Budget Ram or Bodge-it Ram

[unacceptable_risk]

Hi all,

I've decided on my new case and mobo. Definitely AMD and watercooling. One of two descisions remain to ponder.

That of RAM. My wallet wants me to ask about budget fast ddr ram like http://store.yahoo.com/upsource/297943.html or maybe http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=140844&Category_Code=DDR . The Kingston looks nice and I am aware of samsung's capacity to build good gear when they want to.

Does anyone have experience with these products or brands?

Plus, I would luv to know what ecc is and cus , etc. Basically anything that I should be looking for on a ram spec-sheet.

Hooroo

UR :smoky:

[Farabomb]

I've heard good things about the kingston.

The kingston is slower than the samsung for the same price. If you could I'd try to scrape up the cash for the Corsair 3200 cas2.

It's $118 @ Newegg and you can't go wrong. You may be able to do well with the samsung but with the Corsair you will do better.

and no I don't work for corsair :D

[Drake]

ECC is error correcting capability (?) and it involves using a ninth bit to be able to restore corrupted data, or something of the sort.

Anywho, you say water cooling and AMD, and in most circumstances that leads to overclocking. Your wallet may take a hit, but you'll be thankful later once you're able to reach 200+ FSB. I too, recommend Corsair PC3200 C2 or greater.

[Player0]

I am fanatical about ram. I recommend the best ram you can find. I wont even look at budget ram. I third on the Corsair ram.

Failing that, Samsung ram is okay stuff. As is Micron. Ive not heard much good about Kinston.

[amdrules770]

MUSHKIN ROCKZ!!!!!!! My 2nd choice would be corsair. 3rd would be samsung.

[mdzcpa]

I'm also picky about the RAM I choose. My choices would be: Corsair, TwinMos, Kingston, Samsung...in that order:)

[tripodal]

ive samsun pc2700 in my rig, its seen over 200 fsb.. but im not sure if its my mobo or the ram holding it back. as the timings havent gained or lost any fsb

[WesM63]

I would def say buy the best ram you can. I bought a stick of geil a while back rated at 3200 and it will only do maybe 170Max timings, while a few months before i bought a more expensive peice of pc2100 mushkin that does 170Max timings.

I would reccomend XMS, twinmos, mushkin and samsung.

[unacceptable_risk]

Thanks guys,

Invaluable feedback.

Do you know if eec improves speed, I assume it improves performance?

Also a quick word or two about cas latency and how much of a difference between cas2 and cas3 would be appreciated.

_UR_

[WesM63]

Cas2 is a must, it improves memory bandwith drastically.

[soccrstar]

Originally posted by unacceptable_risk
Do you know if eec improves speed, I assume it improves performance?

havin' ECC ram is actually slower than reg ram
becuz it has to check the data and watnot etc

[Drake]

Aye, ECC will give you a performance hit, and if you're not running a 24/7/365 server, there's really not a real need for it.

[mdzcpa]

Agree with all of the above re CAS and ECC.

Go CAS 2 and NON-ECC for sure.