Memory

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dave
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Dave

Given the choice between 2 512 mb DDR pc 2100 or 2 512 mb pc133 sd ram what
would you go for and is there much dif between the two, also i could add
another sd ram module to that
 
Dave said:
Given the choice between 2 512 mb DDR pc 2100 or 2 512 mb pc133 sd
ram what would you go for and is there much dif between the two, also
i could add another sd ram module to that
Click to expand...

You're comparing bananas with kiwi fruit. What sort of RAM does your board
take (if you don't know go to www.crucial.com and look it up, though I
suspect you will need to download the Belarc Advisor to ascertain what board
you have)? If your board takes PC2100, then you cannot use PC133 and vice
versa. If you have one of those older boards that will accept both types,
you cannot mix them - you must install one type only. PC2100 is DDR (Double
Data Rate) RAM, whilst PC133 is SDR (Single Data Rate) or SDRAM. You
wouldn't be able to insert RAM in a board it wasn't designed for as the
notches along the gold connectors would be cut differently.

We will continue this discussion when you actually know what kind of board
you have. How old is the system - that'll give us another clue - if it's
over 5 years old, you'll, most likely, be wanting the PC133.
 
Given the choice between 2 512 mb DDR pc 2100 or 2 512 mb pc133 sd ram what
would you go for and is there much dif between the two, also i could add
another sd ram module to that
Click to expand...

You can use one or the other but not both types. If you can use
either, the DDR would be ~5% faster in memory-intensive applications,
or up to 40% faster if using onboard video (but usually closer to
20%). Might as well get DDR if you can use it, there's no point in
buying older slower memory unless it's a lot cheaper.


Dave
 
I have the choice of both on my mother board but i have 3 free SDRAM slots
and only 2 DDR ram slots
 
I have the choice of both on my mother board but i have 3 free SDRAM slots
and only 2 DDR ram slots
Click to expand...

OK, but do you need more than 1GB of memory? It's possible that using
the 3rd PC133 slot might even reduce stability unless the motherboard
automatically slows down the timings or you did so manually, if the
bios allows it.

How long do you plan on using this board before your next upgrade? If
you might upgrade before too long, within the next two years or so, it
may make sense to buy faster DDR memory than you currently "need",
like PC3200, which could be reused for the next motherboard/CPU
upgrade.

Either way, if it were me I'd go with the DDR.


Dave
 
You probably can't mix DDR and PC133 RAM.
If your processor is over 1 Ghz you should use DDR.
 
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