# RAM questions...



## Skorp (Aug 21, 2008)

Ive just learn that 800mhz is equal to pc-6400 and its the maximum number that my motherboard could use/read/get....

But i still dont understand about , ECC or NO-ECC, fully buffered or unbuffed...

Im looking at 4g ram...OZC?, Kingston?

Thanks...im really learning with you guys...


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## idealsreturn (Aug 21, 2008)

Skorp said:


> Ive just learn that 800mhz is equal to pc-6400 and its the maximum number that my motherboard could use/read/get....
> 
> But i still dont understand about , ECC or NO-ECC, fully buffered or unbuffed...
> 
> ...



Personally I would suggest kingston, as they're a good mid range brand, offering a balance of price and performance, and pc-6400 is good for most applications, if you were more after an enthusiast system with something of a less restrictive budget I would suggest stepping up to DDR3 and a motherboard that could support it.

As for ECC and Non-ECC, it basically means if it's error checked or not, generally speaking unless you're running a database server or performing calculations that require the utmost precision, I suggest getting Non-ECC as it's faster, but has errors that would affect the aforementioned situations. Also, with buffered and unbuffered, you will be after unbuffered RAM. A good analogy I read was that buffering on ram is similar to power steering, gamer ram (which you'll be looking at) is like a sportscar, its fast and lightweight, doesn't need to move too much data so you wouldn't need the power steering as it were, whereas servers move huge amounts of data, and so are sort of like trucks, so the power steering helps as otherwise it would be difficult to fight against the heavy load. Also, if you are looking at 4g of ram, make sure you run a 64bit operating system, as otherwise you will only be able to effectively use 3g of it.


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## Intel_man (Aug 21, 2008)

hmm... I was told that buffered ram usually last longer than unbuffered. Don't quote me on this one though.


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## Skorp (Aug 21, 2008)

im actually a car mecanics, so i really understand the power steering thing...so ill have to check if my xp is 64 bit or not...and what about vista, i think they all 64bit right ?


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## mtb211 (Aug 21, 2008)

no vista has 32 bit versions, I THINK ultimate is the only 64 bit version... dont quote me tho... My parents have vista on there laptop, i hate it


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## Skorp (Aug 21, 2008)

oh...then i doubt that ill find a 64bit...i heard that vista run better with 4g ram, anyway im not sure of running vista...


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## bcohen4 (Aug 21, 2008)

you can get vista premium 64 bit also, I have that but it's not installed right now, I prefer Leopard 

and I would reccommend 4gb ram, that's what I was using and it was consistently 20%-40% ram usage


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## Skorp (Aug 22, 2008)

so if im using xp pro, its useless to get 4g ram ? it wont help my gaming at all ?? because xp cant support more than 2 g ram ???


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## 2048Megabytes (Aug 22, 2008)

Skorp said:


> so if im using xp pro, its useless to get 4g ram ? it wont help my gaming at all ?? because xp cant support more than 2 g ram ???



4 gigabytes of RAM with Windows XP is too much.  Windows XP will only allow you to use about 3.25 gigabytes of RAM (3 gigabytes is a great deal of memory).  You could buy 4 gigabytes, but your operating system and programs you run would likely never utilize any more than 2 gigabytes.

Error-correcting code (ECC) memory is more expensive (and slower) than non-ECC memory, but it is more reliable and generally used on servers, not in personal computers.

Be sure to run your RAM in dual channel mode. Dual channel random access memory uses two modules of memory to increase the data path from 64-bit to 128-bit to allow a greater transfer of data from RAM to the memory controller.  This effectively doubles the data transfer rate from RAM.


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## 2048Megabytes (Aug 22, 2008)

mtb211 said:


> no vista has 32 bit versions, I THINK ultimate is the only 64 bit version... dont quote me tho... My parents have vista on there laptop, i hate it



I am using a 32-bit Windows Vista operating system right now.


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## CodyG [WIN-TEAM] (Aug 25, 2008)

Hey everyone, my name’s Cody, and I’m working with the Windows Vista Outreach team to help answer questions folks might have about Windows Vista.  I noticed you guys had some questions about 32-bit and 64-bit versions.  Microsoft has actually put together a pretty handy FAQ that should be able to answer your questions.  Here’s a link:  http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/Help/41531554-d5ef-4f2c-8fb9-149bdc5c8a701033.mspx 

I hope this site is helpful.  If you’ve got some questions that the site doesn’t cover, feel free to drop me a line and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Thanks,

Cody
Windows Vista Outreach Team


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