Corsair memory

Im making a gaming system this christmas and im just wondering if there is much difference between the corsair 2gb 667mhz value select priced at £140 and the more expensive corsair 2gb 800mhz twin x priced at £186.

 

Well the twin x is obviously faster at 800mhz. It translates into a max of 6400mb/s of bandwidth when run in single channel. (though will probably be running it dual channel.... twice the bandwidth)
The 667mhz has around 5300mb/s of bandwidth in single channel.

The timings are slower on the 667mhz RAM too. They are 5-5-5-15 whereas the 800mhz RAM has timings of 4-4-4-12.

This is all assuming we are talking about the same RAM, I think ive got the ones you are looking at.

The 800mhz RAM is far better. Well worth the extra money IMO.

 

That and the vale select RAM doesn't inlcude heatspreaders.

 

If i were to buy a set of heat spreaders, would i notice any difference?

 

Only if your overclocking.

 

Not really. Heatspreaders have been shown to give virtually no improvement in overclocking. Now, this doesn't mean they're completely worthless. Besides looking good, they do help protect against static electricity and ESD.

 

As a heat precaution for overclocking (which is what they are marketed as... heatspreader/sink) ive never been a fan of them. But like Big B said they are good for static and also for protecting the chips from physical damage.

I personally would never by one type of ram over another because of the heatsinks.

 

Im looking at buying the corsair twinx xms2 but theres two version both are priced the same except one has latencies of 5-5-5-12-T1 and the other 4-4-4-12 so which is better?

 

The lower the latency, the better. However, those latencies only apply to the RAM at the rated speed. If you're running the RAM slower, which you would be doing with the 800MHz stuff, you will probably be able to run tighter (lower) timings. The XMS line is geared for overclocking, so it likely uses RAM chips known for their ability to run at very high speeds.

Another thing to consider is the voltage. DDR2 has a stock voltage of 1.8V. In general, value memory tends to stay pretty conservative on operating specs to ensure wide compatibility. Enthusiast class RAM (like XMS) may require a higher voltage. A lot of high-performance DDR2 will need 2.2V. Generally, this will allow you to boot up, but you'll want to set it to it's "stock" voltage to ensure proper operation.

 

Explain something the bigger the number is faster or the lower the number is faster?
which one 5-5-5-12 or 4-4-4-4-12