![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
When I started planning this comp upgrade a while back DDR2 800 PC6400 C4 prices were not too bad. But woah they went on up there pretty fast. I had planned on the Corsair DDR2 800 PC6400 C4 at 4-4-4-12 2.0 to 2.1v. Recently this memory is well over $300.00 for 2 gigs though a special this morning at $310.00. Seems like this stuff was somewhere in the $240.00 range a few months back and it went to Ilike $288.00. If it matters, Mobo of choice is the Asus P5W DH.
Some of the pricing to my thinking is artificial based on some memories not be compatible with Conroe boards and the ones that are are pumped up in price. But some of that compatibility was because the voltages were just not set right in the bios.
So I have to ask about other brands I have never used. Specifically Gskill and Crucial Ballistix. I have read people raving about how good they are but I don't personally know. They have what seem to be equal products to the specs above but at lower prices. Have seen the Gskill with the black spreader at $269.00. So how do they compare with the Corsair? Or even the OCZ. I am having to look because right now memory pricing makes little sense. It is all over the place.
And one other question just to educate myself. If I bought some good DDR2 8500 RAM and clocked it to 1066 to match the fsb do I really gain anything worthwhile in games, apps, of whatever? Read somewhere before Conroe came out that it benefited in some way from the DDR2 800 RAM but have heard nothing else about that. Hope that hasn't been already answered here. Didn't find it if it was.
Some of the pricing to my thinking is artificial based on some memories not be compatible with Conroe boards and the ones that are are pumped up in price. But some of that compatibility was because the voltages were just not set right in the bios.
So I have to ask about other brands I have never used. Specifically Gskill and Crucial Ballistix. I have read people raving about how good they are but I don't personally know. They have what seem to be equal products to the specs above but at lower prices. Have seen the Gskill with the black spreader at $269.00. So how do they compare with the Corsair? Or even the OCZ. I am having to look because right now memory pricing makes little sense. It is all over the place.
And one other question just to educate myself. If I bought some good DDR2 8500 RAM and clocked it to 1066 to match the fsb do I really gain anything worthwhile in games, apps, of whatever? Read somewhere before Conroe came out that it benefited in some way from the DDR2 800 RAM but have heard nothing else about that. Hope that hasn't been already answered here. Didn't find it if it was.
G.Skill I hear is good, haven't used any personally but have heard minimal complaints and quite a few raves. The nice thing about Crucial is that if you buy it from them using thier "memory selector" they'll take it back if it doesn't work - pretty spiffy.