Difference between value RAM and regular RAM?

Discussion in 'General Hardware' started by nextwish, Nov 30, 2004.

  1. nextwish

    nextwish Active Member

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    i have a Kingston value RAM and i wonder whats the difference between a regular or performance RAM? i have read the stickys about RAM but still cant find the info related to it and also did a search "value ram" but gave me 10xxx of results...sorry in advance if this question is already posted before.
    Oh and thanks for your inputs!! :D
     
  2. bbvdd2

    bbvdd2 Maha Guru

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    Performance RAM usually has tighter timings (lower latency) and some is rated to overclock higher than the standard DDR 400.
     
  3. Royicus

    Royicus Ancient Guru

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    performance ram runs at tighter timings than value ram. In real world applications, you won't really notice a difference, so i'd just go with whatever you get.

    now the real reason to get performance ram is for overclocking. Most all value ram don't overclock well, but the performance stuff does. Some ram manufacturers even include warranties for their ram even when you overvolt it. For instance, OCZ's performance ram line will allow you to put 3.0V through your ram and still maintain your warranty, value ram does not, you have to run it stock to maintain your warranty.

    so, get performance ram if you are really into overclocking, value ram if you don't overclock at all, and midline ram if you are an overclocker but can't spend a bunch of money on performance ram.
     
  4. nextwish

    nextwish Active Member

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    i see, thanks! but that brings up another frustration, i have a motherboard support only up to 333MHz..then whats the point of overclocking a 333MHz memory? i know if cas has a lower value then it should perform better, but if if i bought a OCZ PC2700(DDR333) and overclocked it, performance shouldnt improve much, right? I just took a look at all those new RAMs...for example DDR2..what is the difference? and why are there varies speed (ie 433, 466, 500, 533, 550 etc) but motherboard only support up to DDR400...Sorry if i sound really newbish, but i am here to learn :)
     

  5. Munky

    Munky Ancient Guru

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    The point of having higher speed memory is if you overclock your processor, the ram & cpu can still be insync (running @ the same frequency).
     
  6. Royicus

    Royicus Ancient Guru

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    If your motherboard supports 333MHz ram, then you should get 333MHz ram (pc2700) unless you plan to do some overclocking. When people overclock, they try to get rid of potential bottlenecks in their system, hense, some people will get 433MHz ram even though their "max supported" is only 400. That allows them to overclock their front side bus without having to worry about maxing out their ram, until they pass the 433MHz barrier.

    With your board, you are probably looking at ddr memory, not ddr2. You cannot mix these two different types. A motherboard supports one or the other. So, putting ddr2 into a ddr1 motherboard, or vice versa, won't work.

    Hope that helps. Post back if you have more questions.
     
  7. SorienOR

    SorienOR Guest

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    You can see up to a 15% gaming performance increase by using low latency 1T ram vs value ram.
     
  8. nextwish

    nextwish Active Member

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    alright thx for the info :D
     

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