Can SDRAM (yes SDRAM) do 166?

I know nothing about SDRAM. I came into computers with Rambus, and have intoxicated myself with knowledge of DDR and RDRAM . This said, I want to upgrade an aging P3 platform, and I figure with about 100 bucks or so I can get a 600E to do 1 gig. However, that would require 6x166. Can SDRAM handle this speed? If so, what good manufactuers still have this readily available? And how cheap is it?

i myself have seen pc166, though it should be easy to find some
pc 150 and you could probably run 155-160 so you are gonna get
at least 930, 960 mhz out of it.

yes pc133 can handle it, but if it high quality. they also have pc150 or is it pc166, not sure, its been a while but as long as you have high quality memory it should do fine. And even better if you have it set to cas3 (slower than cas2 but higher overclock)

Good luck if you expect to hit 1 gig on that 600E. That would put you on top of the database going back a couple of years (for air cooling)!

It is difficult to hit 160 FSB with 512 MB ram, either one dense stick or two 256 MB sticks, at fast settings. Some people have come close with 1-256 MB stick of high quality stuff like Mushkin Rev. 3.

Supposedly the original Tonicom stuff could do 166. I will be checking out some sticks I have in the states soon. I really doubt it will do it at fast settings.

On my 600E the max I could do is 150 FSB with 512 MB good quality SDRAM like 7 ns Infineon. One 256 MB stick I could do 155. If I stick the CPU in a CUV266 board that runs off DDR, I can hit 156 FSB with 512 MB ram, since the ram is capable of 170 FSB at 2-2-2-5-1. 936 mhz is good for 2nd place in the database on air cooling. I'm pretty sure that's my limit on the CPU, as 160 FSB was not stable.

Heh, I still have a 256MB stick of Tonicom "PC166" SDRAM in my old box. It was a "true PC166" stick, or something. I don't know if such memory is still sold, nor do I know if Tonicam (ACTRAM) is still in business.

Im sitting at a 166Mhz FSB with my mushkin, i have no doubt that this ram could do +175Mhz

Thanks for all your help, I had suspected it was possible but now its close to a definite , I'll probably go with some Mushkin Rev 3, 1 gig itself isn't so important, just as long as I get somewhere around there. Oh, and for the cooling, I have some homemade ghetto waterblocks and heatercores up my sleeve

I still see pc 166 on ebay. If u need a cpu i dont live far and got a 733 p3 id swap for something.

Ratinfested said:

I still see pc 166 on ebay. If u need a cpu i dont live far and got a 733 p3 id swap for something.

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Nah, I dont need a new cpu, I just want to max out what I already have, but thanks though

Id love to sell on ebay, but Id never buy there, heard too many horror stories

I came really close...my Crucial PC-133 CAS2 can do 160 Cas 2 but havent tried anything faster than that.

Currently running 2 sticks Kingmax pc150 at 162.5 cas 2-2-2-5, turbo 1. One 512mb and 256mb, may go higher just haven't tried yet. Got them at M-wave and yes they still have them. They have been running 24/7 for months now.

Cool, things sound good. Looks like Ill get at least around 950, which will be more than satisfying

Wow I just checked the price over there and it's about twice as much as when I bought it, heck DDR is cheaper. I got it for 65$US for the 512mb and 32$US for the 256mb. Looks like DDR for the new mobo, rambus is just way to high priced.

Grande Juan said:

rambus is just way to high priced.

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Whoa how does that figure into this thread?

Sorry about that I was thinking of two different things at the same time, while trying to type.