Would I benefit from upgrading from PC2-6400 to PC2-8500?

[dan_plus_o]

Hey guys! I am wondering if I would benefit from upgrading my ram from PC2-6400 to PC2-8500?

My motherboard has a FSB of 1333MHz so it should be able to accept PC2-10600 ram, correct? (1333 x 8=10664).

Will I notice any benefit from upgrading to PC2-10600 ram or PC2-8500 and will it be worth the $80-$150 CAN it will probably cost for 2x1GB?

I was thinking of this here: http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11180BD8996&vpn=TWIN2X2048-8500C5DF&manufacture=CORSAIR

I am still running windows XP 32-bit... So would there be any reason to get 2x2gb instead since it won't make use of all the ram anyways? I would like to stay with a dual channel setup.

 

[The_Other_One]

Your RAM's speed is not dependent on your processor's bus speed (or it's capabilities). Look for the specs on your board to confirm what the fastest RAM you can use on that board.

As for a difference, speed usually don't make a tremendous difference in performance. I'd go quantity/quality over speed first.

 

[dan_plus_o]

I thought the ram speed was dependent on the motherboards front side bus.

This is what it says on EVGA site as far as supported memory for the 680i:
-I didn't bother listing the suggested ram for the other speeds cause the list is fairly long..

Above 1066 MHz(Above PC2 8500)
Corsair TWIN2X2048-10000C5DF
Corsair TWIN2X2048-9136C5DF
Corsair TWIN2X2048-8888C4DF
1066 MHz(PC2 8500)
900 MHz(PC2 7200)
800 MHz(PC2 6400)

 

[The_Other_One]

Hmm... Well, there are a few things to realize here... Just because your FSB is 200MHz doesn't mean your RAM has to run at 200MHz. Heck the RAM in my laptop here is running at 166MHz and the FSB is 200MHz. So while yes, they do go together, it does not have to be and rarely is an exactly the same.

Second, most computers now have different types of...well transports. Back to my laptop again, it's FSB is 200MHz, but it's an AMD with a Hyper Transport link of 800MHz. Most computers today share a similar configuration.

 

[TrainTrackHack]

FSB is Quad Data Rate (QDR), memory is Dual Data Rate (DDR) - that means that to get the actual clockspeed the FSB is running at, you have to divide the rated speed by 4 (FSB1333 = 333MHz), and to get the actual clockspeed of the memory you divide it by two (DDR-800 (PC-6400) = 400MHz).

Unless the speed of the memory is significantly higher than that of the FSB, it will perform better when matched at the FSB speed, or if it runs at exactly half or twice the FSB speed. I've also heard that using odd memory dividers (the FSB:RAM speed ratio) can cause stability issues, but that's rather uncommon and I've seen plenty of overclockers run the memory unlocked from the FSB (i.e. the speeds being independent).

But, as far as memory goes, seeing as you only have 2GB of RAM you'd likely benefit more from actually adding more memory rather than just replacing it with higher-speed RAM. Upping the speed alone usually has very little effect, unless the speed difference is significant and the memory speed is being a bottleneck to begin with (say, DDR2-533 going with really poor timings to DDR2-1066 with really tight latencies) - which in your case, I would say, isn't.

 

[dan_plus_o]

Okay thanks for the help..

I was running 4x1GB but found that my computer ran better with 2x1GB in dual channel mode. So Maybe I would be best to go with 2x2GB.

Since I am running windows XP 32-bit it doesn't make use of all 4GBs because combining the GPU ram, CPU cahce, and system RAM is more then 4GB in total. When I had 4x1GB I think the system ram only showed up around 2.3GB so I figured I would be better off just going with 2GB in dual channel... It does seem to be better just based on experience of how the system is running. Startup time is faster for one thing.

So 2x2GB in dual channel mode should give me the best results, right? Still a little iffy on the whole speed thing so I will do some googling and reading up on it. I thought the faster the ram speed is the better (providing the mobo can handle that speed).