Wanting to upgrade my computer

I don’t think you’ll see much of an advantage getting faster memory, the cost difference isn’t that big and memory is reasonably cheap right now. Get some memory with lower latency instead, i.e. 4-4-4-x instead of 5-5-5-x or even 6-6-6-x as this will offer a small performance boost for some applications and games.
Don’t go over the top though, there’s no point getting the stuff with super fancy heatpipes and stuff like that, it’s just a waste of money.
I’d suggest G.Skill or Geil as decent local brands, Transcend and A-Data has some better stuff as well with lower latency that doesn’t cost a fortune. Most of it I think is branded here as gamer memory or something like that.

[quote=“TheLostSwede”]I don’t think you’ll see much of an advantage getting faster memory, the cost difference isn’t that big and memory is reasonably cheap right now. Get some memory with lower latency instead, i.e. 4-4-4-x instead of 5-5-5-x or even 6-6-6-x as this will offer a small performance boost for some applications and games.
Don’t go over the top though, there’s no point getting the stuff with super fancy heatpipes and stuff like that, it’s just a waste of money.
I’d suggest G.Skill or Geil as decent local brands, Transcend and A-Data has some better stuff as well with lower latency that doesn’t cost a fortune. Most of it I think is branded here as gamer memory or something like that.[/quote]Some more searching came up with the same conclusions, 800Mhz has more bang-for-buck. I was then going to ask if you can recommend some good brands but you’ve already done that :thumbsup:
I think it’ll be 5-5-5-x on my budget.

Donkey Kong must go really fast on that.

Why? Considering that you can get decent stuff fairly cheap.
You getting 2 or 4GB?

2GB 4-4-4-x modules for decent pricing:
shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … J&ROWNO=18
shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … J&ROWNO=31
shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … J&ROWNO=39
shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … J&ROWNO=20
shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … J&ROWNO=15

4GB 4-4-4-x modules for decent pricing:
shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … 22&ROWNO=5
shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … 2&ROWNO=12
shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … 2&ROWNO=26

[quote=“TheLostSwede”]Why? Considering that you can get decent stuff fairly cheap.[/quote]Because I can’t afford them. I have to limit myself. I’ve found a 4GB set that according to a review will overclock to 1066 for half the price. I do know that it’s not guaranteed, but it seems I will be able to squeeze some more juice out of it.

[quote=“TheLostSwede”]With regards to the 4GB limit, Windows XP is limited to 3-3.5GB, but Vista can do 4GB - msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778.aspx
So ok, you got a bit of a point there, but you’ll most likely get slightly worse performance going for 3x1GB than 4x1GB or 2x2GB, but I guess you could go with 2x1GB and 2x512MB, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
[/quote]
Actually all 32 bit Microsoft OSs have a physical addres space limit of 4GB post XP SP2, i.e. they won’t use addresses above 4GB even when PAE is enabled, because lots of drivers fail to handle 64 bit addresses

support.microsoft.com/kb/929605/en-us

Now post SP1, Vista will report the right number but that doesn’t mean that all 4GB is being used.

support.microsoft.com/kb/946003/

Still, between 0.5 and 1GB or Ram will be hidden by IO space. Even if the chipset manages to map it above 4GB, Windows won’t use it because lots of 32 bit device drivers fumble DMA above 4GB.

Mind you I’d rather have 3.1GB than 2GB. Then again you could install Vista x64 and use all 4GB.

Half the price compared to what? There aren’t a lot of 4GB kits in the region of NT$1200-1300 and I wouldn’t recommend getting too cheap memory, as those module are generally not as good as the slightly more expensive ones.
The prices will most likely be a little bit cheaper if you head down to the computer market, as for some reason most prices online here aren’t that great.

I was looking at these: techwarelabs.com/reviews/mem … 2-800-4GB/ which I saw for $NT1320 for 4GB. I know it’s cheaper than the 4-4-4-x you were talking about, but they’ll do, won’t they? I would prefer the faster ones, but I have to watch how much I spend. I already changed my mind once this week, I may change it again as I get more informed :notworthy:
The online prices often don’t give the latencies or part numbers either “Kingston DDR2 800MHz 2G” doesn’t tell me enough :unamused: And the markets don’t have much in the way of “gaming” ram, just cheap Kingston stuff. I’ll keep looking… Ordering the ones you recommended online won’t be a problem if I can’t find them in shops.

Sure, they’re fine, just not seen them that cheap. Most of the cheaper stuff tends to be from some horrible brand.
I’ve seen a lot of decent stuff in the computer market here, but you might have to ask around a bit.
There’s even an OCZ and Kingston shop at the top floor, but that stuff is generally not worth the asking price.
Although you can get something like this for a reasonable price shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … 28&ROWNO=5 and it’s a compromise if you can afford the slightly higher price as it’s rated at 5-4-4-x

Just spotted this for all the Shuttle fans out there
xfastest.com/viewthread.php?tid=17894
I doubt that’ll be the saving solution for them, but maybe some people will consider buying it.
More than 50% of all new products from Shuttle have been Atom based as of lately…

Ok, you might want to hold off that upgrade a few more days, as it seems Intel is set to drop its CPU prices again…
forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=378916
Looks like the E7400 will be the same price as the E7300 from the 18th if that’s correct.

[quote=“TheLostSwede”]Ok, you might want to hold off that upgrade a few more days, as it seems Intel is set to drop its CPU prices again…
forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=378916
Looks like the E7400 will be the same price as the E7300 from the 18th if that’s correct.[/quote]Arrrrgh! I’ve been holding off for ages. But if I can get a E7400 instead of a E7300 it’ll be worth it. The E7300 went down the same price as the E7200 a few months ago when the E7400 was released. Now the E7400 is nowhere to be seen :eh:
That mentions a E7500, must be a new one.

Sure is, set to replace the 7400 where it’s at now…
The 7400 and 7300 are both for sale here shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=stor … _NO=AGAK00
Although that’s a bit more expensive than getting them over in the computer market to be fair, NT$400 or so premium from what I can tell.
The other new s processors listed there are meant to be running cooler and use less power than their counterparts, at a price premium of course…

I wouldn’t trust pchome to have the cheapest price or to have things that are in stock. I use senfu.com.tw . It’s a stall in Nova so it tends to be more up to date. And they don’t list the E7400 at the moment. I will wait to see what happens next week. It might reappear.

Why don’t you just head down to the computer market, they’ve got better prices than Nova in general imho.
Are you building it yourself or having the shop do it for you btw?
I wouldn’t trust most places to put together a system for me, but then again, I used to do it for a living many moons ago and I’m still super picky about it all :smiley:

I’m doing it myself, replacing the motherboard and everything on it, so it’s a big job, especially, those little fiddly connections for the front panel. I find that Senfu’s prices are pretty identical to those at Guanghua and Bade Road, they have a better website. I did go there anyway to look for things that aren’t online. Didn’t really see anything to make me change my mind.

As for CPU prices, Senfu are now listing:
E7300 - $3700 (up from $3650)
E7400 - $3900 (wasn’t listed before today, I think it was around $4600 when it came out)
E7500 - $4600 (not listed on senfu atm, this price is from mymypc.com.tw)

I called Senfu about the e7400 and they said they didn’t have any. But in the past I have had to convince them they had something when they said they didn’t.