Need opinions on RAM 4

[jisoo22]

Hello all,

I have an interesting question. I'm in the middle of upgrading one of my computers, currently it's running this:

AMD Athlon 750
Abit Mainboard
512MB PC133
Soundblaster Value
Etc.

Here's the thing, I'm going to change the motherboard and CPU (Athlon XP 1700+) and I'm trying to decide whether to get an SDRAM motherboard and not waste the PC133 or get a newer motherboard utilizing DDR.

The million dollar question is: if you had your choice, would you take 512 PC133 or 256 PC2100?

Thanks,
Jisoo22

 

[jisoo22]

Oh by the way, this computer's gonna be used for design like Photoshop, Illustrator, QuarkXpress...etc.

 

[cdogg]

The decision to choose between DDR and SDRAM all depends on the CPU in question. All CPU's 1GHz or slower hardly benefit from DDR. However, as you move to speeds 1.5Ghz and beyond (or in AMD's world, 1.2Ghz and beyond), DDR and RDRAM become a necessity.

The other deciding factor of course is the type of software you're going to run. Anything involving "floating-point" calculations and 3D rendering must have DDR to keep up with the CPU. SDRAM can't cut it in this respect.

So, to answer your question - 256 PC2100! Good luck!!
~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[jisoo22]

Thanks for the insight cdogg, appreciate it!

 

[paparazi]

Dito! DDR is they way to go but having said that Photoshop is very memory hungry so the 512 option even if PC133 is going to be of benefit.
There are a few motherboards out there that have BOTH types of memory slots (and before anybody starts! i know they tend to be on the budget boards)
I have had experiences with two of these boards.
The ECS Elite K7S5A: a SIS based dual memory motherboard that really shuck up Via and AMD about 15 months ago when it first came out because is outperformed it's more expensive rivals (still a current board, into it's 3rd revision, cheap, fast and stable)
The Jetway V266B: this company are extremely underated and this motherboard has been (after trying several others) the backbone of our PC systems for the last 8 months.
It has in our own experience the lowest returns rate of any motherboard we have used, with the KT266a chipset onboard and UDMA133 support it has excellant performance and is rock solid. (we also sell ASUS, Abit, MSI &Gigabyte) and at this price point the Jetway is unbeatable.
Of course I point out these two boards because of there dual memory support which will allow you to GO DDR at a later stage. Martin Please let members know if there advice has helped any.

 

[jisoo22]

Thanks for the info paparazi! This computer being upgraded is for my wife, since she just surfs the web and does magazine design for school, I imagine an SDRAM board will do (she doesn't play any video games). Appreciated!

Jisoo22

 

[XTab]

I wonder if anyone can help me with a Jetway 266 / DDR Memory problem?

I have 256 MB of DDR RAM on my Jetway V266B board and bought another 256 of the same type/make (TA) to upgrade my spec for dotNet programming. The processor is an Athlon XP1700.

The system finds the full 512MB OK, boots into Win2K OK, but once I start running a few apps, I get software crashes all over the shop.

Each of the 256's will work quite happily on its own in either bank. It's when I try both together that there are problems.

I got the vendor to send me a replacement for the new memory as I thought faulty RAM was the problem initially. But that didn't fix it, so I'm fairly sure it's not that.

I've tried to download the manual for this motherboard from Jetway's site, but it's been down a lot so I haven't been able to do that yet. (There wouldn't be a jumper involved in this, would there? Nah, surely not!)

Here's some of the BIOS settings> I'm not enough of a techie to know which are directly related:-

--------------------------------
DRAM Timing Settings
Auto Config Optimized
RAS Active Time 6T
PAS Precharge Time 3T
RAS to CAS Delay 3T
CAS Latency 2.5T
Bank Interleave 4 Bank
DRAM Command Rate 2T Command

Memory Hole Disabled

Auto Detect DIMM/PCIClk Enabled
Spread Spectrum Disabled
Host Clock 133 MHz
DRAM Clock 133 MHz
---------------------------------------

I see that there are some fans of the Jetway 266 in these forums, so I'm hoping that my problem may be familiar to at least one of you.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[cdogg]

It doesn't sound like it's the memory, since you state that each 256MB module works fine on its own. This is definitely pointing towards a motherboard/BIOS issue. If I'm not mistaken, I think I've seen some posts about certain Jetway motherboards reporting this same issue.

I suggest that you create your own thread for this question, so that others that have the same board might respond. The fact that you've added your question under the title "Need opinions on RAM" might cause the right people to avoid the thread. Use a title like you have in the your opening line: "Jetway 266 / DDR Memory problem"

Good luck!
~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[XTab]

Thanks - I'll do that.