Value Ram vs. Premium Ram

[greenbags125]

I am looking to upgrade some ram and I have heard that different levels of ram offer different levels of performance. Can anyone elaborate upon that and tell me if its worth it to get the premium. Im looking for 1GB to upgrade to 1.5GB

Corsair Value Select (2X512MB)-$81 shipped
Corsair XMS (2X512MB)-$106 shipped

[Moxio]

I'm not an extreme OMFG PC OVERKLOCKER or LOLGAMEZRULEMYLIFE.COM so I just use Value RAM. Though the XMS isn't too much more, it might be worth it.

[Murcielago77]

XMS overclocks better (handles higher FSB, higher voltages) and has tighter ram timings. Value ram can be OC'd aswell, just not as much. I have my 3.0ghz P4 running at 3.4ghz with value corsair ram, and thats just fine with me

[strebor]

Depends on what you're planning on using it for/if you're planning to OC. I just use Corsair Value RAM in my builds, it seems to work just fine. I've used similar spec machines with XMS RAM or whatever and I never noticed a difference.

[CYRiX]

If you don't know anything about it, you have to know the more it costs the better!

[bushwaccer]

Corsair is good ram anyway so I would just get value version.

[cheapfrag]

Are you running Dual Channel memory? If so, and you want to use your existing RAM too, then I think you should try to get the same timings as your existing RAM. I have heard that different RAM can lead to Dual Channel not functioning. I'm not an expert but that's what I heard. I just picked up 1 GB (2x512MB) of Corsair Value C3 RAM and it works with my existing RAM in Dual Channel (timing was 3-3-3-8).

[pinatamonkey]

do you know what you have in your computer now? RAM is like a "weakest link" thing - it doesn't matter if you get the fastest RAM if you're gonna use it with your old slower RAM - it all has to run at the same speed, so it will run at the speed of the slowest RAM you have.

In any case, XMS and other "premium" kinds of RAM is really only useful if you're going to be overclocking your computer, so the RAM can handle the increased FSB speed. Value Select is more than adequate if you're going to run the computer at stock speeds - and I doubt you'd be able to notice the difference if you got the XMS series.

[greenbags125]

Um, I have 2 256mb Samsungs that I will keep and auction off the other two sticks. Im upgrading a bit at a time so replacing two and buying two for a total of 1.5 GHz. In a few months, I will try to get it up to 2GB. I do have dual channel so im upgrading two at a time.

[greenbags125]

Im gonna get 2 1gb sticks and keep 512 of my previous memory for a total of 2.5GB.

[Zing]

Im gonna get 2 1gb sticks and keep 512 of my previous memory for a total of 2.5GB.

This is probably a bad idea unless you know your older memory can use the faster timings of your new RAM. You would have to override the SPD timings to achieve this. It has been shown that in most cases, using SPD timings is slightly faster than manual settings, even if the manual settings are identical to the SPD values.

As for which to get, the default timings of these two DIMMs is:
Corsair Value = 2.5-3-3-8
XMS = 3-3-3-8

So it appears that the value ram has faster timings and is cheaper, assuming you are running the memory at the intended speed.

[greenbags125]

This is probably a bad idea unless you know your older memory can use the faster timings of your new RAM. You would have to override the SPD timings to achieve this. It has been shown that in most cases, using SPD timings is slightly faster than manual settings, even if the manual settings are identical to the SPD values.

As for which to get, the default timings of these two DIMMs is:
Corsair Value = 2.5-3-3-8
XMS = 3-3-3-8

So it appears that the value ram has faster timings and is cheaper, assuming you are running the memory at the intended speed.

Thanks zing. I don't think the difference between 2.0GB and 2.5GB is that significant. I believe the Samsungs are PC3200 as well. As for the speed specifications, Im not sure. Since Samsung is usually not sold retail, I don't know how I can check.

[Zing]

I don't know how I can check.

This program called CPU-Z can identify your installed memory's SPD timings:
http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Run it, click on the SPD tab and check the SPD timings section.

[kakomu]

I have some Kingston Value ram. My computer is rather speedy right now. I'm not sure how some faster ram would speed things up, especially since I don't usually transfer a lot of things to and from the ram (such as a databasing protocol, or whatnot).

[cheapfrag]

This is probably a bad idea unless you know your older memory can use the faster timings of your new RAM. You would have to override the SPD timings to achieve this. It has been shown that in most cases, using SPD timings is slightly faster than manual settings, even if the manual settings are identical to the SPD values.

As for which to get, the default timings of these two DIMMs is:
Corsair Value = 2.5-3-3-8
XMS = 3-3-3-8

So it appears that the value ram has faster timings and is cheaper, assuming you are running the memory at the intended speed.

There is actually 2 different timings available for Corsair Value - I picked up the CAS 3 which had timings of 3-3-3-8. It was a little more expensive (yes - more expensive) but it matched the timings of my existing RAM and I wanted to minimize any chance that the two sets wouldn't work together in Dual Channel mode.