DDR2 Memory Questions

[myrlar]

Hi,
I am interested in building a new PC in the next 2-3 months and I have started research on the hardware to buy. So far I'm looking at buying the ASUS P5K Deluxe and one of the new Core 2 Duo chips (1333mhz FSB).

I'm not an overclocker, so I just like to keep normal clock speeds. However, looking over the ASUS P5K Deluxe motherboard specs, I notice that it says it supports 1066mhz DDR2 natively.

So I have a few questions that I hope someone can help me with here (performance related):
1. Do I buy 1066mhz or 800mhz DDR2 RAM if I am to buy that motherboard and the new 1333mhz FSB Core 2 Duo?
2. If I want to buy 4gb of RAM in total, is it better to buy 2x2gb or 4x1gb?

Any other advice is appreciated too.

Thanks.

Edit:
BTW, it will be using Vista x64, so there shouldn't be a 4gb memory issue.

 

[Yellowbeard]

Originally posted by: myrlar 1. Do I buy 1066mhz or 800mhz DDR2 RAM if I am to buy that motherboard and the new 1333mhz FSB Core 2 Duo?
2. If I want to buy 4gb of RAM in total, is it better to buy 2x2gb or 4x1gb?

1. DDR800 is plenty fast, especially if you don't intend to OC. DDR800 is actually operating at 400mhz and a 1333 FSB Intel CPU is actually at 333mhz so your DDR800 memory is still faster than your CPU.

2. For a variety of reasons, I would suggest 2 x 2gb for sure.

 

[drakore]

If you dont need room for more ram later get 4x 1GB.

 

[bwanaaa]

in the 'old days' of overclocking amd 939 chips, many boards had problems with 4 memory modules and higher fsb could be reached with fewer modules. is that no longer the case?

 

[myrlar]

Originally posted by: Yellowbeard
2. For a variety of reasons, I would suggest 2 x 2gb for sure.

Can you elaborate one why?

Thank you for your reply.

 

[Yellowbeard]

So far, it looks as if the P35 based boards are handling 4 DIMMs MUCH better than past MOBOs, AMD or Intel based. So, the latencies and command rate issues with older chipsets are not as much of an issue as they have been.

Howver, I still prefer to use the least number of DIMMs due to less power consumption, less heat, less parts to fail, etc. And, in this particular case the OP states that he will not be OCing. There is little advantage in this example to running the memory substantially faster than the CPU so, a solid set of 2 x 2gb PC6400 is a good fit.