Memory RAM for video editing - speed or quantity?

[Goose360]

Hi everyone,
I'm about to start a video editing project and just had a question about RAM.
I have 2Gb (2x1Gb) kingston Hyper-X DDR2-1066 overclocked in my pc atm
but i also have 2x1Gb Corsair Value select DDR2-667 spare

as far as i understand, if i put both kits in, they both default to the slower speed?

would it be helpful for the video editing to have 4GB of RAM at the slower speed, or 2GB faster?
or are there problems and stuff that would make it worse when using 2 kits?

(extra info in my sig)


thanks for any help

[wuyanxu]

bigger is always better. especially true between 2GB and 4GB

[Goose360]

thanks wuyanxu

ok, slightly new problem...
my cpu is overclocked to 444 x 7 (3.1Ghz) this means that with the divider at 1:1 the ram is still at 888mhz, so my pc won't boot.
I have to restore the CPU clocks back to 333 x 7 (2.33 Ghz) so that the ram runs at 667mhz.

my question is, is it worth (for video editing) the extra 2GB of ram to sacrifice a chunk of CPU speed? The rendering is done by the CPU isn't it? would this mean easier editing process (more ram) but slower rendering speed (slower CPU)?

Thanks again for any help

(NB - the highest multiplier on this CPU is 7, so can't overclock with lower frequency and high multiplier)

[Slizza]

Sell all the ram on fleabay and buy a 4gb kit that runs 800mhz with overclocking room.

[Goose360]

Thanks Slizza, but i'm just looking for a short-term gain - I'm looking at upgrading my whole rig hopefully in the next few months. i just have that second kit spare and was just wondering whether it would help at all

[wuyanxu]

lol, that's crazy low CPU multiplier.

in that case, go for CPU speed, yes, rendering is mostly depending on CPU speed, especially the near 1Ghz difference.

[adam_bagpuss]

why are you keeping your RAM at a 1:1 ratio ????

up the FSB and increase the ratio to allow your RAM to run at its rated speed or close to it

[Goose360]

Originally Posted by wuyanxu

lol, that's crazy low CPU multiplier.

Yeah, I know. I didn't really know much when I built this PC - but I'm learning

Originally Posted by adam_bagpuss

why are you keeping your RAM at a 1:1 ratio ????

up the FSB and increase the ratio to allow your RAM to run at its rated speed or close to it

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but i thought
if FSB : DDR2 @ 1:1, then 333mhz CPU would mean 667mhz RAM (DDR2) so my RAM is running at its rated speed (well, the slower kit is)


Here are some screenshots of CPU-z




this is how its normally looks


Can someone please clear this up? and please correct me if I'm wrong about anything


I think my original questions are answered - Its not worth having 2Gb extra RAM for video editing if it means sacrificing so much CPU speed.

Thanks everyone

[adam_bagpuss]

well my question is just change the memory ratio/memory strap to allow a higher FSB

5:6 ratio would allow a FSB of 400 while keeping the RAM at 333.x(667mhz).

There is no need to keep memory ratios @ 1:1

[Goose360]

5:6 ratio would allow a FSB of 400 while keeping the RAM at 333.x(667mhz).

but a 5:6 FSB:RAM ratio would mean the RAM frequency is higher than the CPU
400mhz CPU would mean 480mhz x 2 (960mhz) for the RAM 400:480 = 5:6

for example, my kingston ram usually runs with a 5:6 divider CPU= 444mhz and Ram= 533mhz x2 (1066) (as shown in the last CPU-Z screenshot) 444:533 = 5:6

anything other than 1:1 at 333mhz CPU, and the ram runs faster than 667mhz and crashes

[adam_bagpuss]

sorry i meant 6:5 but it should be possible to change the ratio to lower memory speeds.

usually a board will allow higher ratios and lower ratios not just 1:1 and up.

do you have ratio options or strap settings ?

[Goose360]

Ohk that makes more sense then

the bios calls it Memory Multiplier and gives the options of:
2.00 which is (1:1)
2.4 = (5:6)
2.5 = (4:5)
3.0
3.5
4.0+

and thats it... nothing lower than 2.00

i appreciate you helping me out with this

[Goose360]

just took some photos in the bios
please excuse the poor camera phone photos

System Memory Multiplier options


Tweaking page in the bios



Maybe my motherboard just doesn't have the right options to do it. If theres no way to get it to work efficiently, I would just be better off with 2Gb 1066 RAM and 3.1Ghz CPU.

if there is a way, thats great. If not, thanks for all the help so far

[adam_bagpuss]

what motherboard do you have ?

[Goose360]

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L

Its all in my sig

[adam_bagpuss]

ahhh looking at the bios ive got it now. i hate these types of setups.

you have strap settings.

changing the CPU host frequency (host clock control) should have 200, 266 and 333 available.

lowering this enables you to set higher RAM frequencies as the RAM multi i.e. 2x,2.5 etc is link directly to this value.

make sense ?

*EDIT - CRAP this might actually just be nonsense

[adam_bagpuss]

my bad sorry - i had an ASUS that lets you change the strap setting between 200, 266 and 333 then adjusting the memory multi allows you to get different ratios between the FSB and RAM

[Goose360]

Thanks for all your help adam_bagpuss
I think I'll just run my pc normally again

[Bindibadgi]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/mem...nce-analysis/7

Quantity!! (I spent a long ****ing time on that article and I'm gonna milk it!!)

[Goose360]

Originally Posted by Bindibadgi

Quantity!! (I spent a long ****ing time on that article and I'm gonna milk it!!)

lol thanks Bindi

not sure if you read the whole thread or not, but I would be sacrificing a fair chunk of CPU speed because the lowest RAM divider on my MB is 1:1, and highest CPU multiplier is 7 - so to get the ram at 667mhz, the fastest CPU frequency i can have is 333 (2.33GHz), rather than the 444(3.1GHz) i usually run at with just my 2gb 1066 kit. Do you still think its a fair trade off?