1GB Modules Roundup

[thriemus]

Hello folks,

I have been googling for days now trying to get a good review of 1GB modules running in dual channel and I must say its not going well. With many people now running or thinking of upgrading to 2GB of ram as perfromance RAM prices come down why are there no roundups on the internet? I think Anandtech should continue to lead the way and be the first to do a review running nothing but 1GB modules and even compare the results to their 2x512MB counterparts.

What do you think?

 

[mwmorph]

there's really no difference between value ram and performance ram. since you have an amd64, just buy the lowest latency form the best company you can afford. ram reviews are moot. the 2x as expensive ram might only gain you a couple of fps's in doomIII or hl2.
ask around. the best brands are crucial(usually)

 

[Slaimus]

What I do want to see is more single sided 512MB sticks so us socket 939 people can actually use all 4 slots without having to run at DDR333 or 2T command rate. Only Crucial has those, and I have them in my rig, but they are hardly good overclockers.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

I want to see if Venice fixes that problem

That and if they can consistently achieve 2.8+ will be more than enough reason to sell the winny and upgrade.

 

[thriemus]

Originally posted by: mwmorph
there's really no difference between value ram and performance ram. since you have an amd64, just buy the lowest latency form the best company you can afford. ram reviews are moot. the 2x as expensive ram might only gain you a couple of fps's in doomIII or hl2.
ask around. the best brands are crucial(usually)

I use photoshop, winrar, and many other memory hungry apps. I rarely get a chance to play games, but when I do I want to play them well. I would say gaming takes up 3%-5% of my time. I already have purchased good ram but the point I was making was that there are no good reviews for a 2GB configuration and I think that as computers keep getting better and faster then its best to start the ball rolling with a 2x1GB memory roundup now as the big memory manufactures start to release them.

I think your comment was very short sighted. And saying that there is no difference between value ram and performance ram is laughable. No real difference in games, true. But to rule out faster ram on the premise of gaming performance is just plain silly. Not all people use their boxes for gaiming, I wish to God I had the time to do that!

In two years time and 2 x 1GB is the defacto standard for machine memory configuration will you want to see the reviews then. Also, many people plan out their own computers these days to try and get 2 or 3 years out of it and any information pertaining to what componants is a must. I have trusted the reviews on Anandtech since late 97 or early 98 and find them to be well written and impartial. What I had hoped for on this thread was to see some other perfectionists agree with me that a review like the one I described would be a good thing but I guess I was wrong.

Does anyone agree?

EDIT:

Originally posted by: bunnyfubbles
I want to see if Venice fixes that problem

That and if they can consistently achieve 2.8+ will be more than enough reason to sell the winny and upgrade.

I am looking forward to seeing this core myself

 

[DrMrLordX]

I would also like to see some reviews of 1 gig DIMMS(either in dual-channel configs or single-DIMM configs on socket 754 or . . . whatever). However, the sheer cost of 1 gig DIMMs in comparison to 512x2 kits makes them less desirable to many buyers, and that keeps interest in them low.

I'd also like to know when we'll all want to start using ECC on our desktop machines due to the massive size of the DIMMs we're using.

 

[thriemus]

Two very good points, but as I dont go out clubbing every weekend I can afford the 1Gb dimms, money was not the issue for me it was performance. Also mentioning ECC was a very good point but as it takes a performance hit most enthuiasts wont go for it However I do use ECC ram in all my servers for the increased reliability. On average non ecc ram makes an error every one or two months and this attributes to alot of system crashes around the world so if system stability is paramount then ecc ram is a must.

 

[donnelly]

i want to see reviews for 1GB sticks, i have a shuttle i use as my second pc and only has 2 slots, i875p chipset though/2.8P4.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Originally posted by: thriemus
Two very good points, but as I dont go out clubbing every weekend I can afford the 1Gb dimms, money was not the issue for me it was performance.

Heh, yeah, I save quite a bit of scratch that way myself. I am, however, quite a tightwad. Nevertheless, with the wild PC3200 price war going on right now, I think DIMMS of all sizes are getting quite a bit more affordable. They just need to start dropping decent-quality 1gb sticks to the $100-$110 before much interest will be generated.

