When a computer first boots up, the system loads data from the hard drive into the RAM. At any point of time when the CPU needs any information, it will access the RAM to retrieve the data it needs. Since the RAM transfer data at a speed faster than any other storage media (such as the hard drive, CD-ROM and floppy disk), the retrieval process is shorter, work gets done faster and hence the computer performs better.

How does the RAM affects the performance of your gaming computer?

The amount of RAM you have in your gaming computer affects the speed at which the game reacts. To process the huge amount of computation involve in a 3D game, there must be enough RAM to store all the information. For systems with a small amount of RAM, the memory space will be filled up easily and all overflow data is then written or page to the hard drive. When such situation arises, the CPU will have to travel a longer path to retrieve the data from the hard drive. This results in sluggish game performance and intermittently ‘hanging‘ of the game. To increase the performance of the game, the foolproof way is to increase the amount of RAM in the system. The more RAM you have, the better the game performance.

The advantage of getting barebone gaming computer kit is abound. Firstly, the biggest challenge of compatibility issue is solved. Leave the trouble to the expert. They will provide the matching motherboard for the CPU and RAM and a power supply enough to support plenty of add on.

The next benefit is the hassle free installation. You do not have to spend much time to assemble the parts as the retailer will assemble for you before they deliver to your place. For people who do not like to do the manual work, but want controllability over the computer, then the barebone kit is the best choice.

Last but not least, barebone gaming computer kit is cheap. You can easily get a barebone kit for under $100. A great way to save your money.

Where can I get a barebone kit?

Well, most of the computer distributors provide barebone kit package. I like TigerDirect! best because of the wide range of choices that I can choose from. In addition, I am also amazed by the services they provide. I ordered a barebone kit two months ago and the delivery was done within 3 days. The barebone kit was well contained and the parts neatly assembled. I plug in my graphics card and connect to my monitor and the next moment, I am pounding my keyboard away, without any glitches. No complaints at all. I was impressed by the quality of their product and the speedy services. Strongly recommended.

Different barebone kits have different configuration. Before you make your purchase, remember to check out which parts you need to top up to make it to a working PC. Use part guide as a checklist. If necessary, I advise you to order the parts together with the barebone kit. This way, you can save up on the shipping fee.

Athlon 64 and FX RAM Guide

*Memory configuration might differ with CPU due to on-die memory controller

Pentium 4 RAM Guide

*Check motherboard to determine which memory type your system supports

The difference between DDR2 and DDR3

On the appearance, both DDR3 and DDR2 use 240 pins and you can hardly see any differences between them. The only difference is the position of the key notch that prevents users from inserting the wrong type of RAM into their motherboards. The shift in the position of the key notch also means that DDR3 is not compatible with DDR2 and a separate DIMM slot has to be used.

Other than the difference in key notch position, DDR3 RAM is also due to run at a higher frequency than DDR2 RAM. The specification provided by JEDEC provides more insight to its performance.

When JEDEC set the standard for DDR2 RAM, it never intends to make it run beyond 800MHz. The official specification states that DDR speeds ran to DDR-400, DDR2 from 400 to 800, and DDR3 800 to 1600. Due to the fact that DDR2 800 and 1066 (an overclock version of DDR2 800) exist, DDR3 800 and 1066 will become an overlap speed with that of DDR2. As such, it will only be 1333 that is the first DDR3 speed to have better frequency/speed performance over the DDR2 RAM.

While the difference between DDR and DDR2 RAM lies in the doubling of the frequency bus, the DDR3 works by doubling the prefetch data. This is achieved by doubling the internal bank to 8. Each internal bank can process 1 bit of data. DDR2 SDRAM have only 4 internal banks and process 4-bit samples, DDR3 SDRAM uses 8 internal banks to carry out 8-bit prefetch. The impact of the additional internal banks means that the DDR3 SDRAM could double the data transfer rate without having to make modifications to the original design.

Another advantage of DDR3 is the reduced voltage requirement. The required voltage for DDR3 is 1.5V, a 16% reduction of the DDR2 1.8V. This could translate to a 30% reduction in power consumption compared with DDR2 RAM operating at the same speed. Additional built-in power conservation features with DDR3 include partial refresh and thermal sensor that could allow the system to save further power by providing minimum refresh cycles when the system is not in high performance mode.

A point that requires attention and that brings DDR2 RAM back to the game is the price of the DDR3 RAM. A 1GB DDR3 1066MHz RAM is currently selling at over $200, which is double the price of a 1GB DDR2 1066MHz RAM. While there is no significant improvement of the DDR3-1066 RAM over DDR2-1066 RAM, there really isn’t any compelling reason to upgrade your current DDR2 RAM.

Conclusion

In the near future, it is inevitable that DDR3 is going to replace DDR2 as the standard for memory RAM. At this current moment, the hefty price hardly make it a ‘must-upgrade’ component, considering that you can get a DDR2 RAM operating at the same speed for under $150. Until the time when higher speed DDR3 RAM are more readily available and the price fall to a reasonable range that is comparable to DDR2, it is better to remain with your DDR2 RAM.

