Too many kinds of ram????

[knownutin']

Kudo's to all you home builders but I am gonna wimp out and buy one cuz' I "knownutin'"

Hence my question, ddr ram, rdram, sdram, ddr sdram, with PC133 or PC800 or PC 2100 in front on some of them..... if you put them first to worst what would your list look like?

I've read a little and know sram is faster than dram cuz' of the dram recharge thing and sram is a bit more expensive. I think I know that 2100 means it can work faster than 800 or 133.

My questions arises when I see two systems that look about the same except for the type of memory so that could make the difference in choice if I know which has the best.

Thanks.

ps. thank you to whom ever runs this site. I found it two days ago and have already been helped by posting and by just browsing and reading. Its truly amazing!

Coop

[[shawn@localhost /home]#]

the only thing that pisses me off is that they are getting away from saying the actual speed of it

with EDO ram they always said how many pins, with SD there is 100mhz and 133mhz hence the name PC100 and PC133 RAM

with that DDR RAM rated at like PC2100 and 2600 they dont actualy run at 2100 and 2600mhz so whats the point of the name? i have no idea

[Tragicpsycho]

Yes, there are many types of RAM available. There are really only 3 flavors of memory to even concern oneself with anymore. All are usually DIMM chips (dual inline memory module, where the DIP chips are on both sides of the memory stick) but I have seen some SDRAM that were only single inline...

SDRAM, DDR-SDRAM, and RDRAM. If you have purchased a system within the last 4 years it generally runs off SDRAM which has been a RAM standard for some time now. The PC of memory denotes the MhZ in which it runs in sync with the FSB of your motherboard. Most boards are either 66Mhz, 100Mhz, or 133 Mhz. (Athlon boards are "200" and "266" respectively with their DDR FSB) Either way, you will most likely use PC 100 or 133 SDRAM. 168-Pin memory.

DDR-SDRAM seems to be emerging as a new standard for the AMD Athlon platform (and in some Intel P4 systems eventually, although there are some P4s using SDRAM) and is available in PC1600, 2100, and 2400 (effectively 200, 266 and 333 mhz). DDR is basically double data rate SDRAM, which means it is theoretically doubled on the falling and rising of the memory refresh clock. In essence, it can provide twice the bandwith of an equally sized SDR-SDRAM chip. 184-Pin Memory.

RDRAM- Designed for the Intel P4, to take advantage of their quad-rate bus (P4s run on a "400 Mhz FSB"), there are many different Mhz Rates of RDRAM, but PC800 is the most common. Personally, RDRAM wasn't worth the money for it's performance when it first debuted on the market, but since all memory prices fell dramatically, it may be now. Some say it is equal to DDR, others believe it is not as fast. I leave you to be the judge of that, because if you use RDRAM, you're using a P4, and there is no current DDR solution for the P4, only SDRAM and RDRAM. Also 184-Pin memory, has to be installed in pairs, I heard that...but not too sure

Older memory types such as FPM, EDO and BEDO, are almost obsolete, and unless you have an older Pentium system, generally with a 266Mhz CPU, you really have no need to concern yourself with them if buying/configuring a new system. If you just want to learn about computers or plan on working with older systems, then it's good to know about them. They come as 72-pin SIMMs.

Hope that helps. If I were building a system today, I'd really get to ordering the memory now while prices are only somewhat on the rise.

[setiguy2000]

I would use either PC133 memory sticks or DDR memory. RDRAM is Intel's RAMBUS style of memory and it's not very popular, may be outdated soon.

I have used both PC133 and DDR and have had no problems whatsoever with these RAM configurations. DDR is getting more popular and even Inhell is looking into it since their RDRAM RAMBUs is not catching on.

In my humble opinion I would buy a system using the AMD Palamino Athlon XP series of CPU's and DDR 2100 RAM, it knocks P4 and Inhell out of the ring.

Happy computing which ever way you go.
Setiguy2000

P.S.
If you want some advice on which way to go, check out this site:
www.tomshardware.com

[Kurylo]

To Shawn: The DDR PC2100 an PC2600 do not mean MHz. It means the maximum bandwidth of such memory in MBpS.

[knownutin']

Thanks all.

Your input has been very helpful. I am going to to end up with 256MB of PC800 RDRAM cuz the Dell system I'm looking at is P4. It is expandable so if RDRAM is on the way out it might get even cheaper yet so I can scoop an even better bargain later!

[[shawn@localhost /home]#]

ok as a note, i dont think there is a 2600, i think i saw 2700 it was

[Bogg]

All are usually DIMM chips (dual inline memory module, where the DIP chips are on both sides of the memory stick) but I have seen some SDRAM that were only single inline...

Hmms, even if the Chips are on 1 side of the SDRAM it's still a DIMM memory, check the goldplated end, if the to sides are (at the bottom side, the one against the mobo) connected, then it's SIMM, meaning the two sides are connected at the Pins, but if they are not connected between the two sides (back and front), they are DIMM's (which, what i know, ALL 168pin sdram is)...


Thnak?

[[shawn@localhost /home]#]

huh?

all ram just sort of 'goes in', you guide the way in as gold first lol i thought everybody knew that because the platic those DIPS are made from are not conductive

btw i dont understand what a SIMM is still, elaberate?
DIP memory with those black things on 2 sides you said, and DIMM is only 1 side correct?

[Kurylo]

I saw 1-sided and 2-sided DIMMs. Why do you think DIMMs are only 1-sided? The manufacturer choose how to lay these chips on the plate, and there isn't any difference. He may do them 2-sided as 1-sided as well.

[Kurylo]

BTW, the number of memory chips in RAM should be divisible by 2.

[Rugor]

SIMM

Single Inline Memory Module, 32 bit Data access---

DIMM

Dual Inline Memory Module, 64 bit Data access---

An original Pentium series CPU went to 64 bit memory bus from the 486's 32 bit bus, which required that memory modules be arranged in pairs. Because the DIMM had 64 bit access it addressed two logical banks and a Pentium or later class system could use only one physical module. (Stick)

As for RDRAM, DDR, and SDR. SDR is the slowest--least bandwidth-- but has the lowest inherent latency. DDR has more latency and twice the theoretical bandwidth of SDR. Rambus RDRAM has the most latency and high bandwidth.

Current PC 800 RDRAM runs a 16bit datapath at 200MHz on a quad pumped bus for an effective speed of 800MHz; hence the name. It transfers at 1600Mb/sec. Current RDRAM implementations (i850) on the P4 platform use two memory channels for a total of 3.2Gb/sec. It has high latency because it needs to translate it's own 16 bit datapaths to the computer's 64bit memory bus.

PC 2100 DDR SDRAM runs a 64bit datapath on a 133MHz bus, double pumped for an effective bandwidth of 2100mb/sec. It's worse than SDR for latency but better than RDRAM because it doesn't have to translate the data.

Hope this helps