ALright guys, is this it?

[Navaron]

I think this is what I'm getting. Just making sure it's the good stuff. What do you guys think? Anything better? I think the price is decent, but they said they'd set it up, and flash the newest bios. That way I just have to plug in my stuff.

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=BASK&Store_Code=M

I picked this board because I'm not goin to use a RAID configuration.

Someone post me a link to the best ram for this mobo. I'm lookin at 512 ddr pc 3200 and it 149 (From my local comp store). But I don't know the brand. I'd be willing to pay 40 bucks more for the same memory by corsair with their heatsink. Is it worth it?

I'm lookin at a 350 powersupply, is that going to be enough or should I go with a big dog 400wt? I do have a 9700pro...

[afex]

you can't link people to your shopping basket

[Navaron]

You can if you're a farkin retard.

Here is what I have:

Pre-Tested and Setup AMD XP Combos $0.00 $0.00
Motherboard: 110405 - Asus NForce2 A7N8X (LAN) DDR 400 $125.00
Processor: 120725 - AMD Athlon XP 2700+ (Retail Box-w-Fan) $355.00
*Heatsink Fan: 130113 - Cooler Master CP5-6J11C-01 $6.00

[Navaron]

Hmm, i think thats ddr 400, but the best performance is ddr 333. Someone splain that for me pls.

Hmm tomshardware says to use only CL2 mode DIMMS. WTH is that?

"Our benchmarks underlined the fact that nForce2 is currently the best chipset to take. Sure, you will need to get two DIMMs, but the performance gap to KT400 is quite significant." .... so that means....?

[BLuE_ZeRO]

btw go with the 400 watt power supply. What else are you getting?

[Navaron]

Just MB and Proccessor, case, and ram.

[powdahound]

That is an AWESOME mobo and a very good chip. :) Glad to see you're not going to buy an overpriced intel. :D You should be happy with that stuff.

[Navaron]

Can someone translate this for me?

"Our benchmarks underlined the fact that nForce2 is currently the best chipset to take. Sure, you will need to get two DIMMs, but the performance gap to KT400 is quite significant." .... so that means....?

Hmm, i think thats ddr 400, but the best performance is ddr 333. Someone splain that for me pls.

Hmm tomshardware says to use only CL2 mode DIMMS. WTH is that?

[Zatrais]

it's the internal speed of the rams case... lower means faster

CL2 is the fastest now... CL2.5 is what most people have.

lower CL numbers means faster ram.

DIMM is just the slot the ram goes in. DIMM is the current days standard.

[Navaron]

Thanks Zatrias,

So do I have to run the memory in pairs? So should I get ddr 333 or 400? How do I find out if they use 2.0???? Helpabrother out.

[Zatrais]

Specify cl 2.0 in your order.. it should be labeled on the chip also.

and get DDR 333 cl 2

thats better performance than ddr400

be sure to get corsair DDR 333 CL 2 and you're set RAM wise =)

[Navaron]

Thanks a ton, now it's time to empty the bank out... :eek:

[B00tlegbob]

Zat.. all true however the other speed values etc do have a significant bearing - cas latency is not the only factor. I did read an excellent ddr ram review the other day that gave detailed info on configuring ram settings for optimal performance - if i can find it ill post it here. you may find it interesting.

Navaron - Nice specs there :) I have that mobo, its a very good stable board and excellent chipset, for me it is anyway. What your quote means is this (in laymans terms).
DDR400 ram runs faster than DDR333 obviously. The memeory bus (not the fsb) runs at 200mhz (oh yeah ddr = double data rate), so doubling the memory bus speed gives your actual ram clock speed In this case 400mhz. BUT DDR333 ram is, as a rule, much more stable and can utilise faster settings - such as cas latency (unless you can afford the really top notch ddr400 branded stuff eg: corsair). The nforce chipset on this board is able to run two sticks of the same memory type at double the band width by using two memory controllers (sorry forgot nvidia's name for this technology, need to check that its two physical controllers, may have that bit incorrect, anyone? Zat?). This means that the nforce gives you double the bandwidth on your memory bus(this has several guci effects on system performance but you need to read up at toms' for that explanation!). The reference is stating that two dimms of DDR333 ram will run only marginally below the performance level off two DDR400 sticks, while utilising this feature of the nforce chipset. clear as mud? Using two modules in this way is a good thing and you should definitely do it if you can. I couldnt afford the second module right off the bat but its going to be my next purchase, provided i can persuade the other half that i need this new *vitaly essential component* heh. ;)

