# 2Gig 1066mhz vs. 4gig 800mhz



## Metall Pingwin (Nov 5, 2007)

Ive beeb upgrading my computer recently, I got a new motherboard (p35 platinum), processor (core 2 duo 4500) GFX card (8800GT), power supply (650) and a new case. Afer putting the computer together it wouldnt boot. I solved the problem, which turned out to be my ram. In short, it's too old to be copmatible with the mobo. 

I decided to go ahead and use the full potential of the mobo and processor and get 4 gigabytes of high quality ram. But now I stumbled upon a two way road. Due to budget constraints i can either buy *two sticks of 1066mhz 1Gig ram* or _*two sticks of 2GB, 800mhz ram*_. 

However I need help gauging if the higher speed of the two 1gig sticks will outweight the two 2gigs of lower speed, or vice versa.

In summary 2Gig 1066mhz (two sticks) vs. 4gig 800mhz (two sticks)


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

2 sticks of 1gb 800mhz (later cpus) right now you only need a step lower in dual channel any more and the fsb bottlenecks, and more then 2gb is overkill for 32bit os and you will see little gain for a bunch more money


----------



## Metall Pingwin (Nov 5, 2007)

At the risk of sounding like a smartass, ill have to say that if I but 2 sticks of 1gb, it will have to be 1066mhz. My mobo right now supports up to 1333, and I plan to take advantage of the fact. Plus if I get 2gigs now, i will want to expand it to 4 gigs in the future, by then 1066 will probably be the new standard.

If there is actual danger of a bottleneck, and 800mhz is really the way to go, i see no reason why not to go for 4 gigs. It's is not my money may i point out, but a gift, whatever i don't spend goes away.

The question is rather regarding which one of the two combinations will give me higher performance.

PS. Does the distribution of GB\stick affect the performance at all?
Meaning, would in theory (ignore dual chanel) 2x1GB be different from 1x2GB?


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

oh well if its a gift then by all means get the 4gb (you can always go to a 64bit os or put a partition off and run linux to use the extra ram)


----------



## Metall Pingwin (Nov 5, 2007)

Now i'm also wondering how can there possibly be a bottleneck with 1066mhz ram? The mobo supports way more and my cpu is a dual core so it utilises dual chanel ram better.

Where does the bottleneck occur?


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

ok so dual channel yuo getting 2 time the rated ram speed (both combined) the cpu is only going to use as more of that speed as its fsb is in your case that is 1066mhz thats a whole 1066mhz just sitting there


----------



## Metall Pingwin (Nov 5, 2007)

So am i understanding you correctly, the 1333 is the total the motherboard can take at once?

That seems extremely unlikely seeing as 1333 is the very maximum that exists right now, and you can buy a set of two 1333 sticks, clearly made for dual channel, how would the manufacturers justify that?


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

no the cpu's fsb is the limitation (that 1333 may be the max fsb of the board without overclocking thats the fastest fsb yet however when overclocking you can increase the speed of the fsb hence the need for higher clocked ram)


----------



## Metall Pingwin (Nov 5, 2007)

I looked for some and these I found that looked very good and had great reviews, plus it comes with pretty LED lights.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148076

These however have some sort of heat spredder with them, along with 4-4-4-3-5 latencies. I don't however heed the low ones too much as from what ive read the low latencies either don't work, or requite hard core ocing. So most likely ill still end up running 4-4-4-12.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820609026

I don't know, Im starting to get a headache and i'm honestly sick of ram. Any more help, whether it be picking the better one of the two or pointing me to some even better ram (combined cost of two sets no more than $140, preferably $130) would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

these are nice http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145034


----------



## linderman (May 20, 2005)

*if its a gift* / get the 1066 mhz ram 2 x one gig sticks (timings of 4-4-4-12) is more than sufficient


a 32 bit OS use 4 gigs of ram / it doesnt have enough memory registers


often times installing four gigs makes the system run slower

4 gigs runs nice in the 64 bit OS's though, then lack of decent software will kick your butt instead ! :wink:

enjoy


----------

