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Memory: Corsair/G.Skill DDR2-1066
There isn't much performance gain right now in using DDR2 memory at speeds above 1066MHz, and this is even more true of the newer DDR3 memory. Part of the reason for this is that most games are "bottlenecked" by the speed of the video cards or processor, not by the memory speed, and with DDR3, the newer technology only allows higher speeds at the cost of less desireable latencies. This essentially means that although DDR3-2000MHz looks twice as fast as DDR2-1066MHz on paper, the difference is negligible when it comes to your gaming performance.
Having settled on DDR2-1066, we selected Corsair's Dominator line of memory for its reputation for high performance and reliability. When the Corsair chips are unavailable (which happens frequently due to their popularity) we fall back on our second choice, which is G.Skill - also a reputable brand with an excellent track record. These are by no means the least expensive brands, but unlike the unneccessary expense of DDR3, it is worth paying a little more to avoid the higher defect rate common to budget memory brands.
2GB is our minimum amount of memory on the configuration page, which is sufficient for 90% of today's games. It won't be long before games that benefit from 4GB of memory start appearing in greater numbers. As long as you choose a 64-bit operating system (see Operating Systems) you can easily add another 2GB of memory down the road. Unless you have a specific application you use which you know takes advantage of it, 8GB is pretty unnecessary for now.
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