PC2700 vs PC3200

[blowfist]

I am building a computer for a friend that will be mainly using the computer for internet, downloading photos for her digital camera, and viewing them; she will not a hardcore gamer even if I try to convince her.

I have purchase a Biostar (M7NCG 400) motherboard with an AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton chip. I need to get RAM for the computer now. I will be getting 512MB. The mother will support PC2100, PC2700, and PC3200.

Would there be a significant drop in performance if I were to get a stick of PC2700 as opposed to PC3200. Since the FSB is 333 would I be able to run PC3200?

Any help on this subject would be much appreciated.

 

[Monster00]

eh well im a hardcore gamer, i have 2 sticks of 2700. My total ram is 768MB. Its fine for me and i have no problem starting or running games. So i mean to your question, no there wont.

 

[steven1110]

If you're not going to overclock then there's no need for the pc3200. It supports 400 fsb and since that barton is clock at 333 then the extra 666 mhz is wasting as well as your money.

It will run the 3200 without a glitch. The memory will run the speed of the fsb but not the other way around.

IMO...get the 2700

 

[ekÆsine]

i don't agree. blowfist i have built a computer with a Biostar M7NCG 400 motherboard and an AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton just recently. i would get pc3200. you can always bump your xp2500 FSB to 400Mhz and reduce your multiplier, but keep your CPU frequency the same. this is not overclocking. just because memory and CPU FSB aren't the same doesn't mean that getting faster memory is only for overclocking.

 

[steven1110]

i don't agree. blowfist i have built a computer with a Biostar M7NCG 400 motherboard and an AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton just recently. i would get pc3200. you can always bump your xp2500 FSB to 400Mhz and reduce your multiplier, but keep your CPU frequency the same. this is not overclocking. just because memory and CPU FSB aren't the same doesn't mean that getting faster memory is only for overclocking.

This is true. I just assumed that the cpu was going to be locked.

 

[blowfist]

Thanks a lot! You've helped me out a bunch.

 

[Demalii]

cpu being locked means the multiplier cannot be changed, the fsb is always a variable