Hey, guys.

I want to upgrade the RAM in my system (a paltry 256 MB of PC2100 DDR). I use an Athlon XP 1900+ (Palomino core) on an ABit KG7-RAID motherboard.

Crucial says some of its PC3700 modules are compatible with my mobo, so I'm thinking of ordering one of those. If I do decide to buy the faster RAM, can I use it together with my current 256 MB module, which is much slower, or do I have to take the old module out?

My logic dictates that the module *should* underclock itself to the slower speeds, but I want another opinion before I waste money.

Thanks.

I would go for two stixks of pc2700 if your not going to overclock and pc3200 if you are. You may get away with running the two together but you memory bus will only be as fast as the slowest ram.

I thought that only goes for ddr?

According to specs, you MB supports:

Four 184-pin DIMM sockets support up to 4 GB PC1600/PC2100 DDR SDRAM module

So if its cheaper, find some PC2100 DDR, because anything faster will be pointless really :D

Thanks for the info I think you've just saved him alot of trouble.

Thanks for the fast responses, everyone.

The reason I would even bother purchasing faster RAM is if I plan on upgrading that CPU and mobo down the line (which will probably happen). Running at slower speeds is fine, but beeping the **** at me when I try to boot the computer with two different sticks is another entirely.

Wow, this place is awesome... Thanks.

Putting two different sticks in will cause no problem in most cases, as long as the paging is the same, ECC vs non-ECC, etc. I've done this in several computers. Hey, if it doesn't work, you can always save it for later, right?

Renaissance2K wrote:

Thanks for the fast responses, everyone. The reason I would even bother purchasing faster RAM is if I plan on upgrading that CPU and mobo down the line (which will probably happen). Running at slower speeds is fine, but beeping the **** at me when I try to boot the computer with two different sticks is another entirely. Wow, this place is awesome... Thanks.

You have exactly the right idea here. Once you have a manufacturer that you like (in my case Corsair), make sure you set a minimum speed limit, in this case PC2100. Anything over PC2100 (that is still 184 pin DDR) is perfectly fine. As a matter of fact, the faster RAM will sometimes be cheaper. I am putting PC3200 with Athlon 1800+'s and mobo's that only "support" PC2100.

Most fail to realize that PC2100 is quite old, and generally more expensive due to the rules of supply and demand. In addition to the PC3200 being cheaper (in my case) it allows me breathing room if the machine's get upgraded.

I don't know if the price comparison's hold true this week and for the next coming weeks due to the sharp increase in RAM over the past 2 weeks. When the spike settles, I am sure it will go back to the layout mentioned above.

Bottom line, if your mobo supports PC2100 RAM, you can buy quality PC3200 RAM and it will roll back to the speed the mobo supports. Keywords: quality RAM. As recent as a month ago, I noticed 512 MiB Corsair DIMM's (CAS 2.5) at 266DDR as much as $10 more than the same DIMM's at 400DDR. Like mentioned earlier though, the recent spike (last 2 weeks) in memory prices has probably changed the game temporarily.

-Weaver

Yep, the current jump in RAM prices is due to the current shortage. With all the problems companies are experiencing changing to 110 nanometer process technology, they are getting lower yield lots, and thus the price goes up. That and the fact that a lot of guys are starting to concentrate on flash, there is a current shortage in the channel.

I thought the prices were actually lower, the last one I bought was a kingston pc3200 ddr for only $75.