1mb L2 Cache vs. 512kb

Xtreeme · October 20th, 2005, 10:05 AM

It makes no diff on Xp's either. I saw like a 1% diff running cas 2 or 3 on ddr400. Remember the P4 needs all the mem performance it can get-its designed that way. XP however is very efficient with mem in contrast. So if it show small gains on P4 it will be near nill on XP. XP isnt that hungry. Its delta's around what ddr500 for any gains at all. The the cpu chokes it after that I believe. (never had 500 to test heh)

Now the 64, well I imagine that will take advantage of far more mem speed. Dont have one yet myself

But Id say if its a little diff in price go 2.5 or 2 over 3 for sure. But dont go out of your way for it if you dont oclock.

2.5 is the best price/performance ratio usually.

carajean206 · October 20th, 2005, 10:49 AM

i have soem kingston value ram running at 2-2-2-5 and it cost me..... calue ram cost so u dont really need to get high priced ram to get those timings.

SoloCamo · October 20th, 2005, 01:24 PM

no way you are running valueram at 2-2-2-5. How many volts are you pushing through it and how is it cooled?

I could only get mine stable 2.5-3-3-7 and that is with 2.8volts which is a lot for value memory

#43 fan · October 20th, 2005, 09:53 PM

She must be insanly lucky, too.

RamonGTP · October 21st, 2005, 03:02 AM

Are you going to be gaming? If so, i'd go with a single 1GB stick instead of 2x512. Reason being is that if you're going to be gaming you WILL want to eventually upgrade to 2GB in order to properly play some of the newer games that are currently available. If you go with 512MB sticks, you'll have to get 4 of them for 2GB. 4 sticks of ram on Athlon64 systems is not ideal. Not only will your timings have to be VERY relaxed, MUCH more so than 2.5-3-3. You will need to run them at soemthing like 3-4-4-11, and thats not even the worst part. There is another setting for memory timings which is actually the MOST important one (CL being 2nd most) and that is Command Rate. With 4 sticks you will have to run a CR of 2 instead of 1 which has a significant performance impact.

As far as AXP's are concerned. They don't benifit much from increasng the bandwidth, but they do get a pretty nice boost from tighter timings. I've owned several XP systems in the past (still have one left being used as my server) and all of them loved being paired up with some 2-2-2 ram.

Oh, and yeah, i'd also go with the 3700+

I've got one, and actually had 4x512 sticks in there at one point, for about 3 days before I got a pair of 1GB sticks.

Xtreeme · October 21st, 2005, 03:01 PM

"As far as AXP's are concerned. They don't benifit much from increasng the bandwidth, but they do get a pretty nice boost from tighter timings."

The oddity is more bandwidth usually is more gain then tighter timings. Run fast cas2 ddr333 against slower cas3 ddr500 once. The 500 will win. 3 cycle latency on 500 is fater then 2 on 333. On this rig I don't get jack from tightening timings. Sandra yields next to no gain. Ive set it all over the board from low to high. Nothing extreme however. Maybe its just this rig-could be.

XP-Barton mobile 2600+ @2.4gig 1.65vcore
Samsung ddr400 cas 2.5
A7N8X-deluxe rev. 1.04 @200fsb.

Oh and good point on the mem size. 1gig stick-definatly the choice today. Last year-was too $$$ now its perfect solution.

RamonGTP · October 21st, 2005, 05:27 PM

Yes, 500 will win over 333, however that is a pretty big jump. Once you get to DDR400 and above you start expierencing the effect of "deminishing returns" with AXP's. However, when you tighten the timings, you will almost always see a benifit. The bottom line really is the combination of the two (FSB & TIMINGS). At some point, increasing bus speed over timings will get you worse performance, you just gotta find that "sweet spot" that gives the best performance for your particular setup. This holds true for any system, not just AXP's.