Best idea for RAM?

As some of you know, I'm putting together a computer, and right now I'm trying to decide what RAM I should get for starting out with, with the following components:

MOBO:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131570

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535

PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103930

Case (OWN):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129164

HD (OWN):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144049

If someone could reccomend to me some decent DDR400 PC3200 RAM, I'd appreciate it. I'm thinking 2x 512mb would be enough for now, but whatever you folks think is best.

 

Here are some good deals on RAM http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merc...ore_Code=M&Product_Code=140178&AFFIL=hhd&NR=1

and same one in silver
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merc...ore_Code=M&Product_Code=140803&AFFIL=hhd&NR=1

whats your price range for the RAM? that will really determine whats best


Also, you might want to consider getting an Opteron 146 instead of a 3200+. Monarch has it OEM for the same price as the 3200+ retail after a $60 coupon code http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merc...ore_Code=M&Product_Code=120331&AFFIL=hhd&NR=1

 

Opteron is the superior processor.

 

How overclockable is it? Because that's what I plan on doing with it to get more bang for my CPU buck. That isn't covered by the warranty, is it...?

 

No it's not covered by warranty, but Opteron are very overclockable and have 1MB of L2 cache, double that of an Athlon.

Just make sure it's a socket 939 and not socket 940.

 

I was looking at some of the Newegg customer reviews for that RAM, and their seemed to be quite a few complaints (as well as many train-of-thought posts as opposed to coherent sentences), mainly about the clock being improperly set or being unstable at advertised settings.

One thing that stood out was that the memory apparently ran at around 200mhz... is this what DDR400 is supposed to be doing? Correct me if I'm wrong, which is probably the case.

 

yes, ddr400 runs at 200mhz, and bad RAM is pretty common, go with corsair, kingston,crucial, or OCZ. those 4 are known for being good quality, and the OCZ and corsair are great overclockers from what I hear.

 

Wow, that just shatters my whole concept of memory speeds. What's next!?!

Ok, the RAM that IYTC linked looks fairly decent... any challengers?

 

Yes, it true clock rate is 200MHz, but because it's double pumped it increases the bandwith to about 400.

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

 

Thanks, that actually helped a lot!

Now I need to see if there are any other options for RAM in the same price range as below (under or around $100, or $76 after rebate in the cases given by InYearsToCome)

 

I just finished building a new system using that AMD64 3200+ Venice and it seems fine to me.

I also bought the Corsair ValueRam ddr400 and it works great. I bought 4 x 512's because I want to build a Linux box to play around with and thought I may as well go ahead and get an extra gig. I went ahead and put all 4 dimms into the motherboard to make sure they work and I am happy with them-- seemed like a good price to me.

I might just leave the 4 dimms in this mb even though they run at ddr 333 when set to AUTO in the bios. I cant really tell any difference in speed from my other AMD64 box. Seems like it works really well for photo editing with the 2 gb of ram.

 

If you really want an indepth look at RAM, ACE256 recommends as "the holy grail of RAM":

http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=320351

 

Does the A8N VM CSM support Opteron?

 

Yes it should, as long as it's a socket 939 obviously.


http://in.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=1842

 

Awesome. Looks like a winner.

The main problem with buying an OEM proc is, of course, no stock fan to get things started with. What do you folks recommend for cooling?

Also regarding the mobo: one of the Newegg comments says

"Onboard vid chip has no cooling, you MUST add some kind of cooling if you want to use it. 4 sticks of RAM = 333hurts (AMDs fault not nVidia)"

Does this mean I'll need some form of cooling too, since I plan on starting out with just the onboard video?

 

My understanding is that it has passive cooling by design and doesn't require any additional cooling.


A word of advice, don't pay too much attention to Newegg comments.

 

What about the CPU itself? What should I put on that?

 

The stock AMD Heasink with Heatpipes is getting pretty rave reviews in the overclocking community, and can be found for $17 occasionally (looking for it right now)

the other very popular 'top of the line' model is the Scythe-Ninja, as well as the new Thermalright 'tower' (i forgot the name)

 

I'd just use the stock heatsink/fan.

They work better than aftermarket ones, and are very quiet these days.

 

they work better? what do you mean by that? No offense, but there wouldnt exist a higher end aftermarket if the stock heatsink/fan worked better

 

Also, the ad for the Opteron labeled it OEM, so using the stock heatsink/fan might be a tad difficult

And do you mean the http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=130463&Category_Code=64Heatsinks

 

Sorry, I meant Thermaltake CLP0071 Sonic Tower w/Heatpipe CPU Cooler

 

Nope thats thermaltake, they make some good stuff, but I was referring to Thermalright who have been among the top heatsink makers for many years now. Their newest addition is the HR-01 for the K8 (athlon64/opteron/athlonFX) line. http://www.thermalright.com/a_page/main_product_hr01_k8.htm

 

I mean they cool better and are quieter, and that's supported by plenty of mag reviews.


Just because there are after market ones doesn't mean the original ones don't work or are worse.

 

Wow... That setup looks awesome! That and the fan duct would go great with my Antec PlusView II, what with it having a blue tri-LED fan in the back for it to connect to! Talk about lighting up my life!

 

Actually, aside from overclocking success, I don't see the difference between an opteron and AMD 64. The new cores are using 1mb L2 cache, too.

 

I was planning on starting from a base of 2.0Ghz, and the 3200 only has 512KB L2 cache, last I checked.

 

There's heaps of difference.

We are talking about someone who wants a 3200, and is interested in overclocking.


As far as I know, no 3200 has 1MB of L2 cache that I'm aware of, except for the socket 754.

It's generally only the FX, X2 and select models like the 4000+ that have that much L2.

 

How well does that ThermalRight HR-01 fare horizontally do you think?

 

Dammit. Looks like Iwaited too long to get the $15 off the RAM that InYearsToCome linked... does anyone know if it's still worth buying? Or might it go back on discount?

 

How does http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145575 look? $199, down to $119! Worth it?

 

Well, I've bought the Thermalright HR-01 through Sidewinder Computers Thermalright HR-01 for AMD® Athlon™64 and FX™ for about $40 with shipping (oops, almost put 'tt' instead of 'pp'), which was as cheap as I could find it. They didn't have the fan duct for sale, but that's okay, I'll just stick a 120mm fan onto it as shown here.

Still looking for decent RAM for a decent price, and also waiting for a good deal on a CPU, as well as the last few parts I need (PSU, mobo). With luck, that won't take TOO long.

Thanks for everyone who helped me out with this. If anyone has a link for good deals, I'm still open to suggestion. TIA