Lastly yes if you can afford a couple of sticks of DDR400 cas latency 2.0 ram go for it , but to be honest unless your gonna get seriously into benchmarking your beast and comparing yours to Joe bob next door cas 2.5 will suit you just dandy. Given the specs you quoted your machine is gonna do the hard yards for a long while yet.... no matter what CAS speed your running!!

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[B00tlegbob]

Navaron

Go here..
http://www.nvidia.com/docs/lo/2281/SUPP/nForce2_Synchronous_Mode.pdf

For a run down on the nforce chip and its memory architecture, if your buying an nforce board it should be quite intersting for ya.


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[Zatrais]

it's Nforce 2

and yes the other timings in the bios has alott to say aswell so does the transfer mode, async, sync and performance... but most people don't tamper whit those things and theres well little point in mentioning it.

however, most tests show that a good set of agressivly timed DDR 333 CL 2 can outperform the newer and less stable DDR 400. There also the question of bandwith in mind here and well while DDR 400 has more raw bandwith (higher clock rates) it dosn't matter because well you won't even use all of the available bandwith on the DDR 333. DDR 400 also requiers more power (and todays 400w+ psu's can suck royaly due to bad manufacturing.. i saw a 12V 4pin whit only 13a, the standard is 18a) and sadly DDR 400 is still abit unstable when running it at the best times.

Not to mention the actuall transfer rate between the DIMM slot and the ram... bleh i'll sum it up: get corsair CL 2 DDR 333, best and fastest bang for your buck.


edit: just felt i should add, never trust a companies own description of its chipset... it will always be candied and sugarcoated... read up on some real tests that states everything used... paperhardware is nice and all but you want performance in RL hehe

[B00tlegbob]

All good points. Cant be bothered editing my post to add a 2 after every nforce reference, if anyone doesnt work out i was talking the nforce*2* chipset then THIS post will serve to tell them so. ;)

[BLuE_ZeRO]

VIA is supposed to be releasing a new chipset (VIA KT400-A) that is supposed to have better support for DDR400 ram.

[Zatrais]

Yup, there are some whose holding on to DDR 400 but the industry in general has turned its back on it along whit RDR RAM. they cost to much for to little gain in real performance.

[Navaron]

I think from the reviews I read, and you guys imput, that I'm going to grab one 512 of cl2 corsair ddr333, and maybe another later on.

[Zatrais]

save yourself the hassel and get 2 512 right away =P

can turn down the swapfile/pagefile in windows to nothing then and get a nice boost =)

[Navaron]

:"can turn down the swapfile/pagefile in windows to nothing then and get a nice boost =)"

Huh? What is/ and how do i do that...

[Zatrais]

a paging file is a file that windows creates to use as atrificial ram on your HD. Now a HD is uhm damn slower than actual physical RAM. By turning your paging file down or off completely you essentially force windows to use all the available physical RAM before it starts to mess around whit creating artificial (and slooooow) "ram". Whit 1024 MB of RAM windows XP (it has a pretty good memory controller) pretty much never runs out of raw physical RAM and a large, over 256MB big paging file is needless and just creates a bottleneck in data flow.

As for how you do it, first of all you'll need windows XP or win 2002 or if you still got win98 you need to "haxz0r" (couldn't resist) well more like edit a system file to get it to see all the avail able ram. It isn't recomended tho since it can create instability.

in XP:
start -> settings -> control panel -> system -> advanced -> settings under the perfromance category -> advanced -> change (at the bottom of the tab) now you can set the paging file for your c: drive. you can either disable it al together or run a 100 min file and 256 max or just disable it all together. Try around and see what works for you. I run whit no paging file.

[Navaron]

And this is the case I got.... mmmmm pretty red lights....http://www.ditcorp.com/itemdesc.asp?CartId=13653270B-ACCWARE-IXLH85&ic=CSETRBA2XPWB&Cc=&tpc=