New Build question

Greetings, Earth people!
I'm in the component-collecting phase of building my new machine. I'll be using the Asus K8V mobo with Athlon 64 3000+. I wanted to have, at least, 1.5 GB of PC3200 memory. However, upon reading the mobo manual I find that Asus doesn't recommend using 3 DDR 400 sticks. DDR 333 is no problem, however. Contacted Asus support about this but they didn't give me a reason as to why this is so. Has anyone out there used 3 DDR 400s in this board? If so, what were the results? And, in a related vein, is there a noticably significant difference in speed between the 400s and 333s? My intention is to build the fastest machine possible, while watching the bottom line. Hopefully, it'll serve all my needs for some years to come. (I'm not into heavy gaming) I'm a relative newbie at all this but have spent my working career as an electronics techie, so I know which end is up. Any help/suggestions greatly appreciated.
-SgtRon-

 

Welcome to Earth and MG. I am stuck with a P2/400 so cannot comment on new components but offer a suggestion. Can you fit a 1 gig stick of RAM (if such a thing is available) plus a 512mb stick to achieve your 1.5gig of memory. A bit more expensive than 3 x 512mb, but may work. Bazza

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you could probably suffice with 2x 512mb.
you really don't need >1GB ram unless you're into AUTOCADding or the like.

 

when recommending what parts for a new PC it is helpful to know what you are going to do with the PC ... PCs are tools ... you have a job to do and it does it ... if all you're going to do is surf the net and use word processors etc ... you might as well save your money for some other necessity instead of wasting your money on a high end system for which you will not even notice a difference in performance

 

Agree with ~Pyrate~ and Fleppen. If you are not into heavy gaming, CAD stuff and other graphics intensive software then 1 gig is probably enough. Sink your money into the fastest rpm spin hard drive/s instead. Bazza

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Thanks a lot guys! I think I'll go with a 1G and a .5G stick. I know I'm building overkill here, but I may want to get into video editing and didn't want to go through the hassle of building another machine. And, given my age, this one will provide all the power I need until I'm ready to "hang it up".
Thanks again for all your help. When the fun of loading everything begins, I may be back! I find reading these forums very educational.
-SgtRon-

 

Maybe 2 x 1g sticks would be even better if you are going to do video editing/DVD copying, etc. Hope your finances can cover these escalating recommendations. Bazza

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