athlon64 and memory bandwidth

[Acedude]

i'm about to build a new computer, and i've asked this question on quite a few forums already, but nobody was able to give me a straight answer. basically, i want to know how does the memory (say a stick of generic value ram compare to a crucial ballistix or ocz platinium) affect the performance (or overclockability) of the athlon64, and how much?

i came across this on the OCZ forum, quoted as follows:

Remember that the A64 is not like a P4 at all. It doesn't require tons of bandwidth to do it's job. A reasonable memory overclock will do the trick. The need for tight RAS to CAS and TRP settings outweighs the need for speed.

so, does it mean that as long as the memory i have are low latency, that athlon64s can perform above average? would there be a *significant* (yeah it's kinda vague, but in your opinion ) difference in performance if i used an $160 low latency generic ram (512x2) that's runs at 200mhz, compare to a $280 low latency OCZ (512x2) that can be OCed to 250mhz or more?

or in other words, will $120 difference matter to a not-so-extreme-but-somewhat-interested overclocker?

thanks in advance

[mrmister1]

You may see a small performance boost, but nothing amazing. The latencies don't give a huge change in performance. If you wanted to overclock, you should go with some PC3500 or PC3700 memory.

[ric449]

Because Athlon 64s use a direct point to point interface to the memory (via the processors built in memory controller), latencies aren't as important.