Upgrading, need memory help

Hey,

It's time for an upgrade, im on an ASUS-A8V 939 with an athlon 3500+. I've got around £250-£300 to spend, im planning on picking up a X800 Pro VIVO (can be bios flashed into XT PE but costs £100 less) as im left with a 9600 after my 6600gt died on me.

i was thinking about upgrading my memory too. At the moment i'm running 1gig of CL2 Kingston HyperX DDR400 ram in dual channel. I was wondering if i stick another gig of DDR 400 CL2 ram in there, will it still perform at DDR400 CL2 levels or will it drop to DDR333 PC2700. I've tried to find out in the manual and on the website but niether yeild any results.
Also i'd like to know if its actually worth the extra money for another gig, is there that mych of a performance difference?

If there isnt, where else should i be putting my money? i have a decent mobo and CPU, good soundcard (Audigy 2ZS), plenty of HDD space (200gig Seagate). Looking at it maybe i need to upgrade my DVD-RW as my current Sony one is not as stable as it might be, i think i just need a new DVD Rom.

Any ideas, please contribute!!
Cheers

 

well 1 Q: are you running a single stick of 1Gb or 2x512mb ATM?

 

2x512 hence the dual channel

 

what core is your A64? If you run more than 2 sticks of RAM on anything other than a venice or san diego core it will indeed default to PC2700 speeds.

 

I got my CPU a while back so its a Newcastle

 

...so i tought,
i that case youll be using all 4 memory slots , I remember reading somewhere that windows/A64s doesnt like all 4 slot in use(though I think thats with a 4gb setup).

An extra gig would be great for gaming and multitasking so i'd say go for it but it may be an idea to sell your current memory and get 2x1gb

 

if i remember rightly, it has been said that A64's still perform well with mem run on a divider, so if your overclocking then it shouldnt be too bad.

 

Do you think its worth it to upgrade to another gig of ram even if it runs at DDR333?

 

well can we just get some specs on your cpu (ie multiplyer, htt)?

 

you what?

edit: its completely standard, ive done nothing to it, my specific motherboard seems to be extremely temperamental so i havent been able to OC without it wobbling at the knees.

 

ok OCing has nothing to do with what im talking about. what is your stock cpu multiplyer, htt and htt:ram ratio? if you dont know use CPU-z to find out

 

You'll be bumped down to a 166 divider, running 2t most likely. Just up the fsb to 240, drop the multi to 9 and the ram will be back at stock, with the cpu at 2.16ghz. Increase the fsb to 244 to put the cpu at stock and the mem slightly overclocked. You'll still be at 2t though, which shouldnt affect things too much. Make sure you drop the LDT to 4 if you go this way too.
TBH tho, save your money for now. Spend a little more on the gfx card, or save it for a later upgrade. An extra gig will help but not sure if you'll notice a massive difference.

franz, a quick google will answer your question

 

hey good point, i just don't kno that much about the amds but you've managed to say what i was trying to get across, thankies

 

Thanks for the advice, maybe ill invest in modding my case instead, im not sure. I dont want to spend any more on my GPU, and im plenty happy with a X800

I dont know where else i could invest in my pc, damn!

 

X800 is a fine card
Maybe upgrade to a Diego core? Sell on the 3500 newcastle perhaps? Or save up for a X2 Dual core based A64? Spend out on some case/cooling silencing? Theres plenty you can "waste" money on.

Frankz, nps

 

Case is fully cooled and im actually in a quality case (Silverstone TJ-06). Maybe ill get the extra gig of ram and see how it goes, it can't hurt, it only costs around £50 - 70, i expect it would still give some boost in performance