Technical Geeky Computer RAM related question

[Harkoliar]

Ok here is the basic rundown. I was able to borrow my friends ram for nearly a year ( ) but now he needs it back because his other computer took a beating.

Now here is the thing, so I went to get myself a 1 gig DDR RAM Kingston 400mhz (PC3200). In my computer I have roughly a RAM stick of 256 memory 333mhz.


Now here is where i need the advice on, do I remove my 256 ram with 333mhz because it will slow down my 1gig 400mhz or do I keep it because I have more RAM? How much will it affect if I remove my 256 333mhz? Will my computer speed up or down?

Other specs although not needed would be 2.0 gig AMD or 1.8 P4 equivalent (or was it 1.6.. cant remember)
and Asus motherboard which supports only until DDR PC3200 thats why I didnt get a DDR2
its a 3 year old computer [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[ElfBane]

They probably will not work together well, and maybe not at all. But it's worth a try. Put the 1gig stick in the primary slot..then put the 256meg stick in the backup slot and see if the Windows System Info tool *sees* the extra 256meg of RAM. If it does, then do a test drive of a game and see how you like it. HTH.

[Hivetyrant]

Put the 1 Gig stick in the first slot (slot 1/A-genreally closest to the CPU) and you should have less trouble.
Generally, different speed RAM will always work, but it can potentially slow your other RAM down (depends on Motherboard/OS)

Also, DDR2 only became available for AMD CPU's recently, so it being 3 years old doesn't really matter [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Harkoliar]

technically, the 400mhz 1 gig ram will slow down to the speed of 333mhz because of the 256 stick.

So im stumped on whether to take out the 256 because it slows down the Ram process or keep it so that my computer has more memory...

does a 333mhz difference be huge compared to 400mhz in terms of speed?

[ 08-23-2006, 08:58 AM: Message edited by: Harkoliar ]

[ElfBane]

Originally posted by Harkoliar: technically, the 400mhz 1 gig ram will slow down to the speed of 333mhz because of the 256 stick. So im stumped on whether to take out the 256 because it slows down the Ram process or keep it so that my computer has more memory... does a 333mhz difference be huge compared to 400mhz?

Well, it makes *some* difference, but these days RAM speed is not as critical. The advent of video cards with large amounts of RAM onboard has made the need for speedy main RAM not as neccessary.
If you're a gamer, and I'm assuming you are, then test drive a demanding game and check the frame rates, with and without the 256 stick. HTH.

[Harkoliar]

lol .. retired gamer to be honest. heh.. i dont play much anymore.. heck i cant even play oblivion as of now

thanks for the heads up though

[andrewas]

It would be a good idea to run memtest86+ for a bit to make sure that the RAM is good. Theres nothing worse than a defective address in the high range where it hardly ever causes a problem - you get BSODs but its hard to track them down. I think test 5 is the one to run if all you want is to verify that the memory is good.

[Hivetyrant]

Originally posted by Harkoliar: does a 333mhz difference be huge compared to 400mhz in terms of speed?

Yes, yes it does, but if you are not huge on games anymore, then you dont really need to worry about it [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Harkoliar]

yeah.. i just checked my Ram.. apparently it aint 333mhz.. but a 266MHZ.. my god.. im such a cheapskate .. i took it out.. and i do notice a slight increase of speed. ill stick to my 1 gig 400mhz compared to a 1.256gig at 266mhz