Nforce2 and dual ddr

[whirling1]

Hi

Just about to order my nice new Asus mobo with the Nforce 2 chipset, reading the spec concerning the dual DDR function , does it have to be 400mhz memory ? or will it work with the 333mhz? (reason i'm asking is theres about 50 quid difference over 2 chips )Im probably thick for asking this but want to order the right one to give me best boost . Im gonna order corsair memory as you guys suggested to me in another post .

 

[(Shovel)]

I read up on NForce2 and aparently it has a "sweet spot" speed for RAM which is either 266 or 333.

And according to the article (in PC|G, not PCGamer) it is used at any speed DDR.

 

[Will]

You could try and find some benchmarks (I know I say they don't mean anything compared to real-world performance, but they are useful for things like this). From what I understand, 400MHz will run faster, but 333MHz will probably be the FSB speed of your processor, and synchronous tends to be more efficent than asynchronous.

Hopefully someone here has tried both and can give you a proper opinion, though with hardware that new, its unlikely.

*waits for Embattle*

 

[(Shovel)]

I believe the point about syncronous is what the article said. But yes, lets wait for Embattle to bail us out...

 

[whirling1]

The Proc Im getting is a athlon XP 2200 so only has a 266 fsb........ but this should still run ok with 333 memory ...shouldnt it? (always get paranoid when buying new kit )

 

[Will]

Yeah, the board can run asyncronously. If you are getting a processor with 266MHz FSB, I'd go for 400MHz RAM. But I'm like that.

 

[Embattle]

400Mhz will give you better results but in terms of performance gain you would be talking about 300 3DMarks.

 

[whirling1]

Well thanks for the info guys

Narrowed my choice down to 2 possibilities either I'll go

XP2600 (333mhz) with 512mb of corsair PC2700 (333mhz) or
XP2200 (266mhz) with 512mb of corsair PC3200 (400mhz).

Any ideas which will be best? or is it six of one and half dozen of the other?


Also one last question which may be very stupid . The current set up I have has a T/bird 1.4 (266fsb) .now in this board you set the clock to 133 and multiplier accordingly ....is it still same with the new boards or do they now have 266 as an actual clock setting? Ive never dealt with any of the new mobos or XP chips so just wanting to make sure before I set it up.

 

[Will]

I'd be tempted by option A there.

And your board will autodetect almost everything, just have a look in the BIOS to check everything is set up correctly.

 

[Embattle]

With out a doubt I would go for option one, it'll prove faster.

 

[whirling1]

Thanks guys option 1 it is.....and bugger me the wife said fine to me spending £600 on a new system....

its gonna be

Athlon XP 2600 with a Zalman flower cooler
Epox 8RDA+ Nforce2 mobo(or maybe Asus A7N8X Deluxe)
512Mb Corsair PC3200
Geforce4 ti 4200
Western Digital Caviar 40gb Hdd with 8mb cache
and a cyber fusion case.

Thanks again for the advice

 

[Big G]

fiddle with the multiplier more than matthew kelly on heat and you'd squeeze more than 2800+ speeds out of it i would imagine.

I bought a 2400+ expecting not to be able to overclock it very much (or at all) but it overclocked no prob to 2700+ speeds with a voltage tweak.

Gaz

 

[xane]

I don't trust Epox mobos anymore, not after the problems I had with the last two, go for the Asus.

 

[Testin da Cable]

fiddlesticks! my epoxen aer the win! and stable too! xane == n00b!!

 

[(Shovel)]

400Mhz DDR, have they finalised that yet? I heard it causes big stability problems at the moment?

 

[Embattle]

It is still not an official JEDEC standard.