I have a self-built little admin system that I use to check out new system software like the Internet Explorer 9 Beta version that is out at the moment. It is based on an Intel dual-core Celeron E3200 CPU at 2.4GHz and 2x1Gb of PC2-5300 generic memory. I've always thought that the system could do better if I overclocked it a bit but it wouldn't and I figured that it was the RAM that was the problem. The Asus K5QPL-ASM motherboard I'd used a few times before and it gives easy over clocking profiles in steps up to 20% which is generally sufficient.
So I decided to replace the generic memory (Rendition?) with some standard Crucial PC2-6400 dual stick kit and see what would happen. A significant and noticeable difference in performance was obtained, not just getting the CPU to 2.77Ghz but also the RAM speed started faster at 800MHz and then went up to 928MHz. This meant a much more responsive system.
Worth doing and I'm sure that I'll be able to sell the generic RAM as well. After all ther is basically nothing wrong with it and it'll work fine in an old DELL system. Now I wonder if I'd paid a bit extra for Crucial's Ballistix memory if I'd been able to squeeze a bit more out of this budget system!
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