PC1066 rambus

[E Boy]

Would you go for PC1066 over PC800 memory in a new DAW?

[+Erik.+]

i always try to think about upgradability, but the way it goes these days when you need a new processor you need a new board and ram too, so it's always back to square one.

buy the best you can afford at the time and if that ram is faster then i would say yes.

personally, i see these new ram formats as just another way of milking the market for pc parts.

[toonerama]

I would say yes, go for PC-1066. It will be 32ns versus 40 or 45ns for the PC-800. But, you may want to read up on PC-1066, because there were some problems over the last few months with early releases. A good place to look is http://www.asusboards.com/forums/ - whether you use ASUS or not.

[Ohsoflow]

why not dual channel DDRAM?
same bandwith as PC1066... much cheaper...

[Strings2k2]

I'm confused by that last posting.....do you mean that DDR Ram has the same bandwidth as PC1066 RD Ram? Why then bother with RD Ram, since it's possible to go DDR on the P4 platform also? I was under the impression that the current fastest bandwidth DDR Ram was DDR400 (and conversely, the total bandwidth would be 400*2=800 MHz). Am I misunderstanding something? Can someone please clear this one up for me? Thanks In Advance! http://www.audioforums.com/forums/biggrin.gif

[toonerama]

Ohsoflow - I'm confused too - I don't doubt your word, but can you point to some web information on this (I couldn't find much) - benchmarks, reviews, etc. Thanks!

[dees]

Ohsoflow is not talking about standard DDR, he is referring to the new Dual Channel DDR architecture. The long awaiting Intel Granite Bay chipset(E7205) widens the data bus, rendering Rambus obsolete.

Here is some reading and some of the first benchmarks I've seen on a retail board.
http://www.vr-zone.com/reviews/IWill/P4GB/

D


[This message has been edited by dees (edited 12-09-2002).]

[This message has been edited by dees (edited 12-09-2002).]

[Ohsoflow]

yep, i was refering to dual channel DDR SDRAM!
the Asus P4G8X has a theoretical bandwith of 4,2 Gb/s (2 x PC2100), equalling that of RDRAM.
the cost are a lot lower... when using more than 256 Mb of RAM it is cheaper than RDRAM. when using 1 gig (2 x 512mb) or more, like many producers do these days, it is $300-400 or more cheaper! and that is counting the slightly more expensive mobo!
check out these reviews:
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.html?i=1748
http://www.ocworkbench.com/2002/asus/p4g8x/p4g8xp1.htm
http://www.ocworkbench.com/2002/asus/p4g8x/p4g8xp7.htm

the Asus P4G8X is however suffering from a AGP-bug. AGP8x has some problems...
if you want to get a AGP8x videocard, you might want to check out the Asus P4SDX, with Sis655 chipset, as well. dual channel PC2700, which makes 5,4 Gb/s bandwith! it isn't out yet (maybe end of the month) and nothing is yet known of it's potential bugs..

[Strings2k2]

Sounds great! Can't wait to hopefully see this in action for myself! http://www.audioforums.com/forums/smile.gif It will be a while before I buy a dedicated DAW PC anyway....

[Ohsoflow]

got another review of the Asus P4G8X:
http://www17.tomshardware.com/mainboard/20021125/intel_granitebay-15.html

doesn't seem to be much faster than 845PE in this review, except for the memory benchmarks..

[BlueCorridor]

can someone help?

I have a ASUS P4T Mainboard on the Intel 850 Chipset.

Here the question: I am currently using Rambus 800Mhz. I am getting a good offer on getting 1066MB Rambus at 700mhz devided in 4 Rimms. Can my motherboard use 700Mhz Rimms or can i just plug in the 600 or 800 Mhz ones? Mymanual does notmention anything about 700Mhz rimmsso now i am confused...

please help.

Thanks

[Nick Driver]

As the owner of a DAW built with an ASUS P4T-E mobo which uses rambus memory as well, I'd advise sticking only to either PC800 or PC1066 rimms only. If the oddball, slower bus speed rimms even work at all in your mobo, you're gonna take a fairly big performance hit slowing down the cpu-to-memory bus down to the least common denominator. Either that, or just save your money for the next big upgrade to a newer technology P4 mobo that supports dual channel DDR memory and 800MHz FSB.

[BlueCorridor]

here is the exact description of what i am getting:

4 x Non-Parity RIMM Memory Upgrade.
256mb 700mhz 2.5v RDRAM 16D

Total of 1024MB


Damn, i would be flying with that much ram.

[BlueCorridor]

Yes, thanks. I understand what you are trying to tell me but what i am trying to find out is, if it is going to work on my P4T or not?

Cause i am getting them at a price which is almost for free.

Of course i will remove my 256MB at 800Mhz and plug in only the 700mhz ones.

[ethereal1]

well, if you can return 'em, plug 'em in. If they work, they work. If they don't, your computer won't start until you take 'em out again. Simple as that.

Eric

[BlueCorridor]

Not quite that simple... i can NOT return them.

[Nick Driver]

What does the P4T mobo manual say? My P4T-E will support PC600 and PC800 only, and only PC600 when you have the core FSB clock set to 100MHx and use the X3 memory bus speed multiplier setting in the BIOS. Chances are your P4T would likely support the PC700 as if it were PC600. This AsusTek webpage seems to suggest that it will function as PC600 in your mobo
http://www.asus.com/mb/socket423/p4t/faq.htm


I'm running PC800 memory (only a single pair of Samsung 256MB 16D rimms for total 512MB) in mine, but since I am overclocking my cpu with core FSB clock set to 133MHz, I can only use the X3 multiplier in my bios setting too, but it gives me 399MHz memory bus clock, which is close enough to the normal 400MHz spec such that I have no memory-related problems, and still get full memory bus bandwidth and no performance loss there.

Here's an idea, try underclocking your current PC800 memory down with the X3 multiplier setting in the bios to make the system think it's only got PC600 memory in it, if the P4T BIOS is able to do that like the P4T-E can. Do some before and after benchmark tests to see what kind of performance hit you get by underclocking. If it doesn't slow down enough to bother you then the PC700 memory might be a viable purchase, but if it makes performance suck, then don't buy the PC700 memory.

There's a slim chance that you might happend to get good enough PC700 rimms that can overclock stably to PC800 bus speeds, but that's a 50/50 gamble. In my experience, rambus memory hasn't been very well known to overclock, that's why people buy PC1066 to put in otherwise PC800 mobos (100x4=400MHz FSB P4 chips) when they intend to push the FSB clock to 133 like I did. PC1066 wasn't readily available when I built my machine, so I'm just gonna stick with what I got until it's time to change out everything... perhaps when the 3+ GHz chips come waaaay down in price.

[melloman]

I am gonna chime in here, with a comment on the new 865PE chipset. I had a system with 512 MB RDRAM PC700 ram, and a P4 1.4 gig.

I went from that to a P4-3GHz 800 mhz bus, DDR400 ram dual channel.

The difference is so dramatic I can't begin to describe it.
over twice the CPU speed
twice the L2 cache
over twice the FSB speed (with tweaks)
Hyperthreading for an additional boost of almost 50 percent...
so almost 13 times the original bandwidth to move data. Whoosh!