz RAM when i checked last night - i could be wrong) or is the the DDR effect making it 400MHz?

Next question: I read up (a teeny-tiny bit) on parity, non parity, and ECC RAM. i dont know what type i got. How do I tell what i have? dont think its ECC. Would it be a train smash if its non ECC and i got 2x512 DDR 400 ECC and mixed them together? Should i rather just get 2x 1GB ECC RAM?

Second to last Q:
Is ECC RAM really worth it? I only use the PC for gaming. I'm not a hardcore gamer, and i dont overclock anything ever.

Last Q: what brand of RAM would you suggest?

baaaaie dankie.

 

[acidrain]

To the technically superior, i gots me a bit of a pickle with regards to my RAM.

OK so i got
Mobo: intel D865PERL - dont laugh or tease.
CPU: P4 3.00GHz Northwood (socket 478) - again, please dont laugh or tease.
and 2x 512Mb PC3200 DDR 400MHz [CPU-Z says: DDR, PC3200 (200 MHz), 512 MBytes, Samsung]
Not that it really matters but the rest of the turkey stuffing consists of: a 500W PSU; 7800GS (AGP); 1x200Gb SATA and 1x250Gb external SATA; and X-Fi elite Pro

I see that i got 4 slots for mem but only using 2, and want to upgrade to 2Gb total.

Now the first question i have is that CPU-Z says the memory runs at 200MHz? is that saying i got shafted when i bought the initial PC in 2004 and paid for 2x400MHz RAM modules and got 2x200MHz? (The BIOS, i think, said its 400MHz RAM when i checked last night - i could be wrong) or is the the DDR effect making it 400MHz?

Next question: I read up (a teeny-tiny bit) on parity, non parity, and ECC RAM. i dont know what type i got. How do I tell what i have? dont think its ECC. Would it be a train smash if its non ECC and i got 2x512 DDR 400 ECC and mixed them together? Should i rather just get 2x 1GB ECC RAM?

Second to last Q:
Is ECC RAM really worth it? I only use the PC for gaming. I'm not a hardcore gamer, and i dont overclock anything ever.

Last Q: what brand of RAM would you suggest?

baaaaie dankie.

well for ecc, your mobo has to support it which i doubt. ECC ram is only for servers that require a reliable and stable form of ram so i wouldnt be hasty in getting it if i was you.

Brand.. hmmm... well IMO ram is ram and i havnt had experience in trying out the "cheaper" brands. but id say the top two is kingston and transcend.

 

[stocksie]

D865PERL is a good reliable board
Can take upto 4GB RAM DDR 400, DDR 333 and DDR 266 SDRAM Memory but I would stick with DDR 400

Most Brands are OK as DDR400 is a mature platform
Transcend is good but a bit more expensive
Try and keep pairs of ram the same brand/type to stop errors

ECC is for Servers and not supported by your board

 

[S1ght]

question 1 - No you didnt get shafted with your RAM - Where it says DDR400 it means that 400Mhz is its maximum and it normally runs at half that so where it says 200 on CPU-Z is right.

ECC ram is like ar said above for server, I am using ECC ram at the moment and if I enable ECC in the bios, games lose a good 10+ fps so I wouldn't recommend it even if your motherboard did support it

 

[CeeBee]

me also got a quesie re RAM ... flame away for stupidity
whats the relationship between CPU, mobo and RAM frequency?
What I mean is : CPU is capable of X Mhz, mobo can handle X Mhz FSB and RAM comes in X Mhz flavors.
So, my query... if P4 CPU is specced at 533Mhz, howcome fit 400Mhz RAM???
I've got AMD64 x2 5600 = '800Mhz' so I got 800Mhz DDR2 RAM, coz I didnt wanna have any bottlenecks between CPU-mobo-RAM.
But I've seen several pcs with RAM Mhz slower than CPU Mhz, like 333Mhz in 'older' s478 P4, or even like eg. above, with 400Mhz DDR RAM.
Isn't P4 capable of 533MHz.
Or is CPU Mhz just a function of 2 cycles? So 533Mhz P4 is actually only 266Mhz x 2 cycles, so even 266Mhz RAM should be OK? Otherwise, why not fit 533Mhz RAM????

 

[zeridine]

thanks

hey thanks for the response guys.
guess i'll take the non ECC route then. i'll check for transcend or kingston ram? still dont think i'll go too fancy then, as i want to upgrade/get a big new system late in the year/early next year. (thought the P4 + mobo i got was utterly terrible and dated.)