03-06-2005 23:54									#1
	RAM question: Which setup would be faster? Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

Yo,

I recently bought some RAM off ebay for a very good price. Its a 256MB stick of PC2100 DDR RAM. The problem is, it does not work in conjunction with my old RAM (two sticks of 256MB PC133).

So my question is, since I cannot use them together, which would give me the best performance?

1. 512MB of PC133 RAM

or

2. 256MB of PC2100 RAM

Your thoughts?

	03-06-2005 23:59									#2
	Remove this text

4 gigs of PC4200 DDR2.


Seriously, there's no performance difference in the RAM istelf that will ever make up for the difference between 256 and 512 if you're using Win2k or more recent (or equivalent era or more recent Linux distros) and normal, fairly current office or game apps.

	04-06-2005 00:04									#3
	Tired of ads?

Well, if all you use is 256MB of it, the DDR will be faster.

If you use > 256MB of it, you'll be paging to the glacial harddrives...and that will probably be slower.

	04-06-2005 00:05									#4
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

quote: Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat 4 gigs of PC4200 DDR2. Seriously, there's no performance difference in the RAM istelf that will ever make up for the difference between 256 and 512 if you're using Win2k or more recent (or equivalent era or more recent Linux distros) and normal, fairly current office or game apps.

I'm not a fan of DDR2's latency.

I prefer CAS 2 DDR(1) for today.

	04-06-2005 00:22									#5
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

quote: Originally posted by Asher Well, if all you use is 256MB of it, the DDR will be faster. If you use > 256MB of it, you'll be paging to the glacial harddrives...and that will probably be slower.

Eh?

So you're saying I should use the 256MB DDR instead of the 512 SDR?

Sorry, I'm lost...

	04-06-2005 00:24									#6
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

It depends how much RAM you use, is what I'm saying. If your usual usage is under 256MB, then 256MB DDR is better. Else, 512MB SDR is better.

	04-06-2005 00:30									#7
	Tired of ads?

Asher means how much your software uses, as opposed to how much you have installed. Running Word and Firefox won't go above 256, but run other software at the same time, you'll want more. If the 256Mb stick was such good value, then get another one?

	04-06-2005 01:08									#8
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quote: Originally posted by Asher It depends how much RAM you use, is what I'm saying. If your usual usage is under 256MB, then 256MB DDR is better. Else, 512MB SDR is better.

Oh, I see...

quote: If the 256Mb stick was such good value, then get another one?

Yeah, thats the plan... eventually. I was just wondering what would be optimal at this point in time. I thought it was a cut and dry speed issue, but now I see its more complicated.

Thanks everyone, I guess I'll have to weigh my options.

	04-06-2005 05:04									#9
	Re: RAM question: Which setup would be faster? Full PM-box? Change here!

quote: Originally posted by JimmyCracksCorn Yo, I recently bought some RAM off ebay for a very good price. Its a 256MB stick of PC2100 DDR RAM. The problem is, it does not work in conjunction with my old RAM (two sticks of 256MB PC133). So my question is, since I cannot use them together, which would give me the best performance? 1. 512MB of PC133 RAM or 2. 256MB of PC2100 RAM Your thoughts?

I'd have to say the more ram generally. Going to the Hard drive is very very slow.

	04-06-2005 10:40									#10
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I thought the PC bus speeds are incompatible. In other words, you can't use PC2100 ramchips in a PC133 machine.

	04-06-2005 10:59									#11
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quote: Originally posted by Vince278 I thought the PC bus speeds are incompatible. In other words, you can't use PC2100 ramchips in a PC133 machine.

Not sure. My machine is fairly new though, so it might have been backwards compatible with my older RAM (taken out of an older machine).

	04-06-2005 11:08									#12
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I'm fairly sure the PC bus speed of a ramchip needs to match. Someone feel free to inform me otherwise, I'm curious.

	04-06-2005 21:17									#13
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You can use PC133 in many DDR boards, they're backwards compatible.