Question on Intel E5200

[-XawnL-]

Hi, I am new to the forums and currently building a budget gaming rig. Having read alot of positive things about pairing the E5200 with a GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L mobo, ive decided on this combo. From what ive read, it was suggested that using 1066mhz Ram alows for better overclocking because of a fixed high RAM ratio . Just not clear on what that means and why or how this helps o'cing. Was hoping someone could put it in layman's terms for me.

This being my first build and not having any experience, I was wondering which brand name RAM would be best and should I go with 4gb(2x2gb) or would 2gb(2x1gb) be suffucent? Keep in mind that I mainly play mmorpg's like starwars galaxies.


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Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale
GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L
Thermaltake Purepower 500W ATX 12V 2.0 Power Supply
Sapphire Radeon HD 4830 512MB 256-bit
RAM ???
Western Digital Caviar Black 500gb
LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black
Case ???

[tomtoon]

Do you have a 64-bit O.S? This is so the O.S will use all 4GB RAM and recognise it.

Corsair and G.Skill are good brands.
Take a look at this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145184

[-XawnL-]

So 32bit OS = go with 2gigs
and
64bit OS = go with 4 gigs

ok clear on that part...thanks

just need clarification on the 1066 RAM for oc'ing now.

[tomtoon]

That is better RAM for oc'ing yes.

[not important]

You can also install the 2 X 2GB of RAM. The 32bit OS won't see it all but RAM is cheap now so take advantage of it.

[liambl]

I would use 4GB even with a 32 bit OS. It will still show around 3.2GB and doesn't cause any negative effects.

[glc]

No, you do not need to use 1066 ram with a 800 processor, even if you are going to be overclocking. Intel processors are quad pumped off the FSB but DDR ram is only double pumped. If you were going to be using a 1333 processor such as a E8400, then you would use 1066 ram to overclock with. With a 800 processor, if you run a cpu/ram ratio of 1:1, the ram will be running at 400. Running it a step or two faster is fine - such as 533 or 667 - but there's no need to run it at 1:2 and not all motherboards will even support that ratio.

A G31 board is happiest with either DDR2-667 or DDR2-800 ram that runs at 1.8 or 1.9 volts. I prefer Corsair.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145184

[-XawnL-]

Sincere apologies on the double post (kinda covered 2 topics so wasnt sure where to post).

Thanks alot for the input.