Ordering this build today -- Need to select RAM

[Picatavi]

Ready to order today. The RAM I had picked out is out of stock. Given my build below, which of these three makes more sense -- or is there a better choice? (My budget is flexible.) Am I correct in understanding that a Cas Latency 4 is better than 5?

a) G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL4D-4GBPI-B - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231209

b) OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2RPR800C44GK - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227267

c) CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C4DHX - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145194

Here's my build:

Processor: Intel Core2 Quad Q9400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115131

Motherboard: ASUS P5Q Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P45 Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131297

Video: GIGABYTE GV-N98XPZL-1GH GeForce 9800 GTX+ 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125245

HDD: Western Digital 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136284

Case: Antec Sonata III 500 Black
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129024

DVD1: LITE-ON Combo Black SATA Model DH-52C2S-04 - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106100

DVD2: LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model GH22LS30 - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136153

Card Reader: Nippon Labs ICR-EE All-in-one USB + FDD1.44" Card Reader w/ 3.5" floppy
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820816002

OS: Vista Home Premium SP1 32-bit - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116485

General use: Photoshop, ripping and burning tunes, surfing, Roxio, gaming (e.g. Far Cry 2)
NO overclocking. I know Vista-32 won't recognize all 4 MB of RAM; that's ok.
-Rich

[amdalex]

I would get the G-Skill. Its the fastest and the cheapest out of the three. I have 2gb of DDR-2 800 G-Skill RAM and it works well.

[not important]

I would substitute the Lite-On DVD-ROM for a second DVDRW. Another Lire-On or LG.

[flanzig1]

All the ram you listed loook to be CAS 4, would go for the CAS 5 ram. Intel CPU's tend to work better with CAS 5 ram.

[Picatavi]

Originally Posted by flanzig1 All the ram you listed loook to be CAS 4, would go for the CAS 5 ram. Intel CPU's tend to work better with CAS 5 ram.

Thanks, everyone, for your replies.

"Not important," good catch on the optical; didn't realize it was DVD-ROM. Thanks!

Flanzig1: I hadn't heard that about cas-5 and Intel mobos. On the other hand, who am I kidding... I'm new to all of this. I think I'll order everything else and take another day or two to do more research on memory.

[shadowpr]

I agree with Flanzig1. Your best bet would be ddr2-800 2x2gb cas5. The brands I like and recommend would be corsair, g. skill, mushkin, crucial, a-data.

[Picatavi]

Originally Posted by shadowpr I agree with Flanzig1. Your best bet would be ddr2-800 2x2gb cas5. The brands I like and recommend would be corsair, g. skill, mushkin, crucial, a-data.

Thanks, shadowpr.

This is what I was going to order. What do you guys think?

CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145184

Also, if you'll pardon a stupid question, it says DDR2 SDRAM. My mobo says DDR2, but it doesn't mention anything about SDRAM. I want to make sure I'm getting the right stuff.

[flanzig1]

Good price on the good stuff.
SDRam stands for "synchronous dynamic random access memory". Not everyone uses the full name of ram just "DDR2".

[Picatavi]

Originally Posted by flanzig1 Good price on the good stuff. SDRam stands for "synchronous dynamic random access memory". Not everyone uses the full name of ram just "DDR2".

Ahhhh... I see. Okay, I just went ahead and bought it. Blows my mind, remembering paying a couple hundred dollars for something like a gig years ago, and here I just bought 4 GB of DDR2 for $25. That's unreal.

One more dumb question -- dumb because I'm asking it now after I already bought it, but the 9800 GTX+ graphics card I bought (see link at top) says its memory is GDDR3. Does it matter that my mobo (P5Q Deluxe) supports DDR2?

[Clement_95]

I've never actually built a computer, but I've done quite a bit of research, and for all I know, your graphics card memory has nothing to do with your RAM.

[shadowpr]

Your ram and the memory on the video card are unrelated.

[Picatavi]

Originally Posted by shadowpr Your ram and the memory on the video card are unrelated.

Thanks. I suspected so, but wanted to be double sure.

So that's it... I've ordered everything. Now it's time for some thorough reading on the building process, possible bugs, etc. I've bookmarked a lot of sites on that. Do you think I should get a book, too? Like the Idiot's Guide... or will that pretty much be more of what I will find online for free? I've done a number of upgrades over the years and know all the basics of installing components and so on.

[not important]

Use this guide to start your build: http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=132409