Memory question...

[Krakatau]

A simple one maybe ?

old pc uses pc2100 speed ddr memory...
Is it possible to use pc3200 speed ddr memory into that pc ??

thx in advance :worthy:

 

[Litmus]

read your mother board manual and see if it supports it first.

 

[Influenza]

Theres a chance pc3200 will run in the motherboard but it wont run at the proper speed , itll run the same speed as the 2100 memory.

 

[meerclar]

will only run at 2100 if its paired with it.
if the mobo supports better ram and the old stuff is taken out then everything will be fine.

 

[Krakatau]

Thx for input so far - and a few comments

-"read your mother board manual and see if it supports it first."

DOH!!
I do RTFM, and think of it a bit first before posting that...
Old pc supported DDR 266/200. Not likely a manual will say: "hey, in the future with DDR XXX, you can mix and match"
And besides, if I had some info about it in the manual, I wouldn't be asking a question here in the first place

-"Theres a chance pc3200 will run in the motherboard but it wont run at the proper speed , itll run the same speed as the 2100 memory."

&

-"will only run at 2100 if its paired with it.
if the mobo supports better ram and the old stuff is taken out then everything will be fine."

But will it run at all, that's the question, ofc it won't "magically" enhance existing pc2100 into pc3200

Anyone actually tried using a mix of different speeds on the ram ??
Any quirks/lockups/instable system etc ?

 

[meerclar]

mixing speeds usually just makes all the ram run at the lowest ram speed.
the chances are that your mobo will handle pc3200, but to be sure see if you have a friend who has pc3200 in their machine and is willing to let you try it in yours.
once the 3200 is installed run some benchmarks to see if its running at full speed.
if thats all fine then buy some pc3200 of your own and a pint for your ever so generous and trusting friend.

 

[Void959]

What motherboard model is it? Can almost certainly find a definite answer on the web.

 

[Zaffa]

since your running pc2100 id guess you have a rather old motherboard and there fore you are not running dual channel, if that is the case then pc3200 will work perfectly well with the pc2100 mem, but will only work at pc2100 speed

the other question is if your old motherboard supports double sided memory in all/some slots or not, if not, it could take away ½ your new memory so it will only work like a 256mb block even if it is a 512mb block, or it may not work at all

 

[Krakatau]

since your running pc2100 id guess you have a rather old motherboard and there fore you are not running dual channel, if that is the case then pc3200 will work perfectly well with the pc2100 mem, but will only work at pc2100 speed

the other question is if your old motherboard supports double sided memory in all/some slots or not, if not, it could take away ½ your new memory so it will only work like a 256mb block even if it is a 512mb block, or it may not work at all

That answer was spot on I guess, thx

 

[Skrad]

Was this post about a memory problem? I can't remember!