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| MrSmite |
| Posted: Apr 10 2011, 03:20 AM |
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Greetings,
Which would be better:
* 3 GB DDR400 running as DDR266
* 2 GB DDR400 running as DDR400
Reason being, I have 4 sticks of DDR400 totaling 3GB however if I plug all four
sticks in, my BIOS drops it to DDR266 (even with an FSB of 800 Hz).
If I manually override it back to DDR400 the computer won't POST but says
an invalid clock speed was detected and reset.
I'm currently only running 1GB of DDR400 (2x512) and was curious wether running
the full 3GB at DDR266 would be better or if I should remove the 2x512 and replace
them with the 2x1GB.
Thanks
PS:
I use the machine for programming (VB6, C++), occasional "avi to dvd" work and once
in a while a little MMORPG action (WoW or LotRO). |
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| dloneranger |
| Posted: Apr 10 2011, 08:14 AM |
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I'd go with more memory even with the speed drop
It'll be a little slower, ram wise, but the slowest ram is faster than the hard drive
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| ale5000 |
| Posted: Apr 10 2011, 09:21 AM |
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Are you sure that some of the RAM module isn't relly DDR266?
I don't suggest to stay at DDR266.
I sugget to try different modules, some modules doesn't stay well togheter.
Is the BIOS updated?
You should check that all values (CL-RCD-RP-RAS) are equal, you can see them with AIDA64.
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| dloneranger |
| Posted: Apr 10 2011, 10:29 AM |
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Some motherboards only allow full speed with fewer than 4 (sometimes 3) modules, and will automatically lower the speed if 4(3) modules are used
(Even for identical modules)
Have you ever seen anyone actually complain about the speed of their memory outside of benchmarking ??
| QUOTE | I use the machine for programming (VB6, C++), occasional "avi to dvd" work and once
in a while a little MMORPG action (WoW or LotRO) |
For the given use of the pc, more memory would be better than faster memory
(both would be nice, but if you have to pick one.....)
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| ale5000 |
| Posted: Apr 10 2011, 12:52 PM |
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At these times DDR400 is already slow.
I think that 2 GB is enough for most uses but it is always personal preference to favorite more speed or more ram.
He has said "I have 4 sticks of DDR400 totaling 3GB however if I plug all four sticks in, my BIOS drops it to DDR266 (even with an FSB of 800 Hz)".
But what about 3x1GB?
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| dloneranger |
| Posted: Apr 10 2011, 01:05 PM |
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I played with this pc's memory, switching between speeds and sizes in the bios
Lowering the memory, as expected made the pc slow and sluggish
Swapping between memory speeds made no particular difference (a little bit longer to encode a vid), unless you're a benchmarking freak and spend all day measuring how fast your ram is
The speed is something I'd not care either way about, but would hate to have less memory
| QUOTE | | At these times DDR400 is already slow |
Shrug, everything older is slow, and what's fast now will be slow in 6 months
If it's what you've got then use it or spend more cash.
edit
Of course, it'd be easy enough for the OP to test it both ways and see what works best for him
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| ale5000 |
| Posted: Apr 10 2011, 04:43 PM |
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| QUOTE (dloneranger @ Apr 10 2011, 02:05 PM) | Lowering the memory, as expected made the pc slow and sluggish
Swapping between memory speeds made no particular difference (a little bit longer to encode a vid) |
It isn't so simple, for example you can disable some useless effects of windows and remove many useless things that run at startup, like the Adobe Updater and a lot of stupid preinstalled apps (if you are using a OEM installation of windows), and you will need a lot less ram.
Obviously also the Antivirus make a great difference for speed.
This is just an example but 2GB is more than enough in most cases.
| QUOTE (dloneranger @ Apr 10 2011, 02:05 PM) | , unless you're a benchmarking freak and spend all day measuring how fast your ram is
The speed is something I'd not care either way about, but would hate to have less memory |
Without using benchmark I still care a lot about speed.
Edit: I have just installed Windows 7 on a pc with 512MB of ram and it isn't slow and sluggish at all.
