If you have a 533Mgz board, can you use any speed Ram up to 533?

[TommyHolly]

My buddy just bought a Dell PC really cheap from the Dell outlet.

It currently has the PC2700 speed DDR Ram in it right now with a 533Mgz Motherboard. It's a model 4550 if I left anything out, the specs that I dont know are on thier site at www.dell.com

1) Can any speed Ram fit in this motherboard like 3200 or faster?

2) Can he Mix the Ram using all the same speed like 512Mb on one dimm and 128Mb on the other as long as it matches speed? How about matching brands, is that nessesary?

3) Can he use RD ram 1066 if he wanted to switch to it? (I know this stuff is the most expensive) Is the RD ram (what I have in my PC), the best Ram out there?

Thanks for your help.

[Top Hat Theater]

1) Yes.
2) Yes you can mix but it's not recommended. And no, the brands don't have to match but again, it's recommended they do.
3) No. DDRuses DIMMs while RDRAM uses RIMMs (different altogether). DDR and RDRAM each have their strengths and weaknesses

~THT

[TommyHolly]

Why is RD Ram so damn expensive then? I can't even find a single Dimm, 1Gb RD Ram chip. The 512 RD Ram single Dimm is at least $250.

I can buy the other stuff for almost 1/4th... UGH

[batboy]

RDRAM is RIMM, not DIMM. DDR is DIMM. RDRAM is dying and with lack of demand and lack of availablity, the price will continue to climb.

There is no reason to put anything faster in that Dell system, unless there are adjustable memory ratios in the BIOS (which I highly doubt). If he wants to add more RAM, just get something that matches what's already in it.

[TommyHolly]

So you recommend that he buy like 1Gb of PC2700 Ram instead of spending the same money and buy 512Mb of something faster like PC3500 or PC3700?

[Top Hat Theater]

Yes. No sense in getting anything faster as the system won't use it.

~THT

[TommyHolly]

TopHat,
"the system won't use it."???

You said that he could upgrade to a faster speed Ram like 3200 or 3700 because his motherboard can handle it?

So you are saying that his system can't use the 3700 now and that he should stick to buying 1Gb of the 2700. Why? I'm confused now. Damn, I hate being a nOOb. heh heh

[CrazyP]

what their saying is, the ram types, like pc 2700, pc 3200, etc run at a set speed. now with pc2700, the speed is 333 mhz, pc3200 is 400 mhz, and so on. now, even though the p4 says it runs at 533 fsb, the system fsb speed is 133. this is what determines your ram speed, not the p4. since your running pc2700, this means your board is running at 133 fsb with a 4:5 memory ratio, making the memory run at 166fsb. ddr is double the speed so 166X2=333mhz. thge only way you can use pc3200 and above would be to increase your fsb enough to where the memory would be running at 400mhz or above. not possible with a older dell, you cant overclock with it. so lets say you buy a stick of pc3500. you put it in your system. it will run exactly the same as your pc2700, you will essentially be underclocking it

[snyper1982]

just out of curiosity, why would you run the memory fater than the fsb? im not sure about intel, but i know with amd, running the system in sync gets a light performance boost. im just curious, ive been thinking of building an inetel system with that new canterwood. and by the way whats the difference between the canterwood and the springdale?

[TommyHolly]

Thanks guys. good explanation!

Ugh, my head is spinning trying to remember all these bottleneck computations on what limits your computer speed.