[ZylonBane]

Only significant overclocking I've done was the classic Celeron 300A @ 450Mhz setup. Solid as a rock.

Currently running an Athlon XP 2500+ at the stock rate. It's been fast enough so far that I haven't thought much about overclocking it. Not being a graphics whore helps.

[Grey Wolf]

Originally posted by CP5670


I'm not sure about that. 2-2-2 memory is about 5% faster on average than the standard 2.5-3-3 value memory while costing nearly three times as much, which is definitely not worth it when you could instead use the money to upgrade to the next level of video card and gain a much bigger performance boost. Brand name value memory can in many cases be pulled below 200mhz to attain comparable timings, as bandwidth is almost irrelevant at these levels on an A64 anyway.

Don't underclock the system bus on an A64. It's pointless.

As for CAS2 vs. CAS2.5, your prices are off by about a year. For an example, we'll use Corsair RAM.
256MB PC3200 CL2.5 $24.17
256MB PC3200 CL2.0 $34.00

[CP5670]

You don't need to underclock the HT bus. Just use the memory on a divider. I have my HT at 220mhz and the memory on a 5:6 divider to get 183mhz, which allows for 2-3-2 timings.

The 256MB prices are irrelevant, as nobody will buy 256MB LL sticks these days at their normally inflated prices, so obviously the prices have come down. Look at 1GB sticks instead to see what I am talking about. Also, "CL2.0" is ambiguous; it could be 2-3-3, 2-3-2 or 2-2-2.

[Grey Wolf]

True. I had only written CL2.0 as the CL2.5 stick lacked timings.

As for cost, you're still off. Across the line, it's about a 50% premium at most for the lower latency sticks, not 200%.

[CP5670]

I have this  stuff, which is 2.5-3-3, while this the vanilla (no LEDs) 2-2-2 memory from the same brand. About 2.5 times the price. You can sometimes find good deals on 2-3-3 memory, but 2-2-2 stuff is very expensive. 2-2-2 1GB sticks are even worse since they are fairly rare and hard to come by. I think only OCZ makes those at the moment, actually.

[Descenterace]

I got mine from Overclockers.co.uk. I think it's Corsair XMS4400C25PT.

The price seems to have gone up, though. It was only £140 inc. VAT two months ago.

[Grey Wolf]

I payed $120 for 1GB of 2-3-3-6 Mushkin a few months back, though I'm actually running it at CL2.5, though for an unrelated reason.

[phatosealpha]

Well, you guys seem pretty well informed,so I'll ask.

I'm really considering an upgrade to an X2 3800+ on an Asrock Uli board.  Not sure about the RAM though.  May also upgrade to 2 GB.  Question is do I buy two new 1 GB sticks of cas 3, and plug the old ram into my girlfriends rig to give her 4x512, or just buy 2 more 512 and run 4x512 myself.  Does 2T really hurt or what?

[Grey Wolf]

Yes and no. Depends on the timings on your 512s.

[phatosealpha]

My 512s are 3200 2-2-2-5.  Girlfriends got 2-3-2-5 in her rig.

[Grey Wolf]

Get another 2 512s with decent latency (at least 2-3-3-6) rather than getting two 1GB sticks.

[Taristin]

The RAM in my desktop is 2-3-2-5-T1..... is that good? Because OCing ends up with my windows boot sequence failing every time.

[Descenterace]

Turn it down to T2 and you should see a stability increase.

Early Athlon 64s (such as mine) had real problems driving doublesided DIMMs at T1. I don't know how well the later Athlon XPs cope with it.