Need advice for choosing Ram

[Drizzt]

I'm beginnig to upgrade my PC.
The two first component to be upgraded will be MB and Ram and while the MB is not a problem for choosing, I have a few doubts about RAM.

I have to choose between
256MB PC333
512MB PC266


Your opinion?

[Guru]

Cas 2 or 2.5? price difference, os, use, etc.

[Drizzt]

Originally posted by Guru
Cas 2 or 2.5? price difference, os, use, etc.

Don't know the CAS.
The price difference is reflected by the quantity (384 VS 512).
The os is Win 2000.
I use my PC for almost everything.
Fps is not an issue, but I don't want something that will be surpassed in 3/4 months. Is PC400 or PC433 at the horizon?

[Wombat]

Is PC400 or PC433 at the horizon

Nope, not at all. The official JEDEC word is that those speeds will only come out in DDR-II, so you'd need a new motherboard anyway.

With Win2K, you don't want to run with only 256MB of RAM, so that's probably your deciding factor right there.

[[Ch]amsalot]

Drizzt,

Please don't skimp when it comes to your memory. I'd rather see you get a mobo with less "frills" than limit your maximum performance.

Here's the best 512MB DDR333 memory module I can find:

http://www.corsairmemory.com/main/products/specs/CMX512-3000C2.pdf

(this will do 333 (2x166MHz at CAS222)

-[Ch]amsalot

[borat]

go with the pc266 as 333 wont give you much of a boost and if its costing you double for the same amount it really is not worth it
pc266 is more than adequate you wont notice the difference between it and 333 but you may notice the difference between 256mb and 512mb

[az]

Plus, running the RAM and FSB async wouldn't give you the performance increase you might want - in some cases it's a few percent faster, in some it's about equal and in some even slower than running both at 266 - if you're gonna overclock your FSB, then you might be tempted to use the 333, but your 266 would go high enough, I think. There will never be 32 bit Athlons with more than 266 MHz FSB

AZ

[Marshmallowman]

if you are going to OC your cpu to 166fsb go with the 333, if not it would be a waste so go for the 266 (get cas 2 stuff).

I am hearing conflicting stories about an offical FSB increases for athlons, some say bartons will be 166...don't hold your breath

as to ddr400, I think there will be reasonable support for ddr400 in new motherboards(mobo and ram manufacters say they can get up to a stable 533 with ddr, before they require ddrII)

But it looks like jedec will not ratify it...maybe