Another newbie question

[peartree]

This is required since I only upgrade when all else fails . Question: How do you decide what rating (2100, 2700,?) to pick when upgrading to DDR? The CPU is an AthlonXP 1800+, but may go to 2.4 inside of a couple of months. PLEASE don't just say 'Buy the fastest you can afford'! I need guidelines here, not obvious cliches.

=== Never assume ANYTHING ===

 

[jlanka]

Which motherboard? Do you want to overclock?

<pre> \|/
jlanka (. .)
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[peartree]

The mobo happens to be an ECS K7S5A and I don't really want to overclock it. I want stability more than performance or I wouldn't have picked an 1800+. The only reason I think I need to upgrade to DDR is that the SDRAM I have is only rated 100 MHz and that's all it will reliably do. No crabs- I bought it because it was cheap and available at the time (about 4 years ago).

=== Never assume ANYTHING ===

 

[pIII_Man]

pc2100 for the 1800+

When you say you will be upgrading to a 2.4 in the fueture do you mean an intel 2.4c or a Athlon xp 2400+?

There is no smell better than fried silicon

 

[peartree]

I mean that this motherboard has a 133 MHz FSB and it says it will handle up to or past an Athlon XP 2.4 GHz, but the specs don't tell me what DDR RAM that matches up with. I realize that running faaster RAM than I need doesn't hurt the RAM, just my wallet or I'd go for 3200.

=== Never assume ANYTHING ===

 

[folken]

get some good PC2700 like twinmos or ocz. That will give you some nice stability and performance with your older and newer cpus without taking a big hit to the wallet.
One other thing, go for ram that is CAS 2. It costs a little more but it will give a fairly large increase in performance.
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by folken on 07/18/03 05:45 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[pIII_Man]

humm...I agree get the pc2700 although you will NOT need it for an 1800+ it may be good to have if you decide to upgrade in the future

heres a guide
1700-2400+ have 266mhz fsb (133mhz sdr)

2500-3000+ have 333mhz fsb (166mhs sdr)

3000+ and beyond have 400mhz fsb (200mhz sdr)

The reason the 3000 is mentioned twice is because there are 2 versions of it one with 166mhz fsb the other with 200mhz fsb.

I think geil and kingston have high performance memory for a good price.


There is no smell better than fried silicon

 

[Jake_Barnes]

I've heard some problem stories (support) re: OCZ



<b><font color=red>It depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is. - Bill Clinton<b><font color=red>

 

[pIII_Man]

OCZ does not have a <i>favorable</i> track record either...

There is no smell better than fried silicon