Crucial Ballistix Tracer Memory Question

[mr. nails]

i just upgraded to an amd 64 3500+ 939 90nm with an asus A8V Deluxe VIA K8T800 Pro mb. i was thinking about the crucial ballistix pc4000 ram. is that ok? i'm saying, that will work right? is there a reason for 4000? if i don't intend to oc will 4000 provide any more performance gain? thx.

[_John_Lennon_]

You dont intend to OC? 4000 will let you go up to 250FSB, and that ballistix will let you go to probably 270 with relaxed timings.

Timings and FSB are what the memory is about, and seeing as how you wont be needing all that FSB, PC 3200 speeds will do. With 250FSB ram, you could run it at 200FSB with pretty tight timings, but there are probably cheaper PC3200 solutions that would do that already.

[bigdawgfoxx]

What is the point of having like PC4400? Like who overclocks there FSB that much and with what chip?

[tesco]

What is the point of having like PC4400? Like who overclocks there FSB that much and with what chip?
I guess it's future proof so you could use that memory in your future computers?

[mr. nails]

i realize that that ram has 250fsb, but i've never played around with amd 64. will that mb i have run @ 250fsb? it says that it runs up 2 3200 speeds. so, it will unlock or just run @ 250fsb? how much total fsb does the 3500 have...1600? idk how that works.

[_John_Lennon_]

Your motherboard will run about 215 or so FSB. However there are 64Bit mobos that are running inupwards of 300 FSB. Mine that I had ran up to about 260, without having to tone down the ram numbers. However that was because or anything but the high end FX line of AMD CPUs, the onboard memory controller is the limiter.

And the PC3200, PC3500 etc is a number that is the theoretical amount of bandwidth it can generate. Obviouslly more FSB equals more bandwidth, so thats why both of the numbers go up together.

3200 is 200,
3500 is about 216
3700 is about 234
and 4000 is 250

[mr. nails]

how do u get those numbers? 215 for my asus? you've played with my mb be4? read benches? i'm asking... thx.

[_John_Lennon_]

Just general knowledge from the Asus forum browsing that I do. Seeing as how you have a semi new version, you might get low to mid 220's with the right BIOS.

Its just the general trend for all of the A7N8X's. And the memory numbers are pretty much standard.

[lynx]

Just general knowledge from the Asus forum browsing that I do. Seeing as how you have a semi new version, you might get low to mid 220's with the right BIOS.

Its just the general trend for all of the A7N8X's. And the memory numbers are pretty much standard.You didn't read the first post properly did you. :dry:
He's upgraded to the A8V w/A64-3500.

[_John_Lennon_]

Hmm, I'm pretty sure I had that in mind when looking at his initial post, however I think somewhere along the way. Perhaps its because they're both ASUS? Whatever.

In that case I will just go back to my orignial reply.


You dont intend to OC? 4000 will let you go up to 250FSB, and that ballistix will let you go to probably 270 with relaxed timings.

Timings and FSB are what the memory is about, and seeing as how you wont be needing all that FSB, PC 3200 speeds will do. With 250FSB ram, you could run it at 200FSB with pretty tight timings, but there are probably cheaper PC3200 solutions that would do that already.


I also misread thinking in your second reply that when you say 3500, u meant memory. You of course meant your new processor :D

Let me go look up some results on your board, see what the average OCs are for it.

[mr. nails]

Hmm, I'm pretty sure I had that in mind when looking at his initial post, however I think somewhere along the way. Perhaps its because they're both ASUS? Whatever.

In that case I will just go back to my orignial reply.


You dont intend to OC? 4000 will let you go up to 250FSB, and that ballistix will let you go to probably 270 with relaxed timings.

Timings and FSB are what the memory is about, and seeing as how you wont be needing all that FSB, PC 3200 speeds will do. With 250FSB ram, you could run it at 200FSB with pretty tight timings, but there are probably cheaper PC3200 solutions that would do that already.


I also misread thinking in your second reply that when you say 3500, u meant memory. You of course meant your new processor :D

Let me go look up some results on your board, see what the average OCs are for it.
yes, ur right. new asus mb and amd 64 3500+ is what i meant. sry for any confusion.
*edit: also, i haven't edited my sig cuz i ordered it sunday and haven't received it yet. got my new chassis today, but that's all so far...
*edit: what am i looking 4 in cas latency? 2, 2.5, 3? lol, i don't understand that either. thank u for helping me understand this.

[lynx]

I just got the Abit AV8 mobo, FSB speed can be controlled separately from cpu speed on that, I would think the Asus A8V board will have the same facility. However, since the memory controller is built into the CPU chip, that will obviously still be the limiting factor.

It is unlikely that you will be able to increase the FSB speed to fully utilise the potential of pc4000 ram. IMO you would be better advised to spend the money on slower certification with tighter chip timings - 2,2,2,5 on pc3200 is better than 3,3,3,8 on pc4000 if you can't run the memory at 250MHz.

My board sets the cpu (3000) speed at 1836MHz(9x204MHz) as default, even though it knows the speed should be 1800MHz. :unsure:
I decided to try the win2k3 x64 pre-release, I imagine the full release will have been cracked long before the 12-month time limit runs out. :devil:

Edit: I wish they'd make up their minds, sometimes it is labelled as W2k3, other times as XP. :rolleyes:

[Virtualbody1234]

...

Edit: I wish they'd make up their minds, sometimes it is labelled as W2k3, other times as XP. :rolleyes:
It's Windows XP Professional x64 Edition but I think its kernel is based on Win2003server. That's why there's the confusion.

[_John_Lennon_]

yes, ur right. new asus mb and amd 64 3500+ is what i meant. sry for any confusion.
*edit: also, i haven't edited my sig cuz i ordered it sunday and haven't received it yet. got my new chassis today, but that's all so far...
*edit: what am i looking 4 in cas latency? 2, 2.5, 3? lol, i don't understand that either. thank u for helping me understand this.


The lower latency the better, though you wont see any below 2 for the Cas Latency.

However paying more money for ram just to run lower latencies really never seemed that much of a good deal. Latencies and timings are over rated!