Motherboards with the Nvidia2 chipset are designed to have the memory bus
and the processor's bus running at the same speed for the best performance.
(This is because of higher latencies introduced when trying to run them
asynchronously.)  So, you don't need ram rated for higher than PC2700
speeds.  However, you might benefit (slightly) from memory that is capable
of running at higher timings than stock PC2700 memory.  You can either look
for PC2700 memory rated for faster timings or buy faster memory and see if
this also means it can support faster timings at the slower bus speed
(compared to the bus speed it is rated for).

To take advantage of the dual channel feature of this motherboard, you'll
need two matching (identical) memory modules.  Using the dual channel
capability will provide only a slight performance increase, however (~5%),
as Athlon processors are not really that memory bandwidth intensive, as
compared to a P4.  So, if money is an issue, you could very well get away
with a single memory module and run the system without the dual channel
feature.  The dual channel does become important if you are running an
Nvidia2 motherboard with the integrated graphics and intend to make use of
this integrated graphics chip, since the system and the graphics subsystem
will be sharing the same memory.

Sorry, no insights on memory prices.

John

----- Original Message -----
From: "James Maki" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2003 5:32 PM
Subject: [PCBUILD] FSB and CPU-Memory Specs


>Since the CPU uses 166/333, am I wasting my money to
> purchase 400 rated DDR RAM (PC 3200), or do the two buses run
independantely
> (in regards to speed)? What specs should I look for in RAM at either
speed?
> This board supports Dual Channel DDR. Does this have an impact on the RAM
> selected?
>
> On a side note, I notice that RAM prices seem to be climbing. I read that
> they should fall soon. Any insight or comments?

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