Ram upgrade, what kind do I need?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Grant
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Grant

I know quite a lot about computer (been building them for years) but haven't
kept up to date about ram types and such.

The computer has a DFI AD77 Pro motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 200+ CPU, and 512MB
PC2100 ram.

Someone told me that if I get more ram (I want another 512MB) I have to have the
same speed for both cards. Is this true? Or can I get faster ram and let it
run at PC2100 speeds?
 
A faster DIMM will probably run at the slower speed. The most common reason why it wouldn't is too high density chips. If the new DIMM has the same number of chips as the old DIMM it should work.
I know quite a lot about computer (been building them for years) but haven't
kept up to date about ram types and such.

The computer has a DFI AD77 Pro motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 200+ CPU, and 512MB
PC2100 ram.

Someone told me that if I get more ram (I want another 512MB) I have to have the
same speed for both cards. Is this true? Or can I get faster ram and let it
run at PC2100 speeds?
Click to expand...

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Mike Walsh
West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A.
 
Grantwrote:
I know quite a lot about computer (been building them for years) but
haven't
kept up to date about ram types and such.

The computer has a DFI AD77 Pro motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 200+ CPU, and 512MB
PC2100 ram.

Someone told me that if I get more ram (I want another 512MB) I have to have the
same speed for both cards. Is this true? Or can I get faster ram and let it
run at PC2100 speeds?
Click to expand...

Well, as long as the motherboard supports the higher speed you buy,
then you could put the faster ram in the first slot and it will most
likely overclock the pc2100 to pc2700 or whatever the faster stick
is. That worked for me, but some people crash, in which case, put the
faster stick in the second slot instead of the first and yes it will
run at pc2100.

The person you got your information from was probabily confusing DDR
and SDram.... the PC133 ram is no longer backward compatible with
PC100 so he said "Make sure to get the same speed" But I've done both
of my above mentions with DDR and never had a problem.

==============
Posted through www.HowToFixComputers.com/bb - free access to hardware troubleshooting newsgroups.
 
I know quite a lot about computer (been building them for years) but haven't
kept up to date about ram types and such.

The computer has a DFI AD77 Pro motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 200+ CPU, and 512MB
PC2100 ram.

Someone told me that if I get more ram (I want another 512MB) I have to have the
same speed for both cards. Is this true? Or can I get faster ram and let it
run at PC2100 speeds?
Click to expand...


The motherboard determines the frequency to run the memory, you
can add PC2100 OR faster and it'll run at same speed as your
current module. Given the minor price difference online for
faster memory, it might be a good value, longer term potential to
buy name-brand PC3200, perferribly CAS2.5 or 2, not CAS3.
 
Tool said:
I know quite a lot about computer (been building them for years) but
haven't kept up to date about ram types and such.

Well, as long as the motherboard supports the higher speed you buy,
then you could put the faster ram in the first slot and it will most
likely overclock the pc2100 to pc2700 or whatever the faster stick
is. That worked for me, but some people crash, in which case, put the
faster stick in the second slot instead of the first and yes it will
run at pc2100.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and casually overclocking memory just to see if it will work will most likely
wipe out the OS and most of the HDD by writing to the wrong areas and corrupting
files. Been there, done that, still get paid to fix computers that people have done it
to.

The fundamental rule of overclocking is to NEVER do it to a live system.

In any case, the preliminary way to check if you can overclock your memory is to make
a Memtest86 bootdisk and run that app to determine the overclocked memory stability,
preferrably for a day or two, and with any HDDs containing data disconnected. .

Jon
 
Jon Danniken said:
The fundamental rule of overclocking is to NEVER do it to a live system.

In any case, the preliminary way to check if you can overclock your memory is to make
a Memtest86 bootdisk and run that app to determine the overclocked memory stability,
preferrably for a day or two, and with any HDDs containing data disconnected. ..

Jon
Click to expand...

I'm aware of those risks...before I overclock anything I backup my hard drives
to DVD, and I already have memtest86 on a bootable CD.

I don't know if the ram will overclock well. It's made by samsung, so it's
horrible ram, but there is better that I know will overclock well. It's at
least worth a try.
 
I'm aware of those risks...before I overclock anything I backup my hard drives
to DVD, and I already have memtest86 on a bootable CD.

I don't know if the ram will overclock well. It's made by samsung, so it's
horrible ram, but there is better that I know will overclock well. It's at
least worth a try.
Click to expand...

Really has nothing to do with being Samsung, simply what timings
you're running, the age and bin of the chips, voltage, etc. Most
PC2100 memory bought today will overclock to around 200MHz
(DDR400) but it is certainly not guaranteed. You are wise to be
backing up the HDD data first and running memtest86.
 
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