Hisaru

I've recently started looking into building a performance P4 machine, but I'm a little confused on which way to go for RAM. I've been away from the techie world for a while now (actually, stuck in Iraq) so I regretfully haven't kept up to date. It seems as though my choices are a DDR set up on a dual-channel motherboard or Rambus. At the time I built my old system Rambus was top of the line. Currently, however, it seems as though everyone is going the dual-channel DDR route. Is this due simply to affordability? RDRAM boasts 1066MHz speeds, whereas PC4400 DDR RAM runs with 550MHz. With dual-channel technology the latter should be equivalent to 1100MHz, correct?

I know that DDR is cheaper, and I've heard that it's easier to overclock, so I'd assume go with the DDR. Is there anything I'm missing? Is dual-channel DDR RAM the way to go? Any other recommendations?

I'd greatly appreciate any feedback anyone can provide. Thanks.

kalson

go wit DDR400 512 MB , if u have enough get Corsair Twin Tech. , i heard tat those were good

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AMD 64bit X2 3800+
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1GB X 2 + 512MB X 2 = 3GB DDR400 Dual channel
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120gb SATA WDD


mmmmm i want new CPU!

4W4K3

^what he said. also Corsair XMS series are really good. i use OCZ technology RAM...very nice as well. u might want to buy a dual channel kit (helps intel performance ALOT. not so much for AMD) and a mobo that supports dual channel mode. what were u doing in Iraq??? business?

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Praetor

RAMBUS's major supporter, Intel, left RDRAM out in the dust when they transitioned away from their NorthwoodA design. Virtually all the major chipset makers have also shunned them (with the freak exception of SiS ... I think the chipset was 650 but dont quote me). Personally I think Intel left RDRAM in favor of DDR because AMD systems, using DDR were getting "more than comparable" (or in many cases, better) performance from a system that costed $1000 less (intel had enough PR/marketing trouble dealing with the fact that the AthlonXP processors, despite a ~1Ghz disadvantage were in many cases keeping up and beating the Pentium4 chips ... that was enough to deal with and they probbaly didnt want the marketing nightmare that came with RAMBUS).

History lesson in one sentence: nobody likes RAMBUS because (a) their actual performance versus theoretical performance was dismal, (b) DDR is much cheaper and it's actual performance is quite close to it's theoretical performance and (c) RAMBUS screwed itself when it tried to act as a monopolative force in the memory industry.

Kinda but not quite, dual channel isnt as big a real-world performance jump as marketing people hype it out to be (but by all means go for it, a 30-50% performance jump is nothing to balk at)

1. If you've got a small budget, just go for sheer quantity: it's better to get 1GB of "stock" memory than 256M of premium memory.

2. If you do get premium memory and it doesnt come with heatspreaders -- get them. I'd advise you get aluminum heatspreaders unless you are getting the Thermaltake active cooling kit which comes with a fan (ive done a couple rants/explaination on when and where to use copper vs aluminum)

3. If you budget permits, get the high end Mushkin, or Corsair memory -- either hunt down high clock speeds or hunt down low timings -- dont try to compromise unless you have something in particular you specifically need that for. For most people, high clock speeds work best although realistically the difference in performance is almost unnoticeable

4. I have heard (from OCz fans at that), that some of the OCz performance memory comes pre-OCd. Meaning you buy PC3200 and you expect to OC it to PC3500 but when you get the memory you find it's actually PC2700 and OCd to PC3200 and you cant OC it to PC3500. This may or may not be true but I've heard it from enough people to warrant me not getting OCz memory.

5. If you're using a mobo that supports DDR and/or Dual Channel -- you will most likely have to do a mobo upgrade to to able to use (Dual)DDR. While you're at it, you might consider upgrading the CPU since the NorthwoodA is quite old.

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