G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)

[hobo]eclipse

Well looking for some Intel action soon, would like a wolfdale and more than likely a Gigabyte P35 board (BTW, recommendations? Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L ??)

G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) is what im interested in, seems a great price, my question is though, how long will the DDR2 prices stay low?
I.m kinda considering getting this kit now and having to wait for the CPU(obviously) and mobo.

G.Skill F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK - XtremeSystems Forums
F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK comptible motherboard list --3/04/08 updated-- - XtremeSystems Forums

these forums seem to suggest the current price is the lowest its been, what you guys think, get it now and sit on it a month or so? or wait in hopes they go lower?(probable?), also any other recommendation for DDR2 for that setup? Liked that price for the 4 gig kit.

ChaosMinionX

If your going to buy a 2x2GB kit, about the only one I would look at is the new Corsair Dominator 2x2GB PC8500 and PC9136 kits.

I currently have the 8GB of the 8500 and they are very nice, people have been reaching 1200 5-5-5-15 with 2.0 and 2.1v... Some problems reported with them, but that will be fixed in most BIOS revisions when they allow for better RAM management to accommodate the density and timings needed of the 2GB modules.

[hobo]eclipse

these'n right! Newegg.com - CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

oo look rebate action + fan too!, gotta wait for the cash prolly 4 ever,but u think these would be better than the gskills?

any quick explanations of what EPP is b4 i google?

thenewguy001

I have the G.Skills and the same mobo and they're running fine. The G.Skills aren't designed to be OC'd though. Theyll run at stock speeds and not much higher.

[hobo]eclipse

cool thanks for the input newguy, the Corsair DDR2 is looking real good, even though the rebates take forever.

PangingJr

the Corsair RAM kit seems promising in the overclocking ability.
it's just i never like its heatsink on the Dominator's model, and never get a good price for this brand name myself either.


i like the G.Skill's RAM kits. there is something that i think i'll always like to use G.Skill, if i kill any G.Skill RAM, so long as i'm sure that the RAM actually went bad,
i send the RAM back and tell them what program i use to test the RAM for errors, no more question ask, i can get a replacement fast, i mean within a few hours.
depending on your experience i guess.

last time i checked, the RAM kit was not available at G.Skill's Taiwan company. if that is the price i have to pay to have them i would like to buy at least 4 of the RAM kits.







user manual... http://www.gskill.us/166.pdf

ChaosMinionX

The Corsair Dominator stuff overclocks like a champ....you cant really beat Dominator lineup imo, its the fastest RAM around.

[hobo]eclipse

thanks guys the corsair will be 1st choice if the rebate is still on $140.00, 4 gig 1066(1200OC) +fan? u cant beat that, and the g skills will prolly be my second choice.

1st piece of ram i bought was corsair XMS PC3200 512 bh5 stick, but never got to push it!

also lookin at the gigabyte 775 boards, what does x38 offer over p35 again, i know i read it before?

PangingJr

here's another well known 4GB 2x2GB kit RAM kit, and i think it is only 100 bucks in the US... F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ.

with 2 DIMMs installed (4GB 2x2GB) this kit should be able to manage 500 FSB.






user manual... http://www.gskill.us/145.pdf

[hobo]eclipse

any good reads u guys know about on the intel side of things, looking at some of the bios screen shots of some gigabyte boards and there is alot of multipliers and such that i dont know about, as well as default FSB and bus speed for the different DDR2 RAM specs, just after your "should be able to manage 500 FSB" statement i realize i have no idea what the default is, is a p35 and an x38 drastically different?

dipstick

From what I've seen the P35 is a much better overclocker than the X38. It runs way cooler and doesn't need as much voltage. My old P5K Deluxe destroys my Maximus Formula in the OC department. The main difference with the X38 vs P35 is that you get two true 16x pcie 2.0 slots (p35 is 16x/4x and only pcie 1.1)
As for ram, I'm running two kits of the G.Skill F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ and they are great. They can run at 1066MHz with only 2.0v and that is with all 8GB in there.
Good luck

[hobo]eclipse

thanx dipstick, is crossfire available on p35?

