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Need memory for your big rig?

Agent Orange

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Sep 24, 2008
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Newegg has a sale on today for Kingston HyperX Blu (2 x 4GB) DDR3 PC3 12800. I bought 16 GB for $59.98 including shipping. :D
 
Newegg doesn't ship to Brazil, and this is very sad. I'm wanting to buy a lot of parts from them in the next months, but without shipping to me I will have to buy from ebay. I will build my ultimate htpc.:D
 
I wish my XPS 720 would take more than 8 gigs.

That's the reason I always buy mother boards with a consideration for the maximum ram. It's one of the basic upgrades that can be done in the future, and one which is cost effective. Four slots, and max 16GB is what I consider prudent, and I'm a frugal spender.
 
That's the reason I always buy mother boards with a consideration for the maximum ram. It's one of the basic upgrades that can be done in the future, and one which is cost effective. Four slots, and max 16GB is what I consider prudent, and I'm a frugal spender.

My Asus Sabertooth 990FX supports up to 32GB but I think that's an overkill. Would be great for a server though.
 
Dell says that the XPS 720 can officially support 8 gigs, but can someone tell me what the chipset actually supports? The cipset is the NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI with a C55XE Northbridge and a MCP55PXE Southbridge.
 
My Asus Sabertooth 990FX supports up to 32GB but I think that's an overkill. Would be great for a server though.

Also good for a desktop if you like to use browsers. I might benefit from 32GB. I just did a count and see that I have 82 windows open across 6 desktops and 6 browsers. Then there's another desktop with 13 terminals open . . . It's probably time to tidy up a little. :p
 
I'm waiting for some DDR2 this cheap, being as I'm still using a nVidia nForce 680i based motherboard (Asus P5N32E-SLI) I still use DDR2...which is pretty freaking expensive.
 
Also good for a desktop if you like to use browsers. I might benefit from 32GB. I just did a count and see that I have 82 windows open across 6 desktops and 6 browsers. Then there's another desktop with 13 terminals open . . . It's probably time to tidy up a little. :p

Maybe we should notify Guinness . . . (lol)
 
Dell says that the XPS 720 can officially support 8 gigs, but can someone tell me what the chipset actually supports? The cipset is the NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI with a C55XE Northbridge and a MCP55PXE Southbridge.

Well, with DDR2, the issue isn't how much memory the chipset supports, but how many slots you have... with 4 slots your practical limit is 8GB, since the largest commonly available DDR2 sticks are 2GB. There are some 4GB unbuffered DIMMs in existence, but they're quite rare, quite expensive, and I believe they also have some compatibility issues (since most systems weren't designed with them in mind... kinda like the issues with 512MB DIMMS back in the PC133 days).
 
All of the above is very true. However, if you're running Windows its got to be 64-bit to see above 3.4GB. Can't speak for Linux and what ever else is out there.
 
My main rig has 3GB DDR1 (I run 32 bit XP anyway). Never ran out of RAM so far, what are you guys doing that 8GB isn't enough?
 
My main rig has 3GB DDR1 (I run 32 bit XP anyway). Never ran out of RAM so far, what are you guys doing that 8GB isn't enough?

I don't think it's a matter of "enough", but rather what one can practically make use of. :) I have a feeling that there are different worlds, or perceptions, of computing here. I've seen people running only one desktop. To me that's inconceivable since the use of multiple desktops is fundamental to the way I work and perceive a non-vintage computer. My main machine also has 3GB DDR1 and it is definitely straining under the current number of windows as listed above (82+6). I don't know how 32GB would look for me since this older mother board only takes 4GB maximum. I think also that there is a significant difference for the people who run MS-Windows of some kind. This particular box is currently running Linux which will always use all available RAM so as not to waste any. My wife's BSD box has 8GB, but she is less aggressive on it and I'm not sure it's really needed.
 
Well, with DDR2, the issue isn't how much memory the chipset supports, but how many slots you have... with 4 slots your practical limit is 8GB, since the largest commonly available DDR2 sticks are 2GB. There are some 4GB unbuffered DIMMs in existence, but they're quite rare, quite expensive, and I believe they also have some compatibility issues (since most systems weren't designed with them in mind... kinda like the issues with 512MB DIMMS back in the PC133 days).

You're right, not cheap. Cheapest I could find on Pricewatch was $65 per stick, which is a little too pricey right now just to experiment and see if it would work or not. If it would, I'd love to push this rig to 16 gigs.
 
My main rig has 3GB DDR1 (I run 32 bit XP anyway). Never ran out of RAM so far, what are you guys doing that 8GB isn't enough?

Adobe Premiere and After Effects. It'll eat 6 gigs of ram like fire will eat spilt gasoline, in no time flat. One thing that might help though is if I got myself a cheapo GT440 1 gig or something, being as After Effects won't touch my 9800 GTX+ due to it being a 512 MB card...ironic that the low-end cards can get more use than these old insane cards.
 
Newegg has a sale on today for Kingston HyperX Blu (2 x 4GB) DDR3 PC3 12800. I bought 16 GB for $59.98 including shipping. :D

Update: The RAM arrived yesterday and was installed. Haven't had a chance to overclock it yet, but browsing appears to up a notch or two.
 
If possible, please tell me if this memory is reliable, and if it looks like hotter(talking about temp, not cool look ;)) than other memory. I'm choosing DDR3 modules for a HTPC. Thanks.
 
If possible, please tell me if this memory is reliable, and if it looks like hotter(talking about temp, not cool look ;)) than other memory. I'm choosing DDR3 modules for a HTPC. Thanks.

Lucas:

It's Kingston memory and as good as anything out there for the money IMHO. The original purchaser has a lifetime warranty as most name brands do (keep your invoice). The part # for this particular kit of 2 sticks each is KHK 1600C9D3B1RK2/8GX and is easily overclockable. The only major brand I have reservations about is G.SKILL, as I've had bad luck with that product, as well as some of my friends. As far as the 'heat' question goes, the nominal voltage is 1.65. Anytime you overclock, whether it's your CPU, GPU, or memory, you're rolling the dice. Most manufacturerers support oc'ing to some extent and will even go as far as to show you how. I suppose the bottom line is how much thought and effort you put into cooling your system. For example my AMD 1055T is rated at 2.8 GHZ but the BIOS automatically oc's it (so called turbo mode) to @ 3.4 GHz. It runs cool and I've never had a problem. However, if I take it up to its full potential of about 4 GHz, then I'm going to have some cooling issues and would be forced to go with liquid cooling if it's to survive for any length of time at all. I'm thinking about it but will probably wait uinti AMD releases the Vishera FX-8350 "Pile Driver". Under 'normal' operating conditions, including a moderate oc, I doubt that you will encounter any overheating problems given you properly ventilate you case.
 
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That's actually not entirely true of XP 32-bit. You can turn on PAE. You're still limited to a max off 4 GByte per process, though.
edit I think PAE functionality was reduced either with SP1 or SP2, since there were issues with either driver or hardware design, something like that. Can't remember.
patscc
 
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