Corsair XMS? Crucial?

d1sc g0lf3r · February 19th, 2003, 01:49 PM

Which Memory Module should I go with?

Corsair XMS PC3200 2x 256MB = 512MB $190 shipped NewEgg
Crucial PC 2700 2x 512MB = 1024MB $169.98 shipped NewEgg

btw I will be placing this in a new Asus A7N8X MoBo
with an AMD XP 2700+ CPU

EndobioticChaos · February 19th, 2003, 01:54 PM

What do you want it for? From what I've read, the Corsair is better for overclocking, but I still prefer Crucial.

d1sc g0lf3r · February 19th, 2003, 01:55 PM

I am not an overclocker.

Do you think I should stick with the Crucial RAM? as I get twice as much for less money?

d1sc g0lf3r · February 19th, 2003, 01:59 PM

Also I want to take advantage of the Dual-Channel DDR feature that is why I want to get 2 sticks, If you were wondering.

Also I am a gamer. I play games like UT2003, Medieval: Total War...

grandchehaw · February 19th, 2003, 02:01 PM

A friend of mine just bought that board and two sticks of 512 corsair xms memory and loves it. Of course he is also overclocking too.

That is a tough call. Get more memory at a slower speed or get less memory at a faster speed. I thought the dual channel ddr feature would only work with pc3200 memory? I could be wrong.

EndobioticChaos · February 19th, 2003, 02:02 PM

Yes, definitely stick with the Crucial if you don't plan to overclock. The Corsair will definitely not give you any improvements otherwise.

d1sc g0lf3r · February 19th, 2003, 02:06 PM

Quote:

I thought the dual channel ddr feature would only work with pc3200 memory? I could be wrong.

I did not know about that hmmm????

KAknight · February 19th, 2003, 02:08 PM

Go with Crucial. You cannot get better memory IMO.

AuraEdge · February 19th, 2003, 02:14 PM

Dual channel works on any type of RAM, as long as the board supports dual channel and theres at least two sticks of RAM in the system. If your not clocking, get Crucial. Running the RAM over the speed of the FSB will have little speed improvement, since the FSB is already saturated. On the Athlon 2700+, the FSB is 333Mhz, which is the speed of PC2700. The extra 512MB of RAM will help you more than XMS does, which assists mainly overclockers. Either way, the gain is limited (The increase from 512 to 1GB of RAM with the Crucial, or the increase to 400Mhz DDR SDRAM), but the 1GB has potential to be useful, where the increased memory bus speed will always saturate the FSB (unless you overclock, but you stated you weren't.)

Corsair XMS is probably THE best memory to buy, but IMO, even if your OCing, the premium they charge isnt worth it.

davidamarkley · February 19th, 2003, 02:15 PM

The DualDDR feature workds with any DDR memory.

KAknight: Crucial is very good memory, but the best would be Corsair or Mushkin. I would get the Crucial. I mean, having twice as much memory would be better than having a minimal gain from speed. Since you already said you won't be overclocking it, that is not an issue(crucial will overclock pretty good anyway).

Some say that faster is always better, but acording to the benchmarks at Tom's, the board you're getting is best when using DualDDR at DDR333(PC2700) and performance actually decreases when going up to DDR400. I'm building a comp with the same mobo, and there is no difference between my crucial PC2700 sticks, and a friend's corsair xms PC3200.