Should I use 512 133 SDRAM or 256 DDR pc2100?

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Jimmy B Jones

This might be a stupid question, but I just picked up a K7S5A Athlon board
for $20 and it has 2 SDRAM slots and 2 DDR slots. Should I should put in 2
x 256 SDRAM or 1 256 DDR pc2100? Don't know if it will influence a choice,
but I am thinking about overclocking it sometime down the road.

Thanks
 
Jimmy said:
This might be a stupid question, but I just picked up a K7S5A Athlon
board for $20 and it has 2 SDRAM slots and 2 DDR slots. Should I
should put in 2 x 256 SDRAM or 1 256 DDR pc2100? Don't know if it
will influence a choice, but I am thinking about overclocking it
sometime down the road.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Get 512 MB of DDR.
 
This might be a stupid question, but I just picked up a K7S5A Athlon board
for $20 and it has 2 SDRAM slots and 2 DDR slots. Should I should put in 2
x 256 SDRAM or 1 256 DDR pc2100? Don't know if it will influence a choice,
but I am thinking about overclocking it sometime down the road.

Thanks
Click to expand...

"Most often", WIn2K or newer will benefit more from the 512MB of PC133
than 256 of DDR. Old, smaller games may run better from the DDR, but
newer benefit more from 512 (more memory).

On the other hand, that board has historically been more stable
running DDR memory (IIRC) and add to that, that it's easier to o'c a
single module than two (when all else is equal, which is virtually
impossible given different memory but it's a consideration). Even so,
an o'c system that has to constantly page-out to virtual memory isn't
pleasant to use at all. I'd go with the 512MB of PC133 or buy a 2nd
DDR module.


Dave
 
| This might be a stupid question, but I just picked up a K7S5A Athlon board
| for $20 and it has 2 SDRAM slots and 2 DDR slots. Should I should put in
2
| x 256 SDRAM or 1 256 DDR pc2100? Don't know if it will influence a
choice,
| but I am thinking about overclocking it sometime down the road.
|
| Thanks
|

Depends on application. I have opted over the past year or so in my Shuttle
AK32L ( very similar board to the ECS K7S5A) for 1GB of PC133 over 512DDR
(was about the same price at the time for 1 GB of PC133 or 512 PC2100). For
most of the type applications I run, and tha amount of multitasking I do,
the increased memory capacity far outweighs the bandwidth increase I would
gain from DDR. I will soon be dumping the tired old PC133 for 1GB or so of
DDR for my hopefully soon leap into the 64 bit world.

At any rate, to make a long story short, if 256DDR or 512 PC133 are your
only two options, I would think you would be better off with the capacity
over bandwidth. Just depends on what you are going to run, how much
(multitasking?), and each programs demands as far as capacity and bandwidth
are concerned.
 
Jimmy said:
This might be a stupid question, but I just picked up a K7S5A Athlon board
for $20 and it has 2 SDRAM slots and 2 DDR slots. Should I should put in
2
x 256 SDRAM or 1 256 DDR pc2100? Don't know if it will influence a
choice, but I am thinking about overclocking it sometime down the road.
Click to expand...

I'd get the DDR as you can always add a stick later if needed, while with
the SDRAM, you're stuck with the low bandwidth.
 
| This might be a stupid question, but I just picked up a K7S5A Athlon board
| for $20 and it has 2 SDRAM slots and 2 DDR slots. Should I should put in
2
| x 256 SDRAM or 1 256 DDR pc2100? Don't know if it will influence a
choice,
| but I am thinking about overclocking it sometime down the road.
|
| Thanks
|

Depends on application. I have opted over the past year or so in my Shuttle
AK32L ( very similar board to the ECS K7S5A) for 1GB of PC133 over 512DDR
(was about the same price at the time for 1 GB of PC133 or 512 PC2100). For
most of the type applications I run, and tha amount of multitasking I do,
the increased memory capacity far outweighs the bandwidth increase I would
gain from DDR. I will soon be dumping the tired old PC133 for 1GB or so of
DDR for my hopefully soon leap into the 64 bit world.

At any rate, to make a long story short, if 256DDR or 512 PC133 are your
only two options, I would think you would be better off with the capacity
over bandwidth. Just depends on what you are going to run, how much
(multitasking?), and each programs demands as far as capacity and bandwidth
are concerned.
 
" This might be a stupid question, but I just picked up a K7S5A Athlon board
for $20 and it has 2 SDRAM slots and 2 DDR slots. Should I should put in 2
x 256 SDRAM or 1 256 DDR pc2100? Don't know if it will influence a choice,
but I am thinking about overclocking it sometime down the road. "


It all depends on how you want to look at your future upgrade options. The
K7S5A will accept 1GB of SDRAM or 1GB of DDR SDRAM. For maximum upgrade
potential, you would be better off getting 1 x 512MB DDR RAM, so that you
can add another 512MB DDR RAM at a later date.
 
Interesting situation
- however my view may be tainted by what appears to be the manger of a k7s5a
that I have (won't take various cpus for no logical reason) which will not
post with sdram in it but only ddr (have tried 512 pc133) - currently using
256 ddr.
Thing is if you do get the sdram (and it works) - you will be stuck with
it - at least with ddr you can take it to another more modern board at a
later date.
Suppose you know about the Honey-X and Cheepoman overclocking bioses that
add more options to the fsb selection - currently have mine (rev 3.1) at
150mhz on pc2100.
 
No, I haven't heard of Honey-X or Cheepoman. Have any suggested sites to
check it out before I use google?

Thanks
 
Interesting situation
- however my view may be tainted by what appears to be the manger of a k7s5a
that I have (won't take various cpus for no logical reason) which will not
post with sdram in it but only ddr (have tried 512 pc133) - currently using
256 ddr.
Thing is if you do get the sdram (and it works) - you will be stuck with
it - at least with ddr you can take it to another more modern board at a
later date.
Suppose you know about the Honey-X and Cheepoman overclocking bioses that
add more options to the fsb selection - currently have mine (rev 3.1) at
150mhz on pc2100.
Click to expand...

I've got one that has the PC133 "issue" too, barely runs stable even
with DDR though, let alone PC133... used to run better with DDR but is
slowly dying, even though it isn't being used or running, each time I
fire up that system it's less stable than the time before. To me it
just reinforces the idea, again, that ECS is often more of a gamble
than the cost savings are worth.

FWIW, mine is a rev. 3.1. I think that and older had the PC133
problem, while rev 5 didn't... not sure about which revision it was
fixed on though, maybe Shep would know, he's probably the resident
expert on the K7S5A.


Dave
 
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