Memory question!

alansweeney100

Hi,

I bought memory off crucial.com cause I could specify my mobo and be sure of compatability, heres the pair I got;
http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=C822E03AA5CA7304

So my memory is DDR2 PC2-5300 but It doesn't state what frequency this memory is rated at.
I was looking on memoryc.ie and on every ddr2 memory they clearly state each memory rating, 800MHz DDR2 quad channel, 1000MHz at CL5 latency, etc.
http://www.memoryc.ie/products/type/Computer_Memory/DDR2/index.html?Capacity=4Gb

How can I find out what frequency my memory is running at? And if its say 800Mhz, if I buy and install one of the following;

4GB G.Skill DDR2 PC2-8500 (5-5-5-15) PK Series Dual Kit (8-layer PCB)
http://www.memoryc.ie/products/description/4GB_G_Skill_DDR2_PC2_8500-5_5_5_15-PK_Series_Dual_Kit-8_layer_PCB_/index.html
or
4GB Team Xtreem Dark Series DDR2 PC2-8500 (5-5-5-15) Dual Channel kit
http://www.memoryc.ie/products/description/4GB_Team_Xtreem_Dark_Series_DDR2_PC2_8500-5_5_5_15-Dual_Channel_kit/index.html

Will I be able to run one of these pairs in slots 1 & 3 with the original crucial memory I bought in slots 2 & 4

Any suggestions on alternative memory which would be suitable (BFG 680i sli mobo)would be appreciated,
Cheers,
Al

Anti

If your goibg for an upgrade you will be best to make sure all the ram is the same. Mixing and matching can cause severe headaches !

Now to explain your ram issue....

Ddr2 5300... This means that its theoretical maximum bandwudth is 5300mb/s The same goes for ddr2 8500 which is 8533mb/s

But what your looking for is mhz. ddr2 5300 runs at 333mhz but because its double data rae it runs as 666. Ddr2 6400 runs at 400mhz so thats doubles to 800mhz.

Im probably not explaining myself well as my head is metled. So ill quote wiki

Note: DDR2-xxx (or DDR-xxx) denotes data transfer rate, and describes raw DDR chips, whereas PC2-xxxx (or PC-xxxx) denotes theoretical bandwidth (though it is often rounded up or down), and is used to describe assembled DIMMs. Bandwidth is calculated by taking transfers per second and multiplying by eight. This is because DDR2 memory modules transfer data on a bus that is 64 data bits wide, and since a byte comprises 8 bits, this equates to 8 bytes of data per transfer.

1 Some manufacturers label their DDR2 sticks as PC2-4300 instead of PC2-4200, and PC2-5400 instead of PC2-5300. At least one manufacturer has reported this reflects successful testing at a faster-than standard speed,[2] whilst others simply use the alternate rounding as the name, as described above.

More info can be found here too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR2_SDRAM

alansweeney100

Thanks for the advice Anti
Thats staight forward enough (ish)
Not too happy with my crucial memory tho so I don't want to buy another 2 sticks of it :mad:
No memory out there thats famously compatible or unfussy about whats in the other two slots?
I thought I only had to pair slots 1 & 3 and I could then put a different pair in slots 2 & 4
The only drawback I thought there was, is that if I put a higher performance pair in, I may not get the most out of the high performance RAM cause of my original standard RAM ?
Hope that makes sense.................any RAM experts out there?

Deliverance XXV

alansweeney100 wrote: »

No memory out there thats famously compatible or unfussy about whats in the other two slots?
I thought I only had to pair slots 1 & 3 and I could then put a different pair in slots 2 & 4

You can, but if you have different speeds of RAM in your PC it will run at the speed of the RAM with the lowest speed.
RAM is very cheap these days. Sell your current RAM and buy 4 new sticks of the speed you want.

alansweeney100

OK King nothing,
Well, if thats the case...... DOH!
Should have put more thought into buying better RAM than the ones I have, I'll probably get little or nothing on ebay seeing as new RAM is so cheap.
Just to keep things going rather than start a new thread, can anyone reccommend the best RAM on memoryc.ie?
The most expensive and higher end ones ddr2 are only €128
small fries compared to graphics cards
Is one of these lads my best bet?
http://www.memoryc.ie/products/description/4GB_G_Skill_DDR2_PC2_8500-5_5_5_15-PK_Series_Dual_Kit-8_layer_PCB_/index.html
http://www.memoryc.ie/products/description/4GB_Team_Xtreem_Dark_Series_DDR2_PC2_8500-5_5_5_15-Dual_Channel_kit/index.html

Any other suggestions for what could go into my BFG 680i sli mobo are welcome! Thanks for the help so far, appreciated.

alansweeney100

Suggestions...........anyone??:o

TerrorFirmer

If you're not overclocking much, that stuff you already have - the crucial - is perfectly fine. It's ok for small overclocks too, but you might want to throw on some heatspreaders if you are.

Even if you are overclocking, pc8500 isn't really necessary - decent pc6400, i.e 800mhz - will hit those same speeds - 1066mhz - easily.

Looking casually on memoryc this looks like a good deal.

alansweeney100

Would that OCZ memory be compatable then?
Might just hang onto the memory I have, until DDR2 gets even cheaper!
I have a cooler on my memory as it is, its just a set of 4 fans which clip on over the memory, designed for dominator memory, haven't tried overclocking of any component; except ntune and that was a disaster, if anybody is even considering using that useless software, don't!