Ram Q

[Disney Lincoln]

My PC calls for PC3200. Can i put PC2700 in it?

On a laptop, mine calls for SoDIMM PC2700. Can I put anything else in it? I've seen where some RAM is backwards compatible or some such.

Just wondering...

[BenS]

Yes it will work, but the bus speed will probably default to the slower ram.

[Disney Lincoln]

interesting....

[Disney Lincoln]

OK, So my system has 2-512 sticks of PC3200. I added a stick of PC2700 1GB. What will it do?

[KJP]

It depends on a lot of things. If the two stick interleave for faster access then they both should be the same type. The system may set itself for the slower access part and be ok. If it sets itself for the faster access part it may not be reliable.

Those numbers are buzwords t make iut easier for the marketing people. The difference in the parts is relates to the ras/cas latency the bus hold times and the write hold times and the delay from cas to data valid. It is really pretty involved and way to much to try to explain here since all systems are different and the bios is supposed to read the id information from the ram and set itself up for the slowes part. However things don't always work as they should.

I generally prefer to use the same type and speed in all banks that can interleave. Banks that don't interleave can have diferent access speeds.

Soooooo the pc2700 and pc3200 designations are for the sales people so that they can sell you the part that should work best with your computer.


Kevin

[ReefBlueCoupe]

It might run and be quirky/unstable. It may not boot at all. It might run perfectly.

Theres no way to know for sure without installing the ram and seeing what happens.

[Whatawookie]

It will likely bring the other sticks down to PC2700 (333MHz) speed, but they may have been running that speed already. Do you know what processor you have? Regardless, It shouldn't bother anything. It just may run slightly slower than it would have, unless your running 333FSB or less, then it makes no difference.

[Disney Lincoln]

I put it in the system. Seems to be running fine, but i haven't noticed any increase in speed of the computer. I would think an extra 1GB would help speed things along....

The PC3200 is what came in the system. That's what it calls for when I look it up on various Memory sellers' sites.

I tink i'll pull it back out and send it back and get the right stuff. I was trying to buy memory for my laptop when I got this stick. But I had been planning on upping the desktop anyways soo.....

yeah.

[tooslow]

How old is your PC? How many slots, not sluts, does the motherboard have? I'd put in 4 sticks of PC3200 512mb if you have the space. Preferably, they'd all be the same brand/type/speed etc. Not saying it's the right thing to do, just what I do.

[Whatawookie]

It depends on what you're doing, if you'll actually notice or not. Most applications won't use that much RAM, unless you're using several at once.

What's the processor?

[Disney Lincoln]

How old is your PC? How many slots, not sluts, does the motherboard have? I'd put in 4 sticks of PC3200 512mb if you have the space. Preferably, they'd all be the same brand/type/speed etc. Not saying it's the right thing to do, just what I do.

Thanks for the reply. The computer is about 9 months old. It's got 4 slots on the MOBO. It will support up to 4GB of RAM. Ultimately, i'd thought about getting 1GB amonth or sountilI had 4GB in it. I also am getting another video card with onboard RAM so it's not using my resources.

[Disney Lincoln]

It depends on what you're doing, if you'll actually notice or not. Most applications won't use that much RAM, unless you're using several at once.

What's the processor?


AMD Athlon64 3700+

[easilyobsessed]

AMD Athlon64 3700+

Unless you are running Vista, 2 gigs of ram should be more than enough.

I have 4 gigs on this work computer, and with a very few exceptions, it doesn't ever use more than 2.

[tooslow]

Unless you are running Vista, 2 gigs of ram should be more than enough.

I agree. Dis, get 2 more sticks of the junk that was already in your laptop. :up:

[Disney Lincoln]

It's for my desktop. And I will get two more stick of the 512 as per your recommendation!! Thanks!!! :up:

[venom_5]

dont buy 512 sticks

if youre gonna spend the money, do it right and get 1GB sticks for each slot

http://www.roflcats.com/images/0175.jpg

[wax]

+1

1gb or go home :D

http://www.tennesspeed.net/gallery/data/500/helpdesk.jpg

[Disney Lincoln]

You jerks!! I thought I had it figured out! So Should I fill it up with 1GB sticks? total of 4GB or get two 1GB sticks and sellmy two 512 sticks that came in it?

[venom_5]

get rid of all the 512 sticks ... theyre worthless

if you have 4 slots and they are grouped in pairs, fill the first slot of each pair with a 1GB stick ...

otherwise, just fill the first two slots with 1GB sticks .... 2GB is plenty