Pc 2700 Ram mixed with 3200???

[Syphanx]

Hey Guys,
I'm sure this question has been asked before but I'll ask again anyway.
At the moment I have 256mb of pc2700 DDR Ram, I have a total of 3 memory slots in my motherboard, so therefore my long term plan is to have x2 256 and then a 512. The shop that I buy from is really really cheap and I get "special" discounts there but they only sell pc3200 ddr ram and above... So my question to you guys is can I mix my 256mb pc2700 ram with a stick on 256mb pc3200?? Will it still function properly? By the way just wondering what is a good amount of memory to have if you are playing a fair bit of games?

 

[beedubaya]

All of your RAM will run at PC2700 speed. If you want the maximum speed, keep all of your ram at PC3200

 

[mrzeeedler]

just replace the 2700 with 3200 then when you get more money add some more 3200

 

[Syphanx]

Ok so what you guys are saying is that if I buy a stick on 256ddr 3200 it will run at the same performance as my 256ddr at 2700??
Is there really much difference in performance between 2700 and 3200 ddr ram?

 

[Cappy]

yep

 

[Kangaroo]

I agree with mrzeedler, just buy 3200 for now and then replace the slower RAM later.

 

[p4c800e3200]

2700 and 3200

your 3200 ram will drop to the minimal speed of 2700,

as was said all of your ram will run at 2700

in some cases pc2700 ram runs more stable on some
motherboards. for instance i used 3200 and it crashed or lagged sometimes and i dropped to pc2700 and the computer was
ok after that. different memory can help windows loads
aswell.

Richard

 

[mdshort]

True but the most effective way to reduce windows start time is to upgrade the hard drive.

 

[Syphanx]

Really... Ok so cause I have 40gb HD at the moment, just say I buy a 80gb one, so all together I have 120. Will it load noticably faster? Or is it something like 3secs?
Thanks for your help guys on what im going to do fo rmy memory. I've decided that I'll follow mrzeeedler's idea of just upgrading to 3200 when i have enough cash.

** Please look at my post in the audio section, cause I need help with that ** Thanks,

-- Michael --

 

[Kangaroo]

It is the rpm, seek time and ATA speed of the hard drive that significantly decreases Windows boot time.

120Gb Maxtor Diamondmax Plus 9

Performance Specifications

Rotational Speed 7200 RPM with Quiet Drive Technology
Buffer Size 8MB
External Transfer Rate(MB/sec) ATA/133 133
Average Seek (ms) 9.3
Average Latency (ms) 4.2
Disk Drive Configuration
Bytes per Sector/Block 512
Logical CHS 16,383/16/63
Reliability Specifications
Start/Stop Cycles (min) >50,000
Component Design Line (min) 5 years
Data Errors (non-recoverable) <1 per 10E
15 bits read
Annualized Return Rate (ARR) <1%

Power Requirements
Mode 5V 12V
Seek (mA) 858 662
Idle (mA) 668 334
Standby (mA) 90 37

Temperature
Operating (¡ãC) 5 to 55
Non-operating (¡ãC) -40 to 71

Take note of the RPM speed, ATA bandwidth and latency.

Compared to:-

Manufacturer: Western Digital
Capacity (GB): 74GB
Rotation Speed (RPM): 10,000rpm
Cache (MB): 8MB
Access Time (ms): 4.5mb
Interface: Serial ATA 150

It is also possible to get 5,400 rpm, 2MB Cache, 12ms latency hard drives - these are usually the speed of high capacity hard drives or notebook hard drives.


I recently bought a 120GB Maxtor DiamondMax 9 ATA133 hard drive for my second system, it is DEFINITELY noticeable how much faster it is.

To make a computer faster using 2 hard drives you set one hard drive up (the faster of the two) as the OS hard drive with all Anti-Virus/Firewall applications on it. Then use the second hard drive as PURELY storage, for games and other stuff.