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Description
What To Look For
Recommendations
Already know what Memory is and what to look for? Then skip to the Recommendations.
What To Look For:
- In the following discussion I will focus on memory for motherboards (main system memory).
- First you need to know the type of memory you need. RDRAM RIMMs are only used in some Pentium IV motherboards. They have a higher bandwidth than other types of memory, but surprisingly enough they don't usually perform much better than regular DDR SDRAM (it also costs a lot more). DDR SDRAM is what's used in AMD Athlon XP motherboards (and many Pentium IV motherboards now too).
- The type of RAM can usually be determined just by the motherboard's chipset. Below is a simple table of what RAM type (max speed RAM) should be used for each motherboard chipset (only recent chipsets are listed and I have bolded the chipsets I recommend):
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Intel i875 (P4)
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PC3200 (DDR 400)
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Intel i865 (P4)
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PC3200 (DDR 400)
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Intel i850 (P4)
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PC1066 RDRAM
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Intel i848 (P4)
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PC3200 (DDR 400)
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Intel i845 (P4)
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PC2100 (DDR 333)
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Via KT600 (AMD Athlon XP)
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PC3200 (DDR 400)
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Via KT400A (AMD Athlon XP)
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PC3200 (DDR 400)
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Via KT400, KT333 (AMD Athlon XP)
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PC2700 (DDR 333)
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Via KT266A (AMD Athlon Thunderbird)
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PC2100 (DDR 266)
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Via P4X400 (Intel P4)
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PC3200 (DDR 400)
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Via P4X266 (Intel P4)
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PC2100 (DDR 266)
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NVIDIA nForce 2 Ultra 400 (AMD Athlon XP)
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PC3200 (DDR 400)
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SiS 748 (AMD Athlon XP)
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PC3200 (DDR 400)
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- RAM speeds are also something to consider. Here's a table of the actual speeds of common types of DDR memory (with my recommendation in bold):
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Memory type:
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Actual Speed:
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DDR Speed:
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PC3200 (DDR400)
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200 MHz
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400 MHz
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PC2700 (DDR333)
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166 MHz
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333 MHz
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PC2100 (DDR266)
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133 MHz
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266 MHz
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- CAS 2 or CAS 3 is a very important consideration with SDRAM for speed reasons. Getting CAS 2 can speed up your computer and also allow for higher overclocking speeds.
- Many other timing numbers are important, but they are often misrepresented and confusing so I won't get into them too much.
- Unbuffered and Non-Parity are words you generally want to hear. Don't worry if your memory says this.
- The brand of the RAM chips as well as the brand of the PCB (the memory board) are both very important. Low quality chips or low quality PCBs can both cause problems. Good chips on bad PCBs is just the same as getting bad chips. It would be a good idea to buy memory from the manufacturer so you can be sure the chips and PCB are by the same manufacturer.
More Info:
Description
Recommendations
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