Bottleneck?

[ytrebil]

I'm upgrading my PC...

- MSI K8N Neo2 mobo
- A64 Venice 3000+ cpu
- Sapphire x800 gfx card

Also ordered a DVD R/W etc to go in.

I have PC2700 IIRC (512mb) of Crucial in my current rig. Will using that RAM in the new setup cause any type of bottle neck? Could I O/C the RAM to make it run slightly faster?

Cheers.

[mike_w]

The speed isn't too bad - you can run the RAM and CPU out of sync without any serious performance hit on Athlon 64s (to my knowledge). I think the problem is that you'd want a gigabyte of RAM to go along with those specs. If you do end up buying a gigabyte, I'd buy two new PC3200 512mb sticks (prices have fallen recently), although you could just add in another 512mb stick.

[ytrebil]

Probably pickup a stick of 512mb pc2700 then. Can you make pc2700 run at the same speeds as pc3200?

[schmunk]

Sometimes - my supposedly-pc2700 Samsung TCCC (which is currently on eBay - pimp, pimp) does 210 MHz at 2-3-3-5 Prime stable at 2.5v in my hot hot Shuttle

[mike_w]

Probably pickup a stick of 512mb pc2700 then. Can you make pc2700 run at the same speeds as pc3200?

Might be difficult to get standard Crucial RAM to overclock. Also, if you buy another stick of 512, you should definately get a stick of PC3200.

[ytrebil]

Oh d'oh forgot I was bidding on some RAM and just won....
BRAND NEW 1GB PC3200 DDR HIGH DENSITY RAM TRUE 400MHz
64x8 DRAM Configuration (HIGH DENSITY) Works with MOTHERBOARDS ACCEPTING 1GB DDR DIMM'S!!!!

Single 1.0 Gigabyte (1GB) - 1024 Megabyte (1024MB) DIMM

184-pin DDR configuration

Double Inline Memory Module (DIMM)

Double Data Rate RAM (DDR)

128x4 DRAM Configuration

Any idea if this is any good? Just been commited to pay 90quid including delivery! Woops. Would there be any point in keeping the 512 of pc2700 and running it with this or will the pc2700 force the mobo to slow down the pc3200? Sorry I get a tad confused with RAM and how it performs!

[mike_w]

The PC2700 will slow down the PC3200 if the PC2700 can't run at PC3200 speeds. I think you'd be best off just having the one stick of a gigabyte, since I don't know of many programs that regularly use more than one gigabyte.

As for how good it is, it depends on the brand of the stick. In case you can still cancel, you can buy single 1GB sticks for around £70 and two 512 sticks for just under £70.