Is it possible to use DDR400 with FSB 333mhz with ASUS A7V8X-X ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter rodrigo
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rodrigo

Thanks. I just got so confused now. What I found about my motherboard
is that it this AMD Athlon XP 2200+, 256 kb c., socket A, BUS 266
MHz. I still don't know if I upgrade my memory to DDR333 will I be
able to use the 333mhz memory speed with the maximum 266 fsb bus speed
of my ASUS motherboard. I just want to know, yes or no. I don't want
to buy new cpu. Should I instead, just buy regular 512mb at 266mhz to
get some extra speed without buying expensive RAM.

I guess I come to the same question....

Does Ram speed should necessarily run the same as cpu speed? If
higher,
will it downgrade to cpu speed? If lower, will the cpu not support it?

Regarding the 1.8 speed, I 've read some articles and basically I now
understand that this is the max speed of my board and that the 2.200+
is actually the Pentium speed. Well, I guess I was mislead in this
purchase. In fact, I did not research too much about it, because I
just need any motherboard to get my pc working.

Now what would be the recommendation regarding pc2100, pc2700, types
etc. I don't understand that very much. I don't know what my memory
type actually is. Could you help me how to find this out with my
current memory so that I can buy the type. I am thinking they should
be the same right? For compatibility issue?
 
Thanks. I just got so confused now. What I found about my motherboard
is that it this AMD Athlon XP 2200+, 256 kb c., socket A, BUS 266
MHz. I still don't know if I upgrade my memory to DDR333 will I be
able to use the 333mhz memory speed with the maximum 266 fsb bus speed
of my ASUS motherboard. I just want to know, yes or no. I don't want
to buy new cpu. Should I instead, just buy regular 512mb at 266mhz to
get some extra speed without buying expensive RAM.
Click to expand...

Based on the table I just showed you, you can use any ram you want.
The table says with the FSB266 processor, you can run the memory at
DDR266, DDR333, DDR400. If you are adding memory to your existing
DDR266 memory, then the new memory will be forced to run at DDR266
as well. If you try to run your DDR266 memory faster (by changing
the settings in the BIOS), then that is overclocking, and may or
may not work for you.

When you buy PC3200, it can be run at DDR400, DDR333, DDR266, DDR200
When you buy PC2700, it can be run at DDR333, DDR266, DDR200
When you buy PC2100, it can be run at DDR266, DDR200

If you have no plans of reusing the memory you buy, in a new
motherboard that uses DDR memory, or if you have no plans on
selling the memory at a later date, to help pay for some DDR2
memory, then by all means, buy some PC2100 memory, to match the
stuff you say is running at DDR266 right now.

Personally, I would buy PC3200 memory, as I can transfer it
between systems without reservation, and if I need to sell it,
a potential buyer can see that he won't have any issues either.

Prices:
Crucial CT6464Z40B PC3200 CAS3 512MB double sided $97US.
Crucial CT6464Z335 PC2700 CAS2.5 512MB double sided $94US.
Crucial CT6464Z265 PC2100 CAS2.5 512MB double sided $95US.

See how little price difference there is between them ? This
is due to the fact, that the same chip is being used on all
the modules. At one time, it was hard to find chips fast
enough to make DDR400 speeds, but now it is much easier,
so all speed grades are roughly the same price.

Yes, you can find better prices by buying generic RAM. I
only quoted prices from Crucial, to provide a fair comparison
between the various speed grades.

If you buy a stick of PC3200, you can experiment with it in
the motherboard by itself. Then, you can find out whether
performance improves or is reduced, by running FSB266 on
the processor and DDR400 on the memory bus. In non-experiment
mode, put your old memory and the new memory in the board,
setting the board back to DDR266 for the memory first. That
way, even if you buy PC3200 memory, it will happily run
at DDR266 with the old memory. At DDR266 speeds, you should
be able to put memory in all slots. Many single channel boards
have limits when running the memory faster, as to whether all
slots can be filled or not.

HTH,
Paul
 
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