Whats the difference?

[Ruud]

Between theses two

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?csr-x642g5&P=1

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?CSR-X642G

They look the same but the price isnt

[GN]

The diffrence is CAS Latency.

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/spec ... -x642g&P=1 (http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?csr-x642g&P=1)

= CL4

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http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/spec ... x642g5&P=1 (http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?csr-x642g5&P=1)

=CL5


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When selecting a stick of RAM, the lower the CAS latency (given the same clock speed), the better the system performs. Look it up on wikki = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAS_Latency

[djgandy]

What are you buying them for?

tbh if you have a Core2Duo system i'd buy the super cheap novatech stuff.

[GN]

ignore this person. He does not know what he is talking about.

[djgandy]

ignore this person. He does not know what he is talking about.


OH dear. C2Duo doesnt rely on low latencies. C2D doesn't have half multis either. Show me some benchmarks that justify the extra £30 and we'll see who knows what they are talking about eh?

Oh yeah, I've seen a few reports of those corsair modules failing lately. Enjoy buying your marketing.

[Nox]

I would never buy the super cheap unbranded stuff, for starters, its not super cheap, its usually only £10 cheaper than branded value stuff, which will be significantly better, especially if you start using non-intel chipsets. If you plan to overclock, or want to spend hours getting that last ounce of performance from your system (and its never worth it for 1fps!) then go higher. I went for 800Mhz memory to go with my core 2 duo, that way i knew it would be 100% if i managed to overclock up to 3.6ghz. Well, i got 3.59999 and a much lowert voltage on the ram than specified (cooler) :)

Nox

[Nox]

and for a tenner, i'd get the C4 stuff. You could lower the voltage drop it to C5 and have understressed memory for the next 25 years, or drop it to C5 and get higher than 800Mhz, probably. And that you would notice a difference, if you needed it.

Nox

[djgandy]

I would never buy the super cheap unbranded stuff, for starters, its not super cheap, its usually only £10 cheaper than branded value stuff, which will be significantly better, especially if you start using non-intel chipsets. If you plan to overclock, or want to spend hours getting that last ounce of performance from your system (and its never worth it for 1fps!) then go higher. I went for 800Mhz memory to go with my core 2 duo, that way i knew it would be 100% if i managed to overclock up to 3.6ghz. Well, i got 3.59999 and a much lowert voltage on the ram than specified (cooler) :)

Nox

That's why I said if you are using c2d the cheap stuff will do ;)

The value branded stuff is no better than unbranded stuff imo. They have had to release cheap to gain more market share. Branded memory goes in the bin with branded cards for me. Brands usually get to pick and choose what parts they get, basically a bid for the best quality components. When tech is new the standard of manufacturing will be lower but as time goes by it gets better hence why brands are selling 1200mhz memory at the top end. You have to buy brands to get that. Thats the pick of what came out the factory.

XMS is good memory and i'd pay a £10er more for the warranty but its not even in stock and is nearly £20 more per gig.

£35 can be much better spent on other components imo

Looking around at other sites though you can get branded for cheaper than generic. I'm surprised how cheap memory has got. I knew it was going to get cheap but some of the prices seem wrong :O

2GB Geil PC6400 800MHz CAS 4-4-4-12 for £65 :O

[GN]

zzzzzzz..... corsair is ****. OCZ is the best.

Personally, through experience. You should really get branded ram as this has been testing for faults and tested to a standard. With the generic ram this is just the **** which has failed there tests but still works to a degree. most generic ram is also random brands eg if you got 4 x 512mb sticks most likely they would be all different to one another and this would Corse memory conflicts. It is best to get a branded type of memory even the value branded is better then generic.

Also this principal applies to ALL motherboards and processors not just the Core 2 Duodick.

[djgandy]

AMD processors gain much more performance from lower latency ram. You should do more homework before you start critisizing my advice.
Latency has next to no effect on Core2Duo processors.

Works to a degree? You're just talking rubbish now. DDR2 has been around for 2 years now. It's a mature tech and the quality of components is good. ALL ram is tested, then the best stuff is sold to corsair etc and the worst is sold off in huge quantities.
That's not to say its bad though, Intel's best processors were sold as X6800's the worst are sold as E6300's. Does that make them bad?

Every PC in my house has unbranded ram, and some of those sticks must be at least 6 years old.


Anyway OP. 2GB geil £65. Find it ;)

[GN]

Everything gains from lower latency ram. One of the reasons why latency might have next to no effect on Core2Duo processors is probaly due to its high FSB and cache performace. I dont know.

Were did you get this information from? Are you a hardware engineer? Are you a software enginner? I would like to know so that I can find this out also.

[djgandy]

http://www.xbitlabs.com/
http://www.anandtech.com/
http://www.dailytech.com/
http://www.digitimes.com/
http://www.eetimes.com/

Or just sit in the tomshardware cpu forum and see what people post.
I'll have a look for the memory stuff, but it was a few months back.

[Nox]

it will have an effect, but whether an effect you will not notice in everyday life is worth a tenner - guess that depends how important the tenner is to you.

And G.Skill are the best!! Actually i like branded as the warranty tends to be a tad better and you can find out stuff like compatibility of *** type modules with yyy motherboards.

Nox

[djgandy]

it will have an effect, but whether an effect you will not notice in everyday life is worth a tenner - guess that depends how important the tenner is to you.

And G.Skill are the best!! Actually i like branded as the warranty tends to be a tad better and you can find out stuff like compatibility of *** type modules with yyy motherboards.

Nox

Yeh I'd buy branded for the warrenty. Prices have dropped a lot this week so its more attractive, but a few months back when it was £190 for the cheapest branded DDR800 novatech sold....no thanks i'll save my £90!

I'd put G.Skill up the top too. Quite expensive though.

[Lustral]

Corsair , OCZ , Kingston , Geil , G.Skill , Super Talent etc etc are all good stuff

I use some Corsair TwinX LED DDR2 800 at the moment , and have been running them at 933Mhz , done so for over 2 years. All good stuff.

Lusty