Which exact model of RAM do I need? :-S

  • Thread starter Thread starter M.J.S.
  • Start date Start date
M.J.S. said:
Okay, you are WAY out of my field of knowledge here.

Let's bring things down to basics. How safe is it to add two stick of...

OCZ EL Platinum PC3200
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=14504&promoid=1025

...to two existing sticks of...

Corsair CMX1024-3200C2
http://www.corsair.com/_datasheets/CMX1024-3200C2.pdf

...on an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=15&l3=148&model=375&modelmenu=1

..?

And assuming it's 100% safe, is it - according to you - the best available
option for me, all things considered?
Click to expand...

You never stated what the 4GB of memory was for. How can I judge
whether the upgrade makes sense, based on not knowing why you need 4GB ?
Right now, only you have all the info needed to make the decision.

From a technical standpoint, I don't have a problem mixing those
two products. But if you want further derisking, have a look through
the vip.asus.com forums for more experiences. Or have a look through the
RAM guy forums, which are the official Corsair support forums, to see
if they have any mixed brand experiences. If someone had a problem
mixing two different brands of matched sticks, it might show up here.

http://www.asktheramguy.com/v3/index.php
http://www.asktheramguy.com/v3/search.php

I would buy the RAM, based on my current knowledge level. If I was
tight for cash (which I am), I'd probably go through all 4000 posts
on the vip.asus.com forum first, just to be sure. But I'd need a reason
to have 4GB of RAM every day, to make it worth while. Something to
justify accepting a potential for a 10% hit in performance. Some
people get quite pissed when that happens. And since every user
is different, I don't know how to trade the "4GB" versus the
"10% slower" for you.

Paul
 
M.J.S. said:
A Sonar 7-based digital audio workstation (DAW) and very high-resolution
Photoshop work.

If the Corsair is just $8 more, why not go with that? What does the OCZ
offer as an advantage?
Click to expand...

This VS1GB400C3 product is CAS3. The OCZ is CAS2, like your current RAM is CAS2.
CAS2 is tighter timing than CAS3.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=15556&vpn=VS1GB400C3&manufacture=CORSAIR

If you use two sticks of VS1GB400C3 with your current RAM, all the RAM
will run at CAS3.

Try a search on "photoshop 4gb ram", to get some comments on the limits.
Depending on Photoshop version, some use up to 2GB, later versions up to 3GB,
and in the case of the Mac at least, quantities of RAM above that are used
for buffering the scratch disk. So when you install the 4GB, it would
be reasonable to expect to use 3GB in Photoshop. That will probably give
you double the free RAM you have now.

http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t9441.html

Paul
 
CBFalconer said:
Nothing says whether the mother board is capable of accepting and
using ECC memory. If so, I suggest you restrict your search to ECC
memory, since the end result is much more reliable. Most people do
not realize that absolutely nothing else dynamically checks the
correctness of memory operation, and that memory errors can be due
to unpredictable things such as cosmic rays.

So your first job should be to find out whether the MB takes ECC
memory. If so, the additional cost for reliability will be only a
few dollars.
Click to expand...

Where did you come up with ECC? First, it's not been mentioned, second,
it's not been mentioned because very few, if any, motherboards used for
home computers support ECC memory. It's also much more expensive than
standard, non-ECC memory and finally, it's not necessary.

I don't think cosmic rays are much of a problem, unless the computer is
being built for the ISS.
 
Paul said:
.... snip ...

Now, in your particular situation, it is a bit much to ask you to
remove the two, non-ecc RAM you currently own, and buy four sticks
each equipped with ECC and install them. All RAM has to have ECC,
for you to be able to enable it in the BIOS. If you were buying
RAM from scratch, then suggesting ECC for that much RAM would make
sense. Again, it is a call on your part, as to whether you feel
the extra reliability of ECC protection, is worth the extra hassle
or not. I cannot make that call for you. If you are a banker doing
accounts, then you'd add it :-) If a gamer, then the occasional
reboot, or crash out to desktop, is not the end of the world. Some
users just are not that demanding of enhanced reliability, to go
the extra mile. The machine I'm currently working on, is ECC
capable, but doesn't have ECC RAM. If it falls over once every
couple months, I really don't care :-)
Click to expand...

