How much ram to buy for my AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ cpu?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by gimpster123, Aug 12, 2007.

  1. gimpster123

    gimpster123 Bring out the Gimp.

    Hello, I'm building a new gaming rig from the ground up. For the CPU I bought a

    AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor

    ATM, I only have 1 gig of ram, just to get everything up and running. My mother board supports 16 gig of ram max.

    How much ram should I buy to maximize the CPU performance, I don't want to pay for extra that the CPU just can't keep up with.

    Thanks,
    Gimpster
     
  2. Fred_G

    Fred_G Heat packin' geek

    1Gb should be enough to get you going. If I were building a computer now, I would want 2Gb, and more is always better, if the OS can use it. If you are going to be using MS Vista, I have seen where you can use flash memory cards as system RAM, and they are faster than conventional RAM.

    E
     
  3. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest


    That is a big misconception. Thumb drives are not a replacement for ram in Vista. On top of that only a select bunch support readyboost, and even then, only a select few of that bunch are fast enough to give you a performance boost. THEN, from that bunch, there are only a select few that can sustain the performance needed so that readyboost works every reboot (by default Vista tests it every time its plugged in).

    You still need ram, and those thumb drives will not alleviate that. In the end, ram is still considerably faster (and with cheap thumb drives, so are hard disks). If you are going with Vista, go with at least 2gb and/or gaming. Don't forget about the 4gb barrier of 32 bit OSes.

    Systems with 1+gb of ram see a very small performance boost, and a computer with fast drives isnt going to see much either, most likely.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReadyBoost

    Readyboost benefits low end computers much ebtter than mid to high end.
     
  4. Fred_G

    Fred_G Heat packin' geek

    Thanks for the info Adrynalyne. I had read about that feature a while back, have not really kept up with Vista.

    E
     
  5. hopperdave2000

    hopperdave2000 MajorGeek

    I'd install a minimum of 2gb RAM to take advantage of the dual channel memory feature. Vista isn't really happy with less than 1gb, and 2gb is the ideal amount for general Vista computing and gaming. You'll have 2 memory slots still open for future expansion; maybe add another pair of 1gb sticks for 4gb total to really have a monster! The pricing on RAM sticks of 2gb is ridiculously high right now- one 2gb stick costs substantially more than two 1gb sticks....
     
  6. gimpster123

    gimpster123 Bring out the Gimp.

    im going to be running 64 bit vista ultimate on it, as well as Ubuntu (a linux distribution). So 4 gb of ram isnt over kill for the processor? (AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+)

    Thanks,
    Gimpster
     
  7. Pleeb

    Pleeb Private First Class

    Don't forget the RAM needs to be PC8500 otherwise it will lower the Cas Latency to 3 from 4 and because of this a 5600 with PC6400 RAM can actually our preform the 6000 with PC6400 RAM
     
  8. hopperdave2000

    hopperdave2000 MajorGeek

    IMO, there's no such thing as 'RAM overkill'! You can NEVER have too much RAM; it's like money and sex ;)
     
  9. Mimsy

    Mimsy Superior Imperial Queen of the MG Games Forum

    I would argue that there is indeed such a thing as RAM overkill. Installing 4GB on a computer that is used for nothing but browsing, email, and word processing would be but one example. ;)
     
  10. pclover

    pclover MajorGeek

    I would say 2gb of PC8500 RAM.
     
  11. hopperdave2000

    hopperdave2000 MajorGeek

    If you can afford the RAM, why not install it? It's not like it can possibly hurt anything. Plus, you'd be prepared for anything in the future. The way things are going, with 1gb RAM considered standard (and minimum for Vista), and 2gb is considered a good healthy amount. It's only a matter of time (probably not that far away) when 4gb will be considered standard....
     
  12. gimpster123

    gimpster123 Bring out the Gimp.

    Model
    Brand CORSAIR
    Series XMS2
    Model CM2X1024-6400
    Type 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM
    Tech Spec
    Capacity 1GB
    Speed DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
    Cas Latency 5

    I bought one of these already (still unopened) with plans to buy 3 more.
    Could someone explain what Cas Latency is?

    Is this all right? at 60 dollars a stick i thought it was reasonable. I picked it out on newegg based on my mobo specs:


    GIGABYTE GA-M61P-S3 Socket AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 ATX AMD Motherboard

    Memory
    Number of Memory Slots 4×240pin
    Memory Standard DDR2 800
    Maximum Memory Supported 16GB
    Dual Channel Supported Yes
     

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