pc2100 with athlon 64

[BonerDoner]

I would really like to upgrade to an athlon 64 system in order to enjoy hl2 in all of it's splendor. The main thing holding me back is my ram, as I have 3 sticks of pc2100 ddr with an athlon xp 2000+. Other than that, I have a radeon9800 pro, so that will do much better in an athlon 64 rig.

My question is, how much of a performance decrease will I get for using pc2100 ram in the athlon 64 system? I really don't care about synthetic benchmarks, and from what I've seen, the athlon64 really isn't too dependent on memory bandwidth. All I'm interested in is increased framerates in nextgen games. It would really save me a ton not to have to buy new ram. Any input is appreciated.

 

[Gulzakar]

won't work.

you need DDR 400 Mhz...

if you try and use the 2100 mem, it probably won't work.

 

[Algere]

Originally posted by: Gulzakar
won't work.

you need DDR 400 Mhz...

if you try and use the 2100 mem, it probably won't work.

Not true, e.g. my K8V Deluxe can accept as low as PC1600/DDR200.

OP: From what I've heard the performance difference between PC3200/DDR400 and PC2700/DDR333 isn't much. If that's the same as with going from PC2700 to PC2100, I dunno.

 

[Soulkeeper]

shouldn't hurt too bad
you'll prob pat yurself on the back for saving money while playing games faster than ever

just lower the latencies to compensate and regardless of the bandwidth you'll still have one of the fastest mem sub system of most any desktop around (atleast latency wise for both cache/mem)

 

[BonerDoner]

Thanks for the responses.

Has anyone seen any benchmarks on this kind of thing?

 

[Ljon]

You only need the ddr 400 if your going to run the 64 bit operating system as well.

 

[Algere]

Uhm no

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: Gulzakar
won't work.

you need DDR 400 Mhz...

if you try and use the 2100 mem, it probably won't work.

Wrong. The chipset no longer cares about the memory's DDR speed, since the RAM controller is in the CPU. FSB is not as relevant now.

 

[Peter]

Athlon 64 processors (all flavors!) can run anything from PC1600 to PC3200. RAM clock is derived from the CPU core (!) clock, by dividing down.

All that changes is performance - more or less, depending on whether your applications fit into the caches or not.

 

[El Gimpo Suave]

considering the cost of upgrading your memory...the increase in speed wouldnt be justified. why not... spend it on a crazy "zebo style" cooling system and overclock the bejebus out of your rig? much more fun and youll still be using the cooling system 3 yrs from now.

then again i have other hobbies besides my pc and once its doing what i need i dont crack it open and tinker just to see if i can get an extra 2% out of a new bios.

 

[BonerDoner]

Thanks for all the responses. Hopefully I'll get a 3000+ soon. I just need to decide on a motherboard. I'm leaning towards either the k8n neo-fsr or the asus k8n. I really don't need the extra features of the neo platinum or the k8n pro.

 

[Michael10]

I moved from a P4, 2.4b (ASUS P4PE) which was o/c to 2.7 to a 3500+ (ASUS A8V Deluxe -- no wifi). Still using my Micron PC 2700 (1gb). I am also running an overclocked 9700 pro. My 3DWINMARK has increased from 4800 to about 5500 and my AquaMark3 from 16,000 to 38,000. I have increased the o/c of my 9700 pro by a small fraction (I added big heatsinks and a bigger fan). I order OCZ 3200 ram (Plantium reduced latency stuff) today so I will update you when I switch out my memory.

Since I am going to use my old CPU, MOBO and ram to build another system, the RAM upgrade makes sense (to me).

The improvement in benchmarks is reflected in impoved performance in games.

Michael

 

[BonerDoner]

Man that boost in aquamark is huge. I think I'm gonna go with the a8v non deluxe.

 

[Drylnn]

I'd be curious about this as I was thinking about it tonight. I have a gig of ram on my p4 board... mostly PC2700, but I do have a stick of PC2100 in that gb. Eventually I'll switch it out, but I was wondering if I could use it on an Athlon 64 board and just upgrade the ram down the road.

Crucial (where I buy most of the ram) says it's all compatible between the 2 boards, but I just wondered how bad it would kill me. Sounds like it'll be an okay move from what I've heard here, but I'd be curious to see what you think when you do your switch and run some benches.

 

[Michael10]

As I wrote above -- moving from the P4 to the 64 3500+ and the mobo swap raised my AquaMark3D score from around 16,000 to around 38,000 -- still using my Crucial 2700 (1 GB). I replaced the 2700 with PC 3200 (OCZ Plantium Edition 2 extreme low latency -- or something like that) and my AquaMark3d score increased by only 1,100 or so points (from around 38,100 to 39,200). I did up the o/c on my 9700 pro and broke 40,000. I am sure the OCZ ram will let me o/c the 3500+ CPU which I plan to do eventually.

All, I can say is that the move from the P4 2.4 (which was o/c to 2.7) to the 3500+ has made a really, really, big difference. I play a flight sim (IL-2 Forgotten Battles) which has reputation as being a CPU hog. A pre-recorded track is used as the standard benchmark. My average FPS went from about 23 to about 35 (with all video options held constant). I think the ASUS A8V deluxe (get the 2nd revision) and the 3500+ are the best combination available for the price. I would then add a 6800 GT video card -- which I will do in the next month or so.

I know a lot of folks have reported problems with ASUS A8V but my experience has been positive and it is what AlienWare and a number of other high end builders are using. It is also the recommended mobo by a number of magazines and at some web sites.

 

[Peter]

In short, the benefit from faster RAM is rather small on Athlons (both 32- and 64-bit), but quite a lot larger on Pentium-4.

 

[Childs]

PC2100 RAM works fine. I'm not even sure that its that much slower and PC3200 is real world usage.