Conroe and DDR2

[Pandamonia]

i was reading the other day and some one mentioned that u dont need pc8000 or anywhere near that to get max bandwidth on conroe...

obviously this is good news cus 1066mhz ram costs to much right now.

so which ram speed is needed for max performance?

[XS Janus]

It depends how far you want to push it

-533 will be enough for normal Joe,
-667 for 1333 FSB,
-800 Is mainly intel pushing for industry reasons and it looks cool on paper and you can run some better modules at lower speeds on tighter latencies
-1000 for XS enthusiasts and those who want to run 1000+ RAMs on lower speeds BUT tighter latencies

Runing RAM 1:1 is not required nor that better if you go higher than a few MHz


________
Herbalaire

[bAdboLL]

Can i get some nice memorys for ~$200?
Im thinking about 1x 1024 to start with.

[GRIP]

You could buy something like this.

[freecableguy]

For Intel, and this applies to Conroe. Don't even think about running anything other than 1:1 or the next immediate "up clock" - 4:5. Everything else is crap and will only cause higher latencies for no real gain. So, get a Conroe, get a motherboard, find the Conroe's top speed then find the max FSB for the MB. Then simple match this using your multiplier control so that you get the highest FSB possible. Then, if you memory can handle it (this is why it's important to get quality DDR2) use the 4:5 divider to give yourself a little boost.

[SMa]

don't you mean 1:2 instead of 1:1?

like in my situation, at stock speed, my ram would run 1:1 @ 400MHz (200MHz * 2)

[vapb400]

don't you mean 1:2 instead of 1:1?

like in my situation, at stock speed, my ram would run 1:1 @ 400MHz (200MHz * 2)

nope he means 1:1 keep in mind Conroe is 1066FSB

So 1:1 is 533
1:2 would be 1066 and that is before overclocking

[Vric]

You could buy something like this.

Timing 5-6-6-15

Isn't this terrible timing ?

I tried to find some Timing performance comparaison for the last few days but could find anything. Someone have an idea of real world bench difference with different timing ?

Btw for this example, the PC-6400 is half the price and probably can overclock to near the stock speed of the PC-8000

Thanks

[Pandamonia]

hmmm soooo buy pc8000? or less? or more?

[davefr]

Can i get some nice memorys for ~$200?
Im thinking about 1x 1024 to start with.

PQI 2G DDR2 667 for $99 after rebate. (does 4-4-4-12)

(That was last weekend's price at Newegg. It might be $5 higher this week.)

Outpost has 2G OCZ DDR2 800 for $149 after rebate.

Buy now because DDR2 memory prices are forecast to increase.

[WASD]

*cough* http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231071 *cough*

You know, the great thing about Conroe? Based on prerelease benches, it may actually run vista quite nicely.

[kyleslater]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227089
$225.99 OCZ 2X1GB 4-5-4-15

This.... Is what I want... Actually there is some Corsair stuff that is 3-4-3-9...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145035
Only $453 US for 2 GB but it looks very fast...

Edit:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220148
That makes more sense to me... DDR2-1000 $459 Unfortunately it's way out of my price range...

[Skyline GT-R]

Yeah, those Corsairs are looking very nice, had seen em to. But also way out of my price range, but these look nice to: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145034
2GB - PC2-6400 - 4-4-4-12, $270
If they will drop a bit in price, and can be found in Europa soon, those will be my next modules...

[kyleslater]

Yeah.. Maybe I can live with my 667 stuff until some PC2-8000 stuff is avalible for cheaper...

[andyisc00l]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231073

these looked pretty good surprised no one pointed this out, 4-4-4-12 @ DDR2 800 for $200.

So its my understanding that an e6600 @ 3.5ghz (9 * 389) will require 1:1 with 778mhz...so anyone looking to go from about 3150mhz to 3600mhz which depending on clocks will be alot of people (e6600 is $300 and from what we've heard high air overclocks will be between there) So if anything, depending on how high the chips clock we might have to be either looking for DDR2 800 that can clock a lil lower and can run tighter timings if max overclocks are like 3150-3600 (700mhz-800mhz ddr2 needed for 1:1), or be getting DDR2 800/900 ram that can hit higher clocks for max overlocks of 3600+...so you can't really decide what memory to get until we know how high these chips are overclocking..right?

[Donnie27]

nope he means 1:1 keep in mind Conroe is 1066FSB

So 1:1 is 533
1:2 would be 1066 and that is before overclocking

I'm not sure but normally Ratio work with Hard numbers, none of them are 533. He said 4:5 so the 4 = 4 X 266 = 1066 and 5 X 266 = 1333. 1:1 yes but 1:2 would be impossible. 1:1 = 1066 to 1066 while 1:2 = 1066 to 2133.

Now, since all Conroe really needs is Good 533. Folks seem to always leave out the 1:1 1066 to 533 as I did above because it is assumed that that's really 1:1 = 1066 to 533 X 2 since even DDR2 is still needs to in Dual Channel Mode/Configs. DDR2 667 X 2 = 1333. A lot of folks will just get 2.4GHz PC-667change the FSB to 333.3 X 9 now set it 1:1 and go for any Easy 3GHz.