PangingJr

E8400 has a default CPU multi of 9x, CPU FSB of 333 MHz, and clock speed of 3.0 GHz (333x9)

if you run the CPU at its default FSB, which is at 333 MHz, and then if you want to run your system memory at DDR2-1066 MHz,
you will have to set system BIOS's memory settings to use memory multi of 3.2x (3.2x CPU FSB 333 = 1066)


if you want to overclock the E8400 to 4.0 GHz, then you will need to increase the CPU FSB, from the default 333 to 444 or 500 MHz...


9x 444 = 4.0 GHz of CPU speed,
then you will need to use memory multi of 2.4x... 2.4x 444 = 1066... the system memory will then be running at DDR2-1066 MHz.

or 8x 500 = 4.0 GHz of CPU speed,
then you will need to use memory multi of 2.0x... 2x 500 = 1000... the system memory will then be running at DDR2-1000 MHz.

[hobo]eclipse

thanks for that panging, clear'n it up for sure, just can you tell me what is meant when the e8400 has a FSB of 1333?

PangingJr

E8400 has a default...
...System Bus (also known as "Bus Speed", and "Rated FSB" as CPU-Z calls it) of 1333 MHz
...System Clock (also known as CPU FSB, CPU Host Frequency in some BIOS setup programs) of 333 MHz
...Bus/Core Ratio (also known as CPU Multiplier, CPU Clock Ratio in some BIOS setup programs) of 9x,
...CPU Speed (also known as Internal Clock, CPU Clock, sometime called Core Speed) of 3.0 GHz

[hobo]eclipse

so that means target for maximum performance would be to get memory multi x cpu fsb as close to the system bus(e8400=1333) as possible?

PangingJr

well when you set the E8400 to run at its default clock the system Front Side Bus has a Real Clock of 333 MHz (and with the Effective Clock of 1333 MHz.)
with DDR2 memory, you will hardly be able to run your DDR2 at a Real Clock of 666.5 MHz (so it can have its Effective Clock of DDR2-1333MHz.)

dipstick

Yup, sure does. However one card will run at 16x and the other at 4x which is a slight handicap; especially with newer beefier cards like the 3870 X2. Only the X38 and X48 offer dual 16x slots and since the X38 is pretty much discontinued I cant go far enough as to recommend it (main reason is that it depends on the manufacturer on how long they will keep pumping out bios support for it).
Also to add to the good advice Panging has offered; an easy way to deal with intel fsb is to remember that it is quad pumped. Meaning that the 1066MHz fsb cpu's really run an fsb of 266MHz and the 1333fsb cpu's a 333MHz fsb. So, when you go into the bios, depending on your cpu, you will either see 266 or 333 as the default. Personally I like to run the memory on a 1:1 ratio which is read as 2:1 from the fsb(the ram also run at 400MHz but because its DDR-double data rate- its read as 800MHz). So at 400MHz fsb (1800MHz quad pumped) the ram would need to run at 800MHz(again this is really 400MHz doubled up). So to run a 1333 fsb cpu you would need ram capable of 666MHz(aka 333MHz) which is nothing these days. So when you see 1333 fsb its really 333x4 and when you see 1066MHz DDR2 its really 533MHz x2.
Hope that makes sense and didn't make it worse for you lol

[hobo]eclipse

sure appreciate it guys, from a Intel nub, the quad pumped makes it all come together.

Judas

i'd like to recommend the GA-x38-DS4

[hobo]eclipse

that is the other one i was looking at besides the 90.00 p35 gigabyte, why should i get it over the p35 gigabytes?

PangingJr

for E8400 at its default clock, if you set the system BIOS for DRAM : FSB as 1:1, which is 2.0 x 333 MHz = DDR2-667 MHz,
i think at this setting the amount of bandwidth of system FSB's will be = the system Memory Bus's bandwidth.

then as the real clock of system memory increases, you can do this by increasing the memory multi setting in BIOS, or changing memory ratio, depending on the motherboard's BIOS setting, the amount of the Memory Bus's bandwidth will also keep increasing.

for example, if you set the memory multi to 2.4x,
2.4 x 333 MHz = DDR2-800, the memory bus's bandwidth can now be greater than the amount of FSB's bandwidth.

but, for making it all easy to overclock your system, you can just run DRAM : FSB 1:1 (or the memory multi settings to 2.0x CPU FSB). anyways, when you have your system running, and start playing around with it, you will learn and understand all these in due time.