The difference between DDR and DDR2

Both DDR and DDR2 RAM are the improved version of the SDRAM. They are able to transmit data on the rising and falling edge of the clock cycle. The conventional SDRAM can only transmit data on the rising edge. For a certain clock frequency, say 100MHz, both DDR and DDR2 RAM can operate at double the clock frequency, i.e. 200MHz. The difference of DDR2 to DDR is a doubled bus frequency for the same physical clock rate, thus doubling the effective data rate another time. This means that for a 100MHz clock frequency, a DDR2 RAM can achieve a speed of 400MHz while DDR RAM only achieves 200MHz.

Is DDR2 much faster?

Theoretically, DDR2 RAM should perform better than DDR since it clocks a higher speed. The actual fact is: this may not be true. There is this term known as ‘latency‘ that is affecting the performance of the RAM. Latency refers to the amount of time needed to fetch the data. All RAM running at the same clock frequency will have the same latency, only the bandwidth differs. This means that a DDR2 400MHz module has the same latency as a DDR 200MHz RAM.

This is where the interesting part comes in. A DDR 400MHz has a clock frequency of 200MHz. When compare to a DDR2 400MHz with a clock frequency of 100MHz, the DDR 400MHz module apparently has a lower latency than the DDR2 400MHz RAM. This means that the DDR 400MHz module actually performs much better than the DDR2 400MHz module as concerns the time of accessibility of the data.

DDR2 is potentially faster, since it provides a much higher bandwidth. But their latency also goes up as the speed increases. In fact, its true benefit only shows in higher frequency modules such as DDR2 667MHz and DDR2 800Mhz. Comparatively, a DDR 400Mhz RAM still performs better than a DDR2 400Mhz or DDR2 533MHz RAM.

Heat Dissipation

All is not lost yet. DDR2 has a feature that is worth mentioning. It works at 1.8V, compared to 2.5V for DDR RAM. This means a 30% reduction in the heat consumption. Well, if you are using 64MB or 128MB of RAM, this doesn?t add up to anything. But if you are installing 1GB, 2GB or even 4GB of memory to your system, the heat consumption will escalate to a whopping number. This is definitely worth considering.

Below is a small chart which outlines the major differences of the two types of memory.

From this chart, you can see that DDR2 begins at 400MHz up to current 800MHz while DDR stops at 400MHz. As a result, its latencies were doubled in order to make place for the higher bandwidth.

Conclusion

Without doubt, DDR2 will be the standard for future RAM. More and more motherboards are starting to shift to DDR2 technology and it?ll be a matter of time before DDR is phased out. It?s advisable to get DDR2 667 or 800 RAM as they have a better performance than DDR, making it more worthwhile for the upgrade.

Computer RAM (Random Access Memory) is one of the most crucial components of a computer. Its main function is to provide a temporary space for data to be stored.

When a computer first starts up, the system loads information from the storage drive into the RAM. At any point of time when the system need any information, it will access the RAM to retrieve the data it needs. Since the computer RAM processes data faster than any other storage media, the retrieval process is shorter, work gets done faster and hence the computer performs better.

All RAM are volatile, which means it cannot be used to stored permanent data. Once the power is off, all the data stored in it are lost.

Tip: If you are faced with a choice between a faster processor and a 2GB memory RAM…take the RAM.

Things to look out for when choosing a computer RAM

Memory Size

Bigger memory size means there is more space to hold the data, which of course means the system can access to more data faster. A computer with 128MB RAM upgraded to 256MB RAM will show a significant improvement in the system performance. A typical gaming computer requires at least 512MB of RAM to ensure smooth gameplay.

Types of computer RAM

SDRAM

SDRAM is the RAM of the past and has already been phased out. SDRAM is normally used in Pentium II or Pentium III system where the processing speed is much lower. It can only process data once per clock cycle. It is usually classified as PC133*, PC100* or PC66*. *The number represents the clock speed (in MHz).

*The higher the number, the faster the RAM can process the data.

DDR RAM

DDR RAM can process data twice per clock cycle (which gives its name double data). Thus, for the same memory capacity, it is actually processing two times faster than SDRAM.

The speed of the RAM can be classified as DDR200/PC1600, DDR266/PC2100, DDR333/PC2700 or DDR400/PC3200.
The first number denotes the maximum clock speed that the memory supports while the second number indicates the maximum transfer rate of the memory. The higher the number, the faster is the RAM. The fastest DDR RAM is DDR400

DDR2 RAM

The latest addition to the DDR RAM family is the DDR2 RAM. This version of RAM has 240 pins (compared to DDR RAM 184 pins) and it has a processing speed as high as 800MHz (DDR2 800/PC6400).

DDR2 RAM is not backward compatible with DDR RAM. If you are thinking of getting a DDR2 RAM, you need to have a motherboard that supports DDR2 RAM in order to use it.

Dual Channel

Many DDR and all DDR2 desktops and motherboards have a built-in feature called dual channel that allows you to utilize the bandwidth of two modules at the same time. For these systems, you need to install modules in pairs for maximum performance, so if you want to add 512MB of memory, it will be better to buy two 256MB modules, as opposed to one 512MB one.

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