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| dloneranger |
| Posted: Apr 10 2011, 05:07 PM |
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Good to know the OP's question was all about you then 
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| ale5000 |
| Posted: Apr 10 2011, 05:30 PM |
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How I have said: | QUOTE | | it is always personal preference |
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| MrSmite |
| Posted: Apr 11 2011, 04:31 AM |
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| QUOTE (ale5000 @ Apr 10 2011, 09:21 AM) | Are you sure that some of the RAM module isn't relly DDR266?
I don't suggest to stay at DDR266.
I sugget to try different modules, some modules doesn't stay well togheter.
Is the BIOS updated?
You should check that all values (CL-RCD-RP-RAS) are equal, you can see them with AIDA64. |
Yes, the RAM is all DDR400.
To be more precise, I have 2x512 (matched pair) and 2x1GB (matched pair) and they
run in dual channel mode.
If I plug the 2x512 then I get DDR400 if I plug 2x1GB I get DDR400. It is only when I
plug all four that it drops to DDR266. As for the timings and such, they're identical
across all four modules.
I'm mainly trying to decide wether it's worth keeping the 2x1GB since by today's
standards, DDR400 isn't cheap. For the cost of those two sticks, I could buy a new
mobo.
I don't mind slower RAM if it isn't terribly slow (like a i386 vs. Pentium IV), I just don't
know what to look for in regards to "slowness". Would it be bad FPS, long render
times, what?
Thanks. |
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| dloneranger |
| Posted: Apr 11 2011, 09:15 AM |
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Cons
Slightly longer rendering.
In general the pc will be a bit slower for things in memory
Pro
Larger file cache, so once files are used there's a greater chance that they'll be in memory when used again (compiling etc)
Less swap file pressure, more programs will stay in memory instead of being paged out to the swap file and reloaded from disk
Just give it a try both ways and see what works best for you
There's a ram speed comparison at toms hardware that you might find interesting
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ram-sp...tests,1807.html
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| phaeron |
| Posted: Apr 16 2011, 08:34 PM |
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Honestly, unless you're working on big programs -- and by that, I mean significantly bigger than VirtualDub -- you'll be better off with the faster 2GB for the programming. I've been using 2GB on Windows 7 x64 and I've been CPU bottlenecked on C++ compiles. This is especially true with the older versions of Visual Studio that were more frugal with memory and if you have precompiled headers set up properly. It's a different story if you're working on a major application on a team, with something like 1M+ LOC.
Video encoding also isn't going to use that much memory, as the encoder has to operate in a streaming fashion anyway. Unless you're doing heavy compositing, a ton of effects, or running with some enormous frame sizes, I doubt memory size will make a difference.
What you should really watch out for are the games. They will eat memory alive, they're the ones most likely to benefit from an extra gigabyte of disk cache, and they're also likely to suffer the most from disk swapping. |
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| MrSmite |
| Posted: May 7 2011, 05:37 AM |
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Well, I've been running with the 3GB @266 and it seems like a toss-up.
The programs I write aren't that big to need the RAM. I do notice what I *think* is
a bit of a hit in games like LotRO or EQ2. Things seem a bit sluggish though it could
just be an artifact of my crappy DSL connection (when it rains I resynch at slower speed).
I'll probably take 1 GB out to see the difference @400. |
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| -vdub- |
| Posted: May 7 2011, 04:40 PM |
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| QUOTE (MrSmite @ Apr 10 2011, 03:20 AM) | Greetings,
Which would be better:
* 2 GB DDR400 running as DDR400
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Why not set up virtualdub encode with many video filters. Saving vd processing settings for task and use for compare. When running task look at the process-saving ouput details fps and all will tell you. |
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| MrSmite |
| Posted: May 7 2011, 11:03 PM |
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| QUOTE (-vdub- @ May 7 2011, 04:40 PM) | | QUOTE (MrSmite @ Apr 10 2011, 03:20 AM) | Greetings,
Which would be better:
* 2 GB DDR400 running as DDR400
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Why not set up virtualdub encode with many video filters. Saving vd processing settings for task and use for compare. When running task look at the process-saving ouput details fps and all will tell you. |
That's actually a good suggestion. If I have some free time I think I might try it.
Thanks. |
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