Patito

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I'm upgrading (rebuilding practically) my desktop soon. I'm going to get an Asus K8S-MX motherboard, AMD Athlon 64 3400 processor, and I'm looking to get 1GB PC3200 400MHz memory, maybe 2GB if I can afford it but I haven't bought memory in a long time and was wondering if anyone can recommend a good site to buy from. Most of the sites I've used in the past are around $130 for a 1GB chip, but checking on Pricewatch.com I can get something for around half that. Does anyone have any experience buying cheap memory? Is it any good or am I better off spending twice as much and getting something that'll be reliable?

Also, if anyone has any comments or recommendations on the motherboard and processor, I'd like to hear them too. Thanks guys.

midnight

i got 1gb pc3200 ddram for about ~$85 from www.newegg.com
granted its the value ram, it still kicks ass for how cheap it is.

if you are looking for the most bang for your buck
go for the valueRAM
corsair and kingston both have their version of valueram

wolf68k

Strange as it might sound you'll get better performance from buying a 1GB twin pack (2x512MB) and running in dual-channel mode.

This article can explain it better http://www.tcmagazine.info/articles...showarticle=128
In a nut shell; RAM in single channel mode runs at 64-bit but in dual-channel it runs at 128-bit.
Even though that article focuses on the AMD 64 CPU, I've run some benchmarks with my AMD XP 1800+ in both single and channel modes and I've seen a good deal difference.

I agree with the Corsair or Kingston vauleRAM choice, unless you want something better but I don't think you'll see a huge difference between their vauleRAM or their top-end RAM

Greenfire

Nice find on that article Wolf68k. Was definately a good read.

davemo2us

When they are back in stock get these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16820144517

they will give you some room to oc the FSB without stressing the memory.

Patito

Thanks guys, I was planning on going dual channel memory anyway, I just need to decide if I want to do 2GB or if 1GB is enough now. I changed my mind on the motherboard, going with an Asus K8N4-E now, it's a little more expensive but has a ton of extra features on it.

wolf68k

STOP THE PRESSES!!!
Hold up a second, sparky.

The mobo you're planning to get is the Asus' K8-line. Ok I have to ask...WHY?
What are you thinking? That's a Socket 754 board. Get one from the A8-line which is a Socket 939. Thrust me, you'll think me later. AMD is already starting to slowly pull the plug on the 754s.
Yes, the Socket 939s plus an AMD to go with them might cost a bit more, but atleast it'll stick around a lot longer than the 754s.

So my suggestion would be to get the A8N-E, if you want to go with ASUS.


I'll tell you what. If you've got no problem shopping at Newegg.com then tell me what you're budget and brand preferences (ATI, nVidia, corsair, kingston, and so on) [optional] and I'll see what I can do to great a very nice gaming rig (I'm assuming that's what this all going to be used for).

Patito

Ah, I guess I picked the K8 line cause I was going to do this several months ago and had pretty much settled on that mobo then. I'm not going to build a full computer, I just need a new proc, motherboard, and memory. I have a NVIDIA GeForce4 TI 4400 128mb AGP video card I plan on keeping for a little bit yet, and eventually upgrading it to a PCI-express card in a few months... so I'd like for it to be able to handle both. I've had nothing but good experiences with Asus, so I'd like to stick with them. The memory I don't care as much about. I've bought from Mushkin a few times in the past, but both Kensington and Corsair both sound good too. I'm trying not to spend much more than $500 on it right now.

and yes, it'll be mainly for gaming (World of Warcraft, UT2004, been meaning to get HalfLife 2, and want to be able to handle any new games for awhile yet). I also work some in Photoshop and Dreamweaver, but I haven't got into anything demanding enough yet that a good gaming system wouldn't be able to more than handle.

grippin

try out
www.pricewatch.com

always a good deal there

Patito

Yeah, I've been checking Pricewatch for some good deals too... I'm hesistant to buy stuff from some of the companies Pricewatch uses. Also, I guess I'll probably have to upgrade my video card now too, if I want to go PCI-Express, since most mobos don't have both a PCI-E and AGP slot on them.