A7N8X Deluxe + Barton 2500 - Choosing between PC2700 V/s PC3200

On Fri, 4 Jul 2003 08:01:54 +0100, "Simon"
wrote:

Hi folks,

I am planning to buy an A7N8X deluxe (PCB Rev 2.0 which supports
a 400Mhz FSB). Initially I plan to buy a Barton 2500XP processor
(which is officially rated as supporting a 333 FSB) and hopefully =
in a
years time upgrade to a faster processor which supports a 3200 FSB.=
(I
do not wish to
overclock the Barton 2500XP)

There were two Crucial Memory options I was looking at
(All prices are UK sterling)
512MB x 2 PC2700 for 100 quid
OR
512MB x 2 PC3200 for 128 quid

The PC2700 is rated at 2.5V 6ns with CL (CAS latency) =3D 2.5
The PC3200 is rated at 2.5V 5ns with CL =3D 3

I am happy to pay the extra 28 quid and go for the PC3200
to 'future proof my investment' so long as I dont sacrifice =
stability
as compared to a PC2700.

I would appreciate some clarifications:

I'm not sure I completely grasped all the clarifications but I have
slightly the opposite dilemma. That is, I'm about to buy this board with
a Barton 3000. Also been checking the UK Crucial site... I am tempted to
buy the 2700 RAM cos I heard/read that the difference in the latency
(2.5 vs 3 for 3200 RAM) means there's almost no difference in resulting
speed. Is this gonna impact the FSB speed? Can I run the board at 400mhz
to match the processor and the RAM at 333mhz, in other words?

Hmm, now I've written it down like that, it feels like it's not going to
work and I'll have to buy the 3200 stuff.=20

Any help would be much appreciated - I'm trying to get up to speed cos
last time I built a computer I didn't have all the memory speeds to
choose from!!

Oh, and while I'm bothering you anyway: I was planning on getting a
Radeon 9700 (not the Pro - if you're getting the picture that there's
not a lot of leeway in the budget, you'd be right) but I literally read
today there are some issues with that and the A7N8X. Is this true??

Thanks to anyone who helps

Caroline


Caroline Picking,
Milton Keynes, England.

"Caroline" wrote in message
...
I'm not sure I completely grasped all the clarifications but I have
slightly the opposite dilemma. That is, I'm about to buy this board with
a Barton 3000. Also been checking the UK Crucial site... I am tempted to
buy the 2700 RAM cos I heard/read that the difference in the latency
(2.5 vs 3 for 3200 RAM) means there's almost no difference in resulting
speed.

Correct. But it's very likely your next CPU will require PC3200 - you should
buy this for future-proofing reasons.

The TwinMOS memory, available from http://www.komplett.co.uk is excellent,
and is available as both CAS 2 and CAS 2.5, at PC3200 speeds.

Is this gonna impact the FSB speed? Can I run the board at 400mhz
to match the processor and the RAM at 333mhz, in other words?

No - you don't want to do that. CPU and Memory should be run in sync. Both
at 400MHz or both at 333MHz.

Any help would be much appreciated - I'm trying to get up to speed cos
last time I built a computer I didn't have all the memory speeds to
choose from!!

Go for the PC3200 TwinMOS memory from Komplett, as above. CAS 2 if you can
afford it, or CAS 2.5 if not.

Oh, and while I'm bothering you anyway: I was planning on getting a
Radeon 9700 (not the Pro - if you're getting the picture that there's
not a lot of leeway in the budget, you'd be right) but I literally read
today there are some issues with that and the A7N8X. Is this true??

Nope - it works just fine with the A7N8X.