Implications of using PC4200 DDR2 RAM?

[IAmATeaf]

Need some thoughts from the wise people here on the likely problems with using PC4200 RAM with a P965 mobo and a C2D mobo. Mobo is a choice between Asus P5BE-Dlx, P5BE-Plus or Gigabyte DS3P or DS4.

In terms of problems I was thinking along the lines of the RAM speed and if the mobo would give me any flexibility in running it at a lower speed to aid overclocking.

I have 2gb of this stuff lying around and would rather not at this point in time replace it.

[Flewis]

If you already own it then i recommend trying it and seeing how far it will overclock. If you get a 4300 you can get to 2.4GHz without overclocking the RAM, the RAM should overclock a bit so greater than 2.4GHz would be expected. With any other of the c2d processors you wont get far at all overclocking with that memory.

[Lu-tze]

When cpc did a Ram round-up, they found that PC4200 would bottleneck performance, and that pc5300 was the lowest speed worth going for.

However, if you already own the Ram, then i doubt the cost of replacement would be worth the small performance increase.

[kalniel]

When cpc did a Ram round-up, they found that PC4200 would bottleneck performance, and that pc5300 was the lowest speed worth going for.

Performance in what?

I can't think of any application that a non-specialist would use that would be bottlenecked by a difference of 66mhz in RAM speed - given that the CPU and Gfx card are still all running at the same speed with both types of RAM.

[Lu-tze]

Their benchmarks

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/custompc/labs...2864aa53e.html

This kit was able to overclock highly anyway, and IAmATeaf's might do too. Many benchmarks are designed to be ecologically valid, but fail to meet that criteria. Whether CPC's findings will affect this systems performance, who knows. As i said, upgrading the RAM for such a small potential increase probably isnt worth it.

[IAmATeaf]

Thanks for the info to date guys, I was worried in case the mobo just wouldn't support it. The RAM I have is I think Xerox branded when I check it with CPU-Z.