DDR Memory Question

[Moeken]

Aside from overclocking, what are the advantages to having higher memory speed?

For instance, I'm trying to decide on memory for an ASUS A7N8X and I'm not sure whether I
should get DDR333 or DDR400.
If I get DDR400 can I set the timing back to 333 in order to synchronize with an XP2700+
or should I just go with 333 right off the bat and save some $$?

Hopefully this doesn't sound like a stupid question, but I'm not overly familiar with the various
BIOS options on new mobos.

 

[Insidious]

IMHO, if you are not overclocking, it is totally unnecessay to overrate the RAM.
You'll be fine with RAM rated at the FSB you are using and there is no advantage to getting ram that could run faster.

 

[microAmp]

First off, there will be no performace difference between DDR333 and DDR400 when using the setup you have. The CPU is going to dictate the speed of memory bandwidth. They only difference is that the DDR400 can accept FSB speeds up to 200 MHz, while of the DDR333 can accept FSB speeds up to 166 MHz.

Of course when overclocking your chances are better with DDR400 since the CPU is running at 166 Mhz, it still has another 34 Mhz to go before it starts reaching the limit of the DDR400.

DDR400 is typical overclocked DDR333. Just hand picked modules that did really well in test and they slap a label on there calling it DDR400 when it's really DDR333.

There are some companies that make true DDR400, but I really don't remember which. If you can find those companies, i.e. Samsung, Crucial, etc. then I would pick up the DDR400 from them for future expandability.

 

[Mavrick007]

Always buy the fastest ram that you can afford to buy. There is always benefit with different settings and higher speeds using faster ram. How much it is worth to you to overclock makes a big part in your decision. If you never plan on overclocking, then I would probably stick with ram that matches your fsb. I would always check to see the price difference though, cause if it's the same or just a bit more, it might make sense to get the faster ram.

 

[Moeken]

Thanks for the timely info.

Presently I don't have the mobo,memory or cpu, but I'm just planning in advance
so that I'm not dissapointed later. My thought is that I may want to slap in a
'Morgan' processor when they are released but I'm not sure what the FSB for that
chip is going to be. I've heard rumors of 400 Mhz.

Right now I'm looking at two sticks:

PC2700 (ddr333) CL2.0

PC3200 (ddr400) CL2.5

I'm a little leary about the CL2.5 rating, can you still try to run these using CL2.0 in the BIOS?

 

[hbkh]

I'm a little leary about the CL2.5 rating, can you still try to run these using CL2.0 in the BIOS?

yes, however, the CL2 timing might be a little to aggressive for your setup.... you would have to try it and find out...