Corsair memory advice needed!

[Sasuke]

Hey guys, I'm getting tired of waiting minutes for HL2 to load the next area, so I want to upgrade my memory. I have an Ibuypower machine that I ordered with 512MB of PC3200. (It's some generic brand, I'm sure it's relatively low-quality memory)

I decided I'd like a 512MB Corsair XMS module, at PC3200. Looking at this list , what is my best choice? Should I spend $100 to get a standard Corsair XMS 512MB PC3200 module, or is there a better option?

Are things like latency and type of heat spreader (like aluminum, silver, platinum) important?

And also, I was going to stick with PC3200 because isn't it still the highest "officially supported" RAM speed? I know there are higher speeds out there, but are there any risks/disadvantages and/or requirements for using those higher speeds?

 

[ankalar]

How much money are you willing to spend? And yes, PC-3200 is the speed you should be looking at unless you're overclocking.

 

[Sasuke]

Well I'm most likely going to go for the $100 stick of regular PC3200. But I'll spend a little more if there's a good reason.

 

[ankalar]

If your motherboard truly supports dual channel memory, then get this. I'm really digging this Patriot memory.

 

[lister]

the corsair XMX memory is intended for overclockers, y do u think it comes with extra heat sink pads?

to save yourself some nmoney i would go with the Corsair Value selcet memory PC3200.

 

[Sasuke]

Is it really not worth getting XMS ram if I don't want to overclock? It's just so tempting... I assumed that it was just higher quality than the value select ones.

And sorry for being so dumb, but what's the benefit of using Dual-Channeling memory? (I have an Asus K8V Deluxe motherboard; does it have Dual-Channeling?) Do you have to have two identical sticks of RAM to utilize Dual-Channeling?

If I was going to use that feature, I'd probably want to use two sticks of 512MB, since I only have 3 DIMM slots.

 

[ankalar]

The Corsair XMS memory is not, I repeat, not only meant for overclocking. It has heatsinks in order to keep it cool because it runs at higher speeds than their value select RAM. Since you have an Athlon 64, the memory controller is built into the CPU, so you should go for the link I posted earlier. Or if you want a gigabyte of RAM instead of 512mb, then get the 2x512mb version.

 

[Asus]

You should get standard PC3200 memory and nothing fancy if that's what your current memory is. There is no reason to get quicker timings as they will run at the slowest speed between both sticks (your current memory).
CL or Cas 2.5 is fine.

 

[ankalar]

You should get standard PC3200 memory and nothing fancy if that's what your current memory is. There is no reason to get quicker timings as they will run at the slowest speed between both sticks (your current memory).
CL or Cas 2.5 is fine.

I guess I was just assuming he wasn't going to use his old RAM.

 

[Sasuke]

Well I am on a tight budget here, so I'm certainly not going to get any more than one 512 stick right now.

But now I have to decide whether I should get a stick of that Patriot memory which I'm sure is good, or go with the Corsair Value Select stuff. "Value Select" just sounds so cheap, but which one do you guys think is faster?

 

[ankalar]

The Patriot memory is faster, but it doesn't have the brand name attached to it.

 

[RogueFox]

Cheap memory is just that cheap! Personally I like this memory:


http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80097-8


Lifetime warranty and good latency. If they wont give it a lifetime warranty and other memory manufacturs will, how good is their product?

A few extra bucks now could save you alot of grief later on when you need to buy a new stick because your value stick crapped out.

Oh and the value select ram is value because it has a latency of 3 which means its slow, I would never get memory with a latency over 2.5.


Asus needs to show me how to make those cool links that say click here, pm would do nicely.

 

[Warbie]

I wouldn't worry too much about the latency (cas 2.5 is fine) - you'll notice very little, if any, difference between cheap 'value' ram and the expensive brands while gaming (as long as you're not overclocking that is, or into benchmarking - which are the only 2 valid reasons for having expensive ram imo)

I got 1 gig of Geil Value ram for my Dad this Christmas. I first tried it in my pc and noticed no difference at all between it and my expensive Corsair (Doom 3 and HL2 benchmarks didn't change at all - not even by 1 fps. Rome and DoW ran just as well etc) Needless to say it will be sold and replaced with Geil Value quite soon.

Quantity is preferable to quality in this case - the money you save could be better spent on other components (ones that will actually make a difference to your games )

 

[Sasuke]

Well it's good to hear from some people that the somewhat pricey Corsair memory may not be much better than other brands that are cheaper. I'm thinking I'll go with that Patriot RAM, since it's cheaper and gets reviews just as good as Corsair's.

And since I'm not ready yet to go and get a nice RAID of Western Digital Raptors to hyper-boost my load times, I figure that RAM is the bestway to get the most performance increase for the least money.