DDR 800 vs 533?

Question

im trying to build a pc, the mobo's ddr standard is 800. however i can save some cash by going w/ 2 ddr 533 sticks, will this pose a problem?

is ddr 800 all that better than 533? would i see a noticable difference if going w/ 800?

Answer 1

Definitely ddr2 800 will be a lot more faster than ddr2 533. Further with 533 mhz ram , you wont be able to overclock your processor. You will notice a vast system performance improvement in using 667 mhz ram over a 533 mhz ram. If i were in your position i would definitely go with the ddr2 800 ram. If i dont have enough money i would buy half the capacity now and add one more stick later. I think you should definitely not buy a 553 mhz ram . Some 667mhz ram with tight timings also perform as well as the ddr2 800 ram

Answer 2

I would’ve really loved if you would’ve told me how much ram are we talking about here, but ill answer you generally, yes you will certainly feel a deference between 533 and 800 because what we are talking about here is the speed of data that goes in and out to the ram it self which is one of the most and critically needed activities that you do all day long on you pc, I know it may be kinda more expensive but trust me its worth the investment, plus I always like to invest a huge amount of cash when I first buy the pc cuz it will save you a lot of money upgrading later so my advise is go for it.

The 2nd thing is that I understood from you that you were thinking of 2x533 sticks. Well here is the case as long as your pocket can handle the cash issue and as long as you have free ram slots go for the least amount of ram sticks. The idea is as this: why store your eggs in more than one basket when you can afford a huge basket for all of them.. its easier to reach for them and save you more time, so try to avoid dividing you ram storage into multiple one as much as you can, but if eventually you couldn’t then its ok. Best of luck

Answer 3

Actually, what's more important is the capacity of the RAM rather than it's speed.

For example, I'm quite sure that having 1GB of DDR2 533RAM sticks will be a lot faster than having 1, 512MB or DDR2 800RAM.

So for example you have these two options to speak of, then it's better to buy 1GB of DDR2 533RAM than 512MB only of DDR2 800RAM.