E4500 or E6550? Is there so much a difference?

[Parker]

Originally Posted by yellowhello

Blood Iron over the Asus because I love the board. Best overclocker for the money and the famed DFI BIOS. There is quite a learning curve on it, but once you get the hang of it you'll appreciate all the options.

Hhhmmmm.....
Ok, well I still think I'll go with the Asus. But for my next build I'll get a nice DFI :)

I've decided on my mobo guys, the Asus P5K-E/Wifi.
And I'm getting an E4500 proc.
I'm still looking at my options for memory.... the cheaper the better.
I'd like to go as cheap as I can on this build, but with quality components.

Which mems should I get?
(under $80-100 please)

[gvblake22]

If you want to spend a little extra on a 4GB kit, the OCZ Titanium DDR2-800 is the cheapest in the CAS 4 range. Otherwise, you can have your pick from A LOT of different 2GB memory kits that are at least DDR2-800 or faster.

[Yellowhello]

The Crucial Ballistix 2GB 800MHz $75 without the MIR and $50 with the MIR. For 4GB kits, THIS Patriot looks good, $70 after MIR $105 without MIR.

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by yellowhello

For 4GB kits, THIS Patriot looks good, $70 after MIR $105 without MIR.

I was just going to look up that link but you beat me to it!

[Parker]

The Patriot looks good, but I'm looking more for a 2GB kit.

What do you guys think of these?

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Cas 5-5-5-15
Or.......
Team Xtreem 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Cas 4-4-4-12

I've read a lot about these two and they are both very overclockable.
Question is, which one?
The Team Xtreem have 8 layer PCB and D9 chips. And the Crucial is 1066 and also have D9 chips.

[Yellowhello]

I haven't heard much about the Team Xtreem, but I know you'll like the Crucial kit: Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400 2GB Memory Kit Review

[gvblake22]

I guess it depends on what you are overclocking. The E4500 has a high multiplier (11x), so it won't take as much FSB to reach a high overclock. Therefor, I would say it would be better to save your money and get a DDR2-800 kit instead of DDR2-1066 as the extra speed isn't really needed. I have a 1GB kit of the Team Xtreem DDR2-800 and it has Micron D9 IC's on it. I've never had a chance to push it very far, but they were able to run just about everything I could throw at them with an Athlon 64 3600 Brisbane processor. I've never owned any Crucial RAM before, but Crucial is part of Micron (who is the IC manufacturer), so you know it's reliable. Not sure if the Team Xtreem's still have the D9 chips though, this source just says "Micron"...

[Parker]

Ok, then I'll go for an 800Mhz kit.

Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400 2GB Memory Kit Review[/quote]
Or.....
Team Xtreem 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Cas 4-4-4-12

Also, I've heard that 4GB kit's usually don't clock as high as 2GB kits, Is that true? Or does it just depend on the brand?

[Yellowhello]

Originally Posted by Parker

Also, I've heard that 4GB kit's usually don't clock as high as 2GB kits, Is that true? Or does it just depend on the brand?

Generally it's true:

Originally Posted by Capper

the fact that the higher density parts don't typically OC well at all.

From here: Patriot Viper 4GB DDR2-800 (PVS24G6400LLK) Review

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by Parker

Also, I've heard that 4GB kit's usually don't clock as high as 2GB kits, Is that true? Or does it just depend on the brand?

For the most part it's probably true. The highest overclocking 2GB sticks tend not to overclock as high as 1GB or 512MB sticks because the higher density usually forces slower latencies. See the Patriot 4GB memory kit review yellowhello posted above...