ddr2 800 3gb or ddr2 1066 2gb?

[-1nf1n1ty-]

which is better? I currently have ddr2 800 3gb(2x1gb 2x512mb) and I've been looking at how cheap ddr2 1066 2x1gb's are and most people that are on the 3dmark scores especially the high scores have just 2gb of ram, which also makes me think is 2gb more efficient than 3 or 4 gb?

 

[Kursah]

If you're after benching, faster ram, if you're more of a gamer I'd recommend more ram. Really with 2x2GB kits of 1066 fairly cheap...that's what I'd look at. But really anything 800-1066 for most is fine. My G.Skill 1066 kit is decent, I got it for around 45 shipped a few months ago. 2GB of ram will OC further than 4GB of ram just due to the ability of better binning and tunability of 1GB sticks in comparison with the denser 2GB sticks from my understanding. I'd still go for more ram at a slower speed, it'd help with better multitasking and keeping more of the current running programs in memory. I did notice a good difference with gaming, encoding, multitasking, etc when going from 2GB to 4GB...ever since then I've been sold and have highly recommended it to others.

 

[LittleLizard]

in most apps, more ram > frequency

 

[-1nf1n1ty-]

If you're after benching, faster ram, if you're more of a gamer I'd recommend more ram. Really with 2x2GB kits of 1066 fairly cheap...that's what I'd look at. But really anything 800-1066 for most is fine. My G.Skill 1066 kit is decent, I got it for around 45 shipped a few months ago. 2GB of ram will OC further than 4GB of ram just due to the ability of better binning and tunability of 1GB sticks in comparison with the denser 2GB sticks from my understanding. I'd still go for more ram at a slower speed, it'd help with better multitasking and keeping more of the current running programs in memory. I did notice a good difference with gaming, encoding, multitasking, etc when going from 2GB to 4GB...ever since then I've been sold and have highly recommended it to others.

well I want to get more ram BUUUUUUT if anything I could only afford the 2x1gb cause I'm purchasing a new headset no thanks to the poorly made razer barracudas good headset....but poorly put together

 

[-1nf1n1ty-]

so theres no real difference if I go from ddr2 800 3gb to ddr2 1066(2gb or 3gb or anything like that)

 

[Kursah]

If you go from 3gb of DDR2 800 to 2gb DDR2 1066, you might notice some "hitching" in larger games you didn't notice before and wouldn't have noticed if you had started with 2Gb of ram, your multitasking might not be as snappy if you have a lot of stuff open at once, things like that. You might notice the HDD going more because more of more page file swapping...but aside from that it won't be a huge deal. I'd say wait till you can afford 4GB of ram tbh. Even though you're on an x86 OS now, if you do decide to go x64 in the future, it definately helps.

 

[-1nf1n1ty-]

I knida think I would be better off buying more ddr2 800



these just seem so worth it http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227290 especially for the price

 

[Assassin48]

I knida think I would be better off buying more ddr2 800



these just seem so worth it http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227290 especially for the price

i actually am selling the platinum version of that if your intrested

 

[Hayder_Master]

depend on ram brand , take a good ddr800 with 3G like crossair and you can do good overclock on it

 

[Assassin48]

no buy mine lol
i have no use for them ill give you a good price
8gb w/fan

 

[Play3r]

Go for 3 gig of DDR2-800mhz they generally have better timings and u can ramp it up to 1066 if u really want to.

 

[-1nf1n1ty-]

I honestly hate overclocking but I probably will once I pick up water cooling just not right now since its so expensive its ridiculous

 

[Play3r]

Why Would u buy Watercooling?
U cant Watercool Ram?>

 

[dark2099]

Go with more ram rather than speed, in the end the couple hundred MHz and only comes into noticeable play in RAM necessary benchmarks. In others, maybe a couple points here or there.

 

[Assassin48]

Why Would u buy Watercooling?
U cant Watercool Ram?>

yes you can LOL

 

[Play3r]

yes you can LOL

indeed

 

[twilyth]

Here's another why to phrase the question: 50% more RAM or 33% better throughput?

But that's only a fair question if you never use a pagefile. If you do, then obviously more RAM. Memory access is measured in nanoseconds while HDD access is measured in milliseconds (skipping SSD ftm). So that's what? At least 4-5 orders of magnitude difference? Not too hard to do the math on that one.

 

[nafets]

Considering you're using WinXP x86, just hold off for now. Barring future OS changes, any investment in memory isn't an upgrade, but rather a step sideways. Your OS has poor support for any increase in memory quantity, over what you currently have now. By the time you move to a different OS (Vista/7) you'll probably be considering major changes to your system anyways.

With two new DIMMS, you'd have to discard/remove two (or maybe all) of your DIMMS, which is a waste.

If you're a benchmark monkey, sure you'd see a difference in synthetic testing with tighter timings or higher frequency. Real world gaming improvements would be negligible.

It's tough to avoid the lure of cheap DDR2, but there isn't really any benefit to improving over what you have now. Use that money elsewhere or save it for a future rebuild of your PC.

With DDR3 slowly infiltrating it's way into the mainstream market, the DDR2 deals will dry up. When you're ready to move to a DDR3 setup, I'm sure there will be deals that are just as comparable.

 

[twilyth]

Not to mention DDR3 CAS numbers that are looking more like DDR2