How does RAM affect gaming?
RAM question
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Re: RAM question
As far as RAM goes there is alot more than just saying, a lot of RAM will fix your issues.
For example, if you have DDR333 PC2700 memory, it will not perform as well as DDR400 PC3200 memory. The Front Side Bus on your Mobo must be able to accept DDR400. YOu can run DDR400 on a 533 FSB Mobo, but it will only run at DDR333 speed. You need a 800mhz FBB to take advantage of DDR400
Also, if you are running DDR400, you can have different CAS latencies, CAS is an acronym for column address strobe, or sometimes column address select, both referring to the column of the physical memory location in an array of capacitors (a grid comprised of columns and rows) used in dynamic random access memory modules. Latency refers to the amount of time, or lag, that is experienced in traversing a system. Taken together, the CAS Latency (CL) refers to the length of time, in clock cycles, it takes for a request sent from the memory controller to read a memory location and send it to the module's output pins
So the lower your CAS Latency the faster your machine will run. So CL2 runs faster than CL3. CAS latency is aslo determined by the inteaction between your memory and your Mobo, some mobos will not run CL2 memory at CL2 speeds, sometimes it will only run at CL2.5
For Example.
I had an Asus K8N-E with a 754 Athlon 3000+ and 1.5 (3 x 512mb) GB of CL3 Kingston Value RAM DDR400.
I upgraded to a Gigabyte K8N-939 with a 939 Athlon 3500+ and added 2GB (4 x 512mb) of Kingston Hyper X DDR400 CL2 Memory. My machine is now SMOKING!Comment
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Re: RAM question
As long ass the CAS latency matches. Actually you can use different CAS latencies on the same mobo, you just get really poor performance. Ask him to read the numbers off the sticker on the memory, often it will tell you what the CAS latency is. Then check yours. If they are both CL3, CL2.5 or CL2 you are golden.Comment
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