Memory question...........

[Flybywyre]

Doing a build for a friend who wants to do some serious gaming. All "high end" components including memory from Crucial. There is a choice with the memory which will be sitting on a Gigabyte GA-8KNXP P4 800FSB. We can either go for 2 x 1gb pc3200 = £547.52 or 4 x 512 of pc3200 = £220.84.
Given the massive price differential does anyone think the perceived performance increase will be noticeable / justifiable ?
Regards
FBW

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Flybywyre,

There is no reason to go over 1Gb for gaming. I do not even know of any games that use 512Mb of RAM.

After 512Mb of RAM, adding more RAM will start to slow down the computer. A simple way of thinking about it:

If all the memory addresses are listed on a sheet of paper, it is a lot easier to search 1 sheet of paper than it is a whole book full of pages, to find a memory address.

The trick is to have enough RAM to keep the computer from offloading the information it has in its RAM to the Hard Drive, 1Gb is more than enough.

(I would love to see the full specs of the system you are thinking of building.)

Take Care,

Richard

P.S. Every thought about going with an Athlon64 Platform if you really want gaming performance on an extreme edge?

[Flybywyre]

Hello Richard and thanks for your usual excellent response.

The mouse problem I had some while ago has now spread to sound, USB ports and monitor. I will be installing a new MB next week and will resurrect the original post with the final outcome and details

Regards

FBW

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Flybywyre,

Wow! Sorry to hear you lost your motherboard.

Make sure when you move the CPU and Heatsink/Fan over to the new motherboard, you apply new Thermal Grease to the CPU and Heatsink. (It will save you headaches in the future.) ;)

Take Care,

Richard

[TR4A]

After 512Mb of RAM, adding more RAM will start to slow down the computer. A simple way of thinking about it:
I disagree.

From Tom's Hardware Guide (http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20030701/memory_tuning-07.html)
Top Performance with 1 GB of RAM or More

Another important performance criterion is the amount of RAM installed. Image and video-processing applications get an enormous boost from more memory. Readings taken with Content Creation Winstone prove that Windows 2000 and XP systems don't really take off until they have 1 GB or more of RAM. The benchmarks show how heavily system performance depends on the amount of memory. Indeed, 512-MB RAM is the bare minimum for fast Windows XP systems. Long gone are the days of Windows 98 and Me, when 512 MB was the most memory that the majority of systems needed.

The maximum amount of RAM depends solely on the motherboard and its chipset. For more information, go to the "Memory Support" table below. In x86 systems, however, the maximum memory allowed is 3.5 GB, no matter how much RAM has been installed. The CPU simply cannot address any more memory. The remaining capacity is reserved to control the PCI circuits.

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

TR4A,

We are in the context of a High Performance Gaming Machine.

That is why I said:

The trick is to have enough RAM to keep the computer from offloading the information it has in its RAM to the Hard Drive, 1Gb is more than enough.

It is all an over simplification, but that is the way the Powers That Be want it.

Take Care,

Richard

P.S. My 3DMark2001 Project Comparison did not gain any performance going from 512Mb to 1Gb. Here are my 512Mb Details:

3DMark Score: 16,580 (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7033284)

(When you look at the details, it shows my CPU as a AMD Duron(tm) Processor 2313 MHz, it is actually an AthlonXP 2500+ overclocked from 1.83Ghz to 2.33Ghz, just 3DMark shows it incorrectly.)

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

TCS,

A pair of Raptors Striped on a RAID really make Zones load extremely fast when gaming. It is a big help for FPS's and MMORPG's.

As for the RAM, you want one stick per memory controller and you get the best performance out of a matched pair of CAS 2.2.2. sticks of RAM.

Take Care,

Richard

[Flybywyre]

Thank you all for your advice...................

We went for 4 sticks of 256MB DDR3200

Regards
FBW