ddr2 ram speed and voltage

[mdrumt]

Hi

First post here.

I have just inherited a q9550 from a friend for my 775 system (up from a E6700) . I have decided to maintain this system and deck it out with 8gb ram and finally get off xp and go win 7 64. The system is used for large audio projects/Games etc. The board is a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 with ram slots rated at 1.8v, I have read that these boards can sometimes get a bit picky with ram voltages with all 4 ram slots utilised.

My Question is, is it worth the gamble of getting faster higher voltage ram hoping that it will work or just get the slower ram rated at 1.8v? The 2 choices i have are:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=13990

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=12904

As you can see, same price. Am I guessing right that if the faster ram does not work at 1600mhz, i can reduce speed down to 1066 or 800 AND lower voltage?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers

[b_rubenstein]

That G Skill memory has the wrong specs; it's 1066 memory. I don't think any DDR2 memory is rated at 1600.

Really good memory is this G Skill: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231209

There really isn't much performance advantage to over clocking it. The memory I listed above can run at 4-4-4-12 timing @1.8v. With all four memory sockets filled the propagation delays can cause memory errors. So the memory can be run at 5-5-5-15 timing for greater stability, rather than having to bump the voltage up on the RAM.

[mdrumt]

Hi Thank you for the info,

Unfortunately I live is Australia so do not have access to Newegg's excellent inventory :/

I am sticking to PCCasegear as they have an excellent reputation in Aus and I am sharing shipping fee with others.

Their list of DDR2 is below if you had time to have a look and provide some guidance. Im inclined to go for the corsair ram i mentioned earlier as it is already rated at 1.8v. I am leaning towards ram with a heatsink just in case I do have to raise voltage to power all 4 slots.

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... &vk_sort=1

[lodestar]

The value of performance RAM and/or extended heatsinks on DDR2 RAM in P35 based systems is in my opinion about nil. In practice even standard RAM can stand heat levels somewhat beyond anything in the rest of the system. From what I remember from when P35s were current, the performance improvements from running faster RAM were shown to be minimal or non-existent. Similarly, benefits from more than 4Gb of RAM were slight even in benchmarks, and invisible on actual systems.

It is worth noting that overclockers of the time using this hardware did not use performance RAM. The normal practice was to use a bus speed of 800 and increase the CPU multiplier. To contain the CPU temperature a heatsink like the Thermalright Extreme was used in a well-ventilated case.

Extended RAM heatsinks are not normally a problem if two memory slots are used. They certainly can be if you use all four and then want to fit an alternative CPU cooler as many tower coolers will block at least the first slot.

So fitting two of the Corsair CM2X2048-6400C5 DDR2 would be the best option. The money saved over higher performance RAM would be better spent on a modern graphics card like the GTX 460.

[mdrumt]

hi lodestar

Cheers for your thoughts, I am satisfied with my current 5770 gfx card for games and yes I do have an aftermarket heatsink, scythe ninja so ram with low profile heat spreaders or none are my options.

The reason for 8 gig ram is not for games but for Audio applications, I often have large amounts of VST and soft amp plugins enabled, drum sample libraries alone can swallow 2 gig of ram, win7 64 another gig. I probably should have been more clear on the use of the pc.

Im thinking 1 gig free could be limiting in the future as i plan to use this as my main system for a few years yet.

[b_rubenstein]

Based on what's available to you, I would get the G Skill F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ memory. Not too many DOA complaints on Newegg, and it works fine in my son's PC. The voltage may have to be set to 1.9v when 8 gig is used. The F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK may very well be the same RAM chips run at a higher voltage. I always prefer memory that can be run at the standard 1.8v.

[mdrumt]

cheers b_rubenstein

yeah im going to stick with the 800 ram, probs the gskill unless someone can vouch for the corsairs which have the same specs but cost $10 more.

[mdrumt]

For the record, got the corsair ram cas 5, all 8gb is working fine with my Win7 64 install at 1.8v. Although, i havent stressed the system yet.