Temporary memory that's cheap?

[tromba]

I just built a system with a e6600 Core 2 Duo and a Gigabye p965 mb. I bought 2 gig of OCZ PC 6400 memory because I'd heard good things about it. But one of the sticks doesn't work. Support at OCZ was quick and helpful, but now I'm waiting on an RMA. Shipping from here in the east to California and back, with Christmas and New Year's holidays will probably delay this project by at least two weeks.

I've got to get this machine up and running to move stuff from another machine to move stuff from a 3rd machine to that one.

My question is this: although far from optimal, can I use DDR2 PC 4200 memory -- Circuit city has a 512 stick for $39 after rebate. This might allow me to get this machine going and keep on schedule.

It's been quite a while since my last build and memory seems to have gotten more complex and complicated. Any suggestions appreciated! (Should I have avoided OCZ?)

 

[Mondoman]

The Circuit City stuff will work fine as long as you are not overclocking. PC2-4200 = DDR2-533, which is all that you need to fully saturate the C2D FSB, as long as you have two of the DIMMs and are running in dual-channel mode. A single stick will work fine, too, but you may notice a slight slowdown from running in single-channel mode.
OCZ emphasizes performance over compatibility, so I'm not surprised by your experience.

 

[tromba]

Thanks for the reply..... After paying a price for expensive memory I can't afford much spare memory, so I'll just get get one 512 stick. It's a 512 meg 533 for $39 after rebate. I guess it's worth the $40 to get started rather than wait a couple of weeks.

As long as I can get the machine running, get OS and programs installed I can at least get work done.

I hope the replacements work!!!!