I trust what FCG is talking about when they warn folks about too much or too high Latency settings to get higher speeds. 5-5-5-15 to get PC DDR2 1000? The slowest RAM I'd used would be 4-4-4-12 that could that speed. I'm looking to get Cas3 4-4-8 DDR2 667. I love seeing these guys do some extreme stuff but I'm not about to. TO me, XS is like watching NASCAR, I'd much rather just see them do it.

[sierra_bound]

So its my understanding that an e6600 @ 3.5ghz (9 * 389) will require 1:1 with 778mhz...

I take it you mean DDR2-778. I don't think there's any RAM out there that's capable of 778MHz.

The DDR2 rating is somewhat meaningless because the better modules have a lot more headroom. The now-discontinued Corsair 5400UL's (DDR2-675) can still out-clock just about everything else out there, and do it with tighter timings. That's why a lot of people who bought 5400UL's a year ago have still hung onto them.

Finding DDR2 that will run at 400 with 4-4-4 timings is not very hard. There are a lot of choices out there. 400+ at 3-3-3 requires quality dimms.

[kyleslater]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231073

these looked pretty good surprised no one pointed this out, 4-4-4-12 @ DDR2 800 for $200.

Hmm that's new. Was not there when I was looking the other day... Because I like G.Skill.

[Eastcoasthandle]

*cough* http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231071 *cough*

You know, the great thing about Conroe? Based on prerelease benches, it may actually run vista quite nicely.

I think I'll wait until Vienna rear is head.

[andyisc00l]

I take it you mean DDR2-778. I don't think there's any RAM out there that's capable of 778MHz.

The DDR2 rating is somewhat meaningless because the better modules have a lot more headroom. The now-discontinued Corsair 5400UL's (DDR2-675) can still out-clock just about everything else out there, and do it with tighter timings. That's why a lot of people who bought 5400UL's a year ago have still hung onto them.

Finding DDR2 that will run at 400 with 4-4-4 timings is not very hard. There are a lot of choices out there. 400+ at 3-3-3 requires quality dimms.

are they guaranteed to hit 800? it would stink to be able to hit 3500 mhz and be limited by ram that might only hit 750 or something?

[sierra_bound]

Well, most RAM makers don't offer overclocking guarantees. RAM warranties usually cover defects only. The DDR2 rating simply indicates you have a reasonable chance of hitting the specific speed with the RAM maker's suggested timings. The 5400UL's are rated at 3-2-2-8 @ DDR2-675. They will easily do that. If you check around the forum, you'll find people who are still using this memory. I believe one member got his UL's to run at 470MHz (DDR2-940) with 3-2-2 timings. That's pretty amazing. Too bad Corsair doesn't make this memory anymore.

Most people into extreme overclocking want RAM with a lot of headroom. DDR2-1000 is not necessarily going to overclock higher than DDR2-800. If you look at regular DDR, there are some PC3200 kits that hit higher speeds than ones rated at PC4000.

[_tryst]

Just to clear something up for me, DDR2-800 @ 3-4-3-9 is better than DDR2-800 @ 4-4-4-12, obviously. But how much better? Is it worth almost a doubling in price? I can get the 4-4-4-12 kit for £200 but 3-4-3-9 is £350+, and it's tough to justify if the benefits are small

[sierra_bound]

You're probably referring to Corsair 6400C3. From what I've seen so far, the Corsairs will run 400+ @ 3-3-3 and 500+ @ 4-4-4. But if benchmarking is not a priority with you, then DDR2-800 @ 4-4-4 will probably be fine. A friend of mine just bought some OCZ budget DDR2 (2X1GB) for $149. He's running stable at 492 (DDR2-984) with 4-4-4 timings and 2.35v. So you don't necessarily need to spend a lot for decent speed.

[stone_cold_Jimi]

I just bought the Ballistix 1005 kit, supposedly uses an updated D9 chip. Probably a bit over the top, hopefully tight at lower speeds, hellishly expensive. If I were to buy more, I'd look at G.Skill; their HZ DDR500 is solid, so I'd expect similar from their DDR2 range.

[sierra_bound]

FCG mentioned this earlier in the thread and it's worth repeating. With Conroe, you're probably going to use either the 1:1 or 4:5 ratios. The reason becomes obvious when you look at where you'll want the FSB to be. Let's suppose your initial FSB target is 400. At 1:1, your memory will need to run at 400. That's pretty easy. A lot of DDR2 modules can handle that. It will probably be the ratio of choice among Conroe users. 4:5 would require the memory at 500 (assuming 400 FSB). That's a little harder, but more and more modules are coming on the market that can handle that speed. 2:3 would mean 600MHz memory speed. Much more difficult, and you'll have to resort to Cas5 to even attempt it. And 1:2, forget it, unless you don't mind running a low FSB.

So if you think in those terms, you'll get a better idea of what memory you'll need.