As far as ECC's performance hit goes . . . isn't it only a jump in CL of about .5-1.0? Personally, I don't mind CL3 or 2.5 that much. What I do mind is seeing ECC RAM with less motherboard support(I think, dunno which, if any, desktop Athlon 64 boards support it, and I am not sure if P4 boards support it either unless they're targetted at Xeons) and higher price for less performance.

On the other hand, "the industry" will eventually have to start pushing the technology on us. Sandra already lists warnings/suggestions that 512mb and 1gb DIMMS should all be ECC. I figure once we hit 2-4gb DIMMs, we'll be seeing errors more than once every 1-2 months(if we aren't already seeing them now).

 

[Tiorapatea]

Yes, I would like to see this. I'm building a Photoshop/gaming rig for a friend and I need to know how 1GB DIMMs shape up.

I'd also like to know which Socket 939 mobos support ECC RAM - but I guess I can do my own research.

Interested to hear about single-sided Crucial 512 sticks being able to do 4x512 at 1T and DDR400. Would that be these?

Edit: No, I don't think so, as it says "64x64" and I read somewhere that that means double-sided. How do you tell exactly whether something is single-sided just by looking at those numbers?

 

[duo007]

i think 1gig is very hearty . anything over that latencies wont run at the same settings. i once that than you can buy 4 512mb xms XL ddr400 sticks and have 2gigs of 2-2-2-5 modules in my system. i have been slapped many times.people telling me fo sho it wont work and 2-2-2-5 isnt a possiblity at 2gigs.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Originally posted by: Tiorapatea
Interested to hear about single-sided Crucial 512 sticks being able to do 4x512 at 1T and DDR400. Would that be these?
?

Actually, it's these:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-146-541&depa=1

Note the .8T in the model #. I have a pair, and I can confirm that they are indeed single-sided. I wouldn't have known about them were it not for Slaimus.

 

[Tiorapatea]

DrMrLordX, thanks.

Have done more research. It seems that when you buy from Crucial direct, there is no way of knowing whether you will receive 8-chip (single-sided) or 16-chip (double-sided) modules. the 64x64 description encompasses both configurations. It is only by buying from a third-party vendor such as Newegg (not present in uk ) that you are able to guarantee what you are getting.

Having said that, I am trying to contact Crucial in the UK to see if I can get around this somehow (but they don't answer the telephone!). Or maybe I can find a vendor of Crucial in UK who will tell me what they have.

One further question. Is it the case that 4 SS DIMMs from Crucial can be run at DDR400 and 1T command rate on all Socket 939 motherboards? Are there any issues with four such modules versus two modules in terms of timing, stability, overclockability on current nforce4 boards?

Edit: and one more question. What impact does ECC have on timings, command rate, OC etc.? Sorry to hijack this thread a little but all these memory issues need to be addressed in a full review I think.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Not sure about running 4 of those DIMMS on socket 939, Nforce 4 or otherwise. I'm running a pair of them in a Socket 754 Chaintech VNF3-250, and they run at 1T at stock speeds(DDR400, 3-3-3-8). That's all I can verify from personal experience. Running 4 single-sided 512mb DIMMS should be the same as running 2 double-sided 1 gb DIMMS, but that's just what I've heard. It's 4 banks of memory either way.

The folks in the motherboard forum might be able to give you a better answer.

 

[Tiorapatea]

OK, thanks. Have just found this on Crucial's UK site, which indicates that 512Mbit chips are used only in the 1GB and larger modules so I guess I'm out of luck in the United Kingdom. That still leaves me with the 2x1GB option and I'll just have to see how the timings are affected by having these large banks of memory.

 

[Tiorapatea]

According to page 161 of this large pdf from AMD, even single-sided DIMMs will only support DDR333 at 1T command rate if all four slots are occupied. Of course, it might work in spite of AMD's official position. Does anyone have confirmation of this - I have read a lot of statements that four single-sided DIMMs will work at 1T and DDR400 but not from anybody who has actually done it and confirmed it with cpu-z (the BIOS settings will not necessarily be effective, cpu-z can usually tell).

If you look below in the Socket 940 tables, registered DIMMs are good for DDR400 but I don't know if that would apply in currently available Socket 939 boards.