cas 1,2,3

[Stevo]

I have to buy some more ram soon

What is the difference between cas 1,2 and three?

[a Bill]

I forgot. However, overclockers tend to refer to CAS3 as a blah chip only good for running its set FSB speed while CAS2 chips are good for overclocked systems. So I would lean toward the belief that the lower the CASx, the greater the stability of the chip.

I don't overclock and the Mushkin 128 meg CAS3 PC100 sticks they sell for $88 each are working just fine for me in a PII450 Optiplex.

[Stevo]

Is there any way you can tell what you have?

[Roy]

Column Access Strobe (CAS) LATENCY, measured in clock cycles, is the delay from when a Read Command is registered on a rising clock edge to when the data from that Read Command becomes avaliable at the outputs.

It has a major impact on overall memory working speed. A CL2 memory chip can be accessed 33% faster than a CL3 chip.

In practice, a chip that is CL2 at 100MHz may require a system setting of CL3 at higher FSB speeds. Overclockers choose CL 2 sticks because it is an indication that they will perform at faster speeds. Don't be fooled by vendors who talk about speeds in nanoseconds.

Certified PC100 SDRAM bears a label with two 3-digit numbers. The first digit is CAS Latency. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[ANTONIO E GUERRA]

Hi, Roy! Just a quick question, what will be the best choice for Pc100 in terms of brand names and cas latency? Here we get Siemmens, Nec and Toshiba pc-100. Thanks for your info.

[This message has been edited by ANTONIO E GUERRA (edited 05-27-99).]

[Stevo]

Thanks for the help

[Roy]

Antonio - I tend not to be concerned with brand names. Look for Certified PC100 sticks - they have a label: PC100 xxx xxx. The first digit is CAS Latency. If you plan to overclock, go for CL2.

I like to shop at www.pricewatch.com (http://www.pricewatch.com) . Right now there is some CL2 64M for $39 plus shipping.

[ANTONIO E GUERRA]

Thanks, Roy! I think we agree in that too. The question is because in another website I read one of the members bad mouthing Siemmens chips. Since I know you know about the subject, I was willing to read your opinion. Thanks for your insight again. Have a good one!

[relativitymc2]

Cas2 Corsair or Micron, never had a problem and if you are planning to overclock there are major differences with brand types of ram. If you aren't overclocking then it probably doesn't make much difference. Everybody has their fav. brands, again mine are Corsair and Micron Cas2. There are websites addressing stability while overclocking. Also the Abit boards seem to be picky when it comes to RAM.