Except that the rare memory error can be extremely deadly. For
example, a cosmic ray causes a single dropped bit in a memory
buffer during a file move or defragmenting. That file isn't used
for the next 6 months, and is then exercized. The result destroys
all sorts of critical data that you don't see for another 24
hours. Now you curse 28 different software vendors, none of whom
are at fault, and spend several weeks discovering the problems and
reloading everything from cds (the backups are all fouled, due to
the time since the original problem). You don't blame the memory
because all memory tests show it to be faultless.

Wouldn't the few extra dollars to buy and install ECC memory have
been worthwhile?
 
M.J.S. said:
I've no idea what ECC is. The MB is an Asus A8n-SLI Deluxe. You
tell ME if it's ECC-compliant. ;-)
Click to expand...

How should I know? I don't have such a MB. Read your
documentation and/or call Asus and ask questions.

ECC detects and corrects all single bit memory errors, detects (and
halts on) all two bit errors, and often detects even more serious
(and unlikely) errors. A few minutes ago I wrote a message to Paul
describing the sort of things a memory error can do. Ignoring the
possibility is being foolish. Even Windows can be fairly reliable
with good hardware.
 
Except that the rare memory error can be extremely deadly. For
example, a cosmic ray causes a single dropped bit in a memory
buffer during a file move or defragmenting. That file isn't used
for the next 6 months, and is then exercized. The result destroys
all sorts of critical data that you don't see for another 24
hours. Now you curse 28 different software vendors, none of whom
are at fault, and spend several weeks discovering the problems and
reloading everything from cds (the backups are all fouled, due to
the time since the original problem). You don't blame the memory
because all memory tests show it to be faultless.

Wouldn't the few extra dollars to buy and install ECC memory have
been worthwhile?
Click to expand...
Well stated good sir - probably the best terse ECC justification I've
yet read. Data integrity is the sine qua non of computer design/build
- it should trump all other design considerations. ECC is a
no-brainer with the possible exception of a pure gaming system - but
in that case aren't we describing a very expensive Game Boy rather
than a computer :-)

Note to Paul: No criticism intended by this post - I was onboard with
your description of ECC until the last line. Also, since I don't post
often, I should take the opportunity to compliment you for your
posting pattern. I've taken to reading your posts due to the insights
and generally good info you possess on a wide range of topics. Most
impressive is the patience you take with an OP to bring them to
enlightenment. All in all it's the epitome of the best Usenet has to
offer. Many thanks.
 
Your statements re ECC memory remind me of car safety systems.
Most of the time "you don't NEED it", but they sure help when you do.
 
"> Well stated good sir - probably the best terse ECC justification I've
yet read. Data integrity is the sine qua non of computer design/build
- it should trump all other design considerations. ECC is a
no-brainer with the possible exception of a pure gaming system - but
in that case aren't we describing a very expensive Game Boy rather
than a computer :-)"
Click to expand...

Well said.
 
Core2Duo wrote: *** and top-posted, corrected ***
Your statements re ECC memory remind me of car safety systems.
Most of the time "you don't NEED it", but they sure help when
you do.
Click to expand...

Bear in mind that the memory system is normally the ONLY portion of
your system that has no self-correction mechanism. It doesn't cost
significantly more, it costs about 1 part in 8 more for the added
memory bits, but is highly competition sensitive. The errors that
can occur may not show up for months or years, when all backups
have bcome worthless. Those errors will not be protected by
memtest86 checks, etc., since they are caused by random events,
such as cosmic rays.

Please do not top-post. Your answer belongs after (or intermixed
with) the quoted material to which you reply, after snipping all
irrelevant material. I fixed this one. See the following links:

--
<http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html>
<http://www.caliburn.nl/topposting.html>
<http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html>
<http://cfaj.freeshell.org/google/> (taming google)
<http://members.fortunecity.com/nnqweb/> (newusers)
 
Back
Top