This confuses me, im no wiz but have built my last few systems and since ddr2 has come out and have learned a lil bit more, the timings confuse me,

4-4-4-4-12? vs 5-5-5-5-15 or 12? same prices?

so performance timings are lower correct? why are some of the 5's more expensive at the same brand name? ( oh and for you people that get mad that people post the same questions, i looked and couldnt find this answer) thanks in advance...

agreed.

Hey I'm no wiz either. So don't feel you are the only one.

Lower numbers are faster.

Dram prices fluctuate like other commodities, so it depends on how much the dram price was when the module was built.

The thing with brands is that they source their products from different manufacturers, so in some cases you'll find ram from the same brand and similar specs at different prices. There's samsung, micron d9, hynix, and some others that actually make the ram modules. OCZ, corsair, kingston etc... all get their modules from said companies, if one month they get x module for x dollars than that version of that ram will cost x dollars. Fast forward a few months and you may have y brand for y dollars inside the same brand name. This includes specific series like the corsair dominator series, theres a wide price varience with those modules because the costlier ones use micron d9's, which are famous for their quality, the cheaper ones likey use hynix or some other manufacturer.

Hope this clears things up.

As for the ram timings the official ddr2 standard is 5-5-5-5-15 at 1.8v. However, most brands offer gaming or high end modules at lower latencies that offer a performance increase such as 4-4-4-4-12.

Is there anything else I can clear up for you?

nice post. but you're wrong about samsung... all their products are in house... eg. the screws, the chips, everything... all samsung, no outside manufacturers.... but other than that... yes, made at a different time. cost them 10 bucks more 2 months ago, costs you 10 bucks more now... that and the quantity of sales... of course people are going to buy the 44412 over the 55515... so the prices on the 44412 drops because a) they can sell more and b) there's more competition for the lower timings...

ps: samsung makes some really great products at good prices because of how they work... not because they skimp on parts... :-p that's part of the reason they are so successful

I thought samsung was the largest manufacturer of ram, guess i was wrong. Thanks for correcting me, i dont want to be a purveyor of untruths.

agreed.

WTF? What's wrong with you?

sorry sasparillamayonase for making you mad somehow, anywho guys, thanks a ton for that explanation, looking at building the wife a system ( she gets the handmedowns i just say that so i can buy the stuff ) and memory always has confused me, thanks again!

He was just being funny, relax.

To answer ur question - yes, CL4 is better than CL5.

If u find CL5 priced higher than CL4 then thats probably not a good deal.

CL4 and CL5 dont mean all that much though. The thing that matters most is the type of chips. What u want is Micron D9 (unless u dont want to overclock, in wich case just buy the cheapest CL4 u can find).

Buy this please. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231065

He was just being funny, relax.

To answer ur question - yes, CL4 is better than CL5.

If u find CL5 priced higher than CL4 then thats probably not a good deal.

CL4 and CL5 dont mean all that much though. The thing that matters most is the type of chips. What u want is Micron D9 (unless u dont want to overclock, in wich case just buy the cheapest CL4 u can find).

Buy this please. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231065

That same brand in the Xtream model are only $79 for a 2GB set after rebate right now on Newegg and in DDR2-800 are 4.4.4.12 and are really DDR2-1000 rated Micron chips which run @ DDR2-1000 without getting warm.
They have many OC reviews on this model.

The same chips are used on the Xtream 4GB set with the exact same time settings...but the 2GB set is the best deal right now as two sets give 4GB with high speed an low stock times for $160 USD.

Z

G.Skill and Patriot are the best buys and overclockers @ any given price.
Corsair and OCZ have stupid prices.

He was just being funny, relax.

To answer ur question - yes, CL4 is better than CL5.

If u find CL5 priced higher than CL4 then thats probably not a good deal.

CL4 and CL5 dont mean all that much though. The thing that matters most is the type of chips. What u want is Micron D9 (unless u dont want to overclock, in wich case just buy the cheapest CL4 u can find).

Buy this please. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231065

That same brand in the Extream model are only $79 for a 2GB set after rebate right now on Newegg and in DDR2-800 are 4.4.4.12 and are really DDR2-1000 rated Micron chips which run @ DDR2-1000 without getting warm.
They have many OC reviews on this model.

G.Skill and Patriot are the best buys and overclockers @ any given price.
Corsair and OCZ have stupid prices.

Yeh, thats an excellent deal.
And you're right, Corsair and OCZ have horrible prices, but at least OCZ makes good RAM.

Yes OCZ and Corasir do make good ram moduals.
Who do you think they buy their chips from?
Patriot also uses Brainpower 6 layer PCB's to mount their chips under thier brand name.
They are also a California based company.

Note my location in my sig.

Z

Who do you think they buy their chips from?
Patriot also uses Brainpower 6 layer PCB's to mount the chips on.
They are also a California based company.

Note my location in my sig.

Z

OCZ makes a 7200C4 module with Micron D9 chips. Thats how they redeem themselves from being as bad as Corsair.

And I'm not crashing and burning personally, nor do I care what a bunch of 4th world countries do - unlike us, they dont matter.

Oh my sig got noticed!

For 100 points and a donut tell everyone what it means or where it came from.
Yes it does matter and it will effect you in your life time.
In fact it has already done so in the past 2 years no matter which country you live in......and it is NOT going to get better.

PS: They will not notice....thus not care.

Z

Take that 4th world contries. Track has spoken!

Canada's economy is vastly effected by my sig.

Yeh! Screw those countries, they suck.

Oh my sig got noticed!

For 100 points and a donut tell everyone what it means or where it came from.
Yes it does matter and it will effect you in your life time.
In fact it has already done so in the past 2 years no matter which country you live in......and it is NOT going to get better.

PS: They will not notice....thus not care.

Z


I have no idea what u mean. How do these countries matter?