Regarding: DDR + Corsair compatibility

[PiLLaGe]

Hey guys, I've heard some great things about these forums from friends who have received assistance here that solved some major PC issues!

My question is the following: 1) Would it be better for me to run my 2.8ghz processor on 1.0ghz of DDR-3200 or 2.0ghz of DDR-2100?

2) Would it be possible to take my 512mb Corsair RAM and stick it with the 1gb of DDR-2100 and the 1gb of DDR-3200?

I basically have the following for use:
(2) 512 DDR-3200
(1) 1.0g DDR-2100
(2) 512 Corsair

What would be the best combination? Thanks in advance!

- David, Los Angeles

 

[gaara]

Memory speed is determined by the FSB speed of your CPU. PC2100 runs at 133MHz FSB which by today's standards is terribly outdated.

If you have an Athlon XP that is not a 3000+ or 3200+ Barton, you will be using DDR333 PC2700 memory, and if you have a 3000+ or 3200+ Barton or AMD64, you will be using DDR400 PC3200 memory

If you're using a socket 478 Pentium 4, you will also be using DDR400 PC3200

So basically what I'm saying is you want to use PC3200 since memory bandwidth is more important than memory size

 

[PiLLaGe]

If you're using a socket 478 Pentium 4, you will also be using DDR400 PC3200.

That's correct, I'm using 478 Pentium 4 2.8ghz. So, you're saying it's better to use 1gb of DDR-3200 than 1gb of DDR-3200 + 1 gb of DDR-2100 (I think that when you do something like that, the faster ram slows down to the slower ram, correct?).

Additionally, I have some corsair ram which I know is pretty fast, I just don't remember HOW fast. My question is that if I put in my Corsair ram along with my DDR ram, will it cause problems? Also, let's say I take out my DDR ram and put in the Corsair ram ... how can I check to see how fast it is? Run Direct X?

 

[gaara]

You can use any DDR module in any motherboard that supports that memory type, but all modules will be limited based on the slowest module

So say you have PC4000 and stick it in a motherboard that already has some PC3200 in it, the 4000 will only operate at the same capacity as the 3200

Also, as I said, you FSB/RAM is on a 1:1 ratio, even if you put in DDR500 without any other slower RAM, it'll only operate at the FSB speed unless you raise the FSB speed to the maximum memory speed

It has to be 184pin DRR memory though, if your "really fast" memory is 240pin DDR2 memory, you can't use it

 

[Flanker]

Hey guys, I've heard some great things about these forums from friends who have received assistance here that solved some major PC issues!

My question is the following: 1) Would it be better for me to run my 2.8ghz processor on 1.0ghz of DDR-3200 or 2.0ghz of DDR-2100?

2) Would it be possible to take my 512mb Corsair RAM and stick it with the 1gb of DDR-2100 and the 1gb of DDR-3200?

I basically have the following for use:
(2) 512 DDR-3200
(1) 1.0g DDR-2100
(2) 512 Corsair

What would be the best combination? Thanks in advance!

- David, Los Angeles

You misspelled the some stuff in #1. The 1Ghz and 2Ghz should be, 1GB and 2GB, as you corrected yourself later. That just had me confused for quite a while. Also, Its not DDR-3200, its PC-3200. DDR is the core clock speed of your memory times 2. So DDR 400 = 200x2.

1.) Thats a tough question. You could greatly benefit from twice the memory, but there is a 33% decrease in bandwidth. Personally, I would feel safer with the 1GB of PC3200 DDR400.

2.) No it would not be possible since you would need 5 RAM slots to have all 5 DIMMs in your system.

If you have the 1GB PC3200 and 1GB PC2100 in the same system, the PC3200 will be underclocked to PC2100.

 

[Flanker]

Additionally, I have some corsair ram which I know is pretty fast, I just don't remember HOW fast. My question is that if I put in my Corsair ram along with my DDR ram, will it cause problems? Also, let's say I take out my DDR ram and put in the Corsair ram ... how can I check to see how fast it is? Run Direct X?

Corsair is just the name of the company that makes the RAM. DDR is a measure of the speed of the RAM. It sounds weird when you say "If I take out the DDR RAM and put in the Corsair RAM" since the "Corsair RAM" is also DDR RAM.

If you get your system up and running with RAM inside it, there are system diagnostic programs that will tell you what every RAM module in your system is.