Computer memory question - now windows 7 tech thread

[mitt]

My current mobo is a gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 that supports 800/1066/1333 FSB.  I have an intel E6400 2.13Ghz Core 2 proc.  I currently have 2GB of corsair xms2 800 speed memory.  I want at least 4GB for running win7 pro 64bit and Xp mode.  

My options I see are:
   buy a set of 2X2GB 800 memory for around $70, keep my old 2GB in, to give me 6GB total @ 800
   or buy a set of 2X2GB 1066 memory for around $90, pull out my 2GB of 800, to give me 4GB total @ 1066

which option is best?  If I do the 2X2GB 1066 now, then in a year, I could always add another 2X2GB 1066 for 8GB @ 1066.

mitt

[faolan01]

I'd say go with the 1066. you shouldn't have any problems running both the 800 and the 1066 at the same time, as long as you run them in separate pairs. I'm not familiar with that particular board, but it should automatically underclock the 1066 to match the speed of the 800 (if not you can manually set the speed in the BIOS), and when you want to replace the 800 with more 1066 down the line you'll only be replacing 2 sticks instead of all 4.

[ZLTFUL]

Go with the 1066. The native bus of the E6400 is 1066 anyway. And frankly, 4GB is plenty for typical desktop usage (even your CAD programs would be mostly OK).

And adding the additional 4GBs down the road...win in my book anyway.

And don't mix and match RAM. They run different latencies and most times different voltages. Sure, the computer will down clock the faster RAM, but would you ride around on your Monster holding the rear brakes all the time?

[Mad Duc]

Buy both, try both configs, return what you don't like. Depending on what programs you use I don't think you'll notice much difference between the two configs.

[mitt]

Is there really a noticeable difference between the 800 and 1066?

If I go with 4GB of 1066, can I go with a different mfg and still leave the 800 in there?  I hate doing rebates, and all the corsair stuff has them.  With a mix of 1066 and 800, I will only have 800 speed, since the mobo goes to the lowest speed found right?

mitt

[Mad Duc]

You'll probably notice more from going from 2 to 4 gigs than 800 to 1066. If you were only web browsing then it would make little or no difference. Since you are using CAD it will make a difference, but as to how much, eh, hard to say. It depends on a lot of factors. It -might- be better to get up to 6 gigs of slower RAM than 4 gigs of faster RAM.  If you're swapping a lot from the HD then more RAM would be more appropriate, provided the program could use it. That's why I suggested trying both configs. Or maybe track down some forum for the CAD product you use and ask them.

Mixing RAM is bad juju as ZLTFUL said.

[mitt]

I did some more looking at my mobo specs, and it says:

   CPU - Supports 1333/1066/800/533 MHz FSB
   RAM - Supports DDR2 800/667/533 memory

So, does that mean 800 is the fastest I can use anyway?

mitt
   

[ZLTFUL]

It means that 800 is the highest it "Officially" supports. Most likely, through overclocking it will go higher but not worth the work to get something you will only notice differences in benchmarks.

Stick with the 800. (Pun intended!!!)

[Mad Duc]

How many hard drives do you have?  One of the best upgrades you can do is a get a second hard drive and put your swap file on the new HD. It really is an amazingly cheap way to get more speed. Get a drive with a good size cache - 16megs or more...

[ducatiz]

How many hard drives do you have?  One of the best upgrades you can do is a get a second hard drive and put your swap file on the new HD. It really is an amazingly cheap way to get more speed. Get a drive with a good size cache - 16megs or more...

you don't get a huge performance boost by doing this, you just take advantage of part of your swaps being on a separate spindle. 

all the ram is the same voltage.  there will be a stamp on the socket for the type.  the only difference will be the maximum clock speed.

there is no problem mixing 1066 with the 800 you have.  they are on separate buses.  some computers will use the same memory controller for both and clock them at the lowest available and some PCs (like mine) have a separate controller for each bus and each one will run independently.

either way, there is NO problem mixing speeds IF they remain on the same bank.  look at your manual, and it will say something to this effect -- DIMMs within a bank have to be identical, but banks do not.

more memory is always better regardless of speed because you use the swap file less.

swapfile access - 10 -20 milliseconds
RAM access - 100-300 nanoseconds.

always go for more ram. 

i would buy the 1066 ram and use it with your current ram and if you really feel you need the extra 266 clocks, replace the 800 later.  maybe by then they'll have the 1400 clock ram out and you'll have the same problem again..

[Mad Duc]

you don't get a huge performance boost by doing this, you just take advantage of part of your swaps being on a separate spindle. 

The slowest part of your computer is the HD. By spanning two physical volumes you can now access it at twice the speed with more cache space. Even with SATA's NCQ putting your swap file on a second drive will make your computer faster. If he weren't doing CAD stuff this might help more than getting more RAM. For the CAD stuff I agree the RAM is more important but a second HD can also help things out with little cost.

[ducatiz]

The slowest part of your computer is the HD. By spanning two physical volumes you can now access it at twice the speed with more cache space. Even with SATA's NCQ putting your swap file on a second drive will make your computer faster. If he weren't doing CAD stuff this might help more than getting more RAM. For the CAD stuff I agree the RAM is more important but a second HD can also help things out with little cost.

i agree with you, but my point was that with more memory he will do less swaps to hard drive which is a MUCH bigger improvement in system speed.  if you are limited and can't add ram, then spanning a page file is a good idea, but it is nothing compared to increasing ram. 

windows 7 has a RAM max of 192 GB, I can't wait to get my first 100 GB RAM system .  Never ever ever swap again.

[derby]

The slowest part of your computer is the HD. By spanning two physical volumes you can now access it at twice the speed with more cache space. Even with SATA's NCQ putting your swap file on a second drive will make your computer faster. If he weren't doing CAD stuff this might help more than getting more RAM. For the CAD stuff I agree the RAM is more important but a second HD can also help things out with little cost.

the performance gain is really from moving the pagefile to physical disk that isn't constantly seeing other drive activity.

a single physical disk used for nothing but the pagefile would likely be faster than "splitting" the pagefile across the OS disk and a constantly used data disk.

a single pagefile across a dedicated raid0 striped volume would be faster still.

in short, put your pagefile on your fastest, least-used disk.

[Mad Duc]

Never ever ever swap again.

Did you just rick roll this thread?   

For the non-tech guys: you're swapping memory all the time, it's part of the OS. Be it a little or a lot it happens unless you turn it off. It's like this parasitical little thing.  More memory helps reduce it. I know people that just turn it off when they go above 4gigs or so of ram. The second HD really is awesome with boot up times.

Mitt - For best results - Increase memory #1, second HD #2. And don't turn off the swap file if you're doing CAD stuff.

[Mad Duc]

in short, put your pagefile on your fastest, least-used disk.

exactly.