High End Buyer's Guide - September 2004

DDR Memory

DDR Recommendation: 1GB Kit (2 X 512MB) Crucial Ballistix PC3200
Price: $278 shipped

One of the advantages of the new AMD Socket 939 is that it uses regular unbuffered dual-channel memory. This means that almost any memory will fit your new Socket 939 system. Any of the new DDR400 2-2-2 memories will work fine on the Intel 875/865 platform, but we have found that some memory performs much better in Athlon 64 systems than others. The overall best Athlon 64 performance that we have found was with Crucial Ballistix PC3200, and our alternative OCZ 3700EB/3500EB. These two memories perform just as well on Intel DDR systems, but they stand alone in performing the same on the pickier Athlon 64 Socket 939 boards.

When Corsair 3200XL roared on the scene in May with a return of 2-2-2 timings to DDR400, we had no idea it was just the start of DDR400 2-2-2 from all the major memory makers. As you saw in our roundup of the new 2-2-2 memories, all of the new DDR400 2-2-2 performed well on the Intel test bed and all but one used Samsung memory chips. The exception was Crucial Ballistix, which used Micron memory chips and earned our Gold Editors Choice for best performance. Ballistix was also the only 2-2-2 memory tested in the roundup that performed just as well on Athlon 64 as it did on Intel, so it is a great match to the MSI K8N Neo2.

Crucial Ballistix also extends performance all the way to DDR500, with our test memory achieving the fastest timings that we have tested so far at DDR500. This will give you incredible headroom when you select this memory for your system.

Crucial is the well-respected retail division of memory-chip manufacturer Micron, and Crucial has earned regard from customers over years of providing quality memory products and excellent Customer Service. You will also find the Crucial Ballistix PC3200 an excellent value among DDR400 2-2-2 memory products.

DDR Alternative: 1GB Kit (2 X 512MB) OCZ PC3700 EB
Price: $325 shipped

OCZ 3700EB, and the similar 3500EB, are also based on Micron memory chips, which appear to be a better match to the Socket 939 than other memory chips that we have tested. The EB takes a little different approach to memory timings, and runs at 2.5-2-2 at DDR 400. This is still competitive with the best memory available, but by DDR433 to DDR450, the EB becomes one of the fastest memories we have tested at that speed. Performance extends well beyond DDR500 and the performance at DR500 is one of the best that we have tested. Many Athlon 64 boards are picky about memory, but every Athlon 64 board that we have tested so far seems quite content with either 3700EB or 3500EB memory.

End users are reporting very consistent results with overclocking OCZ 3700EB. For that reason, we consider the choice between Crucial Ballistix and OCZ EB a toss-up. Ballistix is better at DDR400, but EB is reliable in consistently reaching high overclocks on the MSI K8N Neo2.

OCZ has raised their Customer Service standards to among the best in the memory industry in the past year. We often get emails reporting very positive Customer Service and quick problem resolution when customers have contacted OCZ directly. OCZ combines that excellent Customer Service with a Lifetime Warranty.

Either of these DDR recommendations will work very well on the MSI K8N Neo2, Asus P4C800-E Deluxe, or DFI NFII Ultra Infinity. However, DDR2 memory is required for the Asus P5AD2 Premium.

Listed below is part of our RealTime pricing engine, which lists the lowest prices available on memory from many different reputable vendors:



If you cannot find the lowest prices on the products that we've recommended on this page, it's because we don't list some of them in our RealTime pricing engine. Until we do, we suggest that you do an independent search online at the various vendors' web sites. Just pick and choose where you want to buy your products by looking for a vendor located under the "Vendor" heading.