Slow RAM in new motherboard ?

[mdg900]

I've just ordered the following:

Core 2 Duo E6400
Abit AB9
ATI X1950XT 256MB
Antec P180
Arctic Cooling Freezer
580W HiperPower HPU-4M580
HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 Gold PCI Dolby Soundcard


Will I be able to put my existing PC3200 RAM in the motherboard or am I going to have to order some more? If so, what would you recommend?

The motherboard says it can handle DDR2 PC2-5300, DDR2 PC2-4200,DDR2 PC2-6400,DDR2 PC2-8000 so I'm pretty sure I need some new RAM.

Any other opinions on the hardware I've chosen? I tried to build a high performance PC that will run new games on high settings and will run quietly. I currently have a Shuttle XPC with Athlon XP 2600 and it's very loud!

Thanks!

[spiral out]

You defintely need new RAM.

[GoNz0]

i dont think DDR2 fits DDR slots anyway (i have never checked so dont quote me)
either way you need DDR2 ram for that board so yours is no good

[mdg900]

OK thanks, I'll order some now. Any recommendations on speed? Will 1GB 533MHz be good enough to do the rest of the PC justice?

I'm planning on using my existing IDE hard drive, with no SATA drives. Is there going to be a problem with that? The motherboard does have an IDE connector.

[oralpain]

If you are not overclocking 533MHz memory will be fine, though you really should spring for 2GB, if at all possible.

[mdg900]

I've ordered 2x1GB 533MHz from Crucial. Noticed the DDR2 is 240 pin so my old ram won't even fit.

That's taken me significantly over my original budget! Cost of everything above including postage was ~£780. (From Scan, ebuyer, ocuk, and crucial.)

[GoNz0]

personally when it comes to ram i dont skimp on it, if its another £20 to get it a couple of speeds higher it may save you another upgrade.

i brought the best i could get about 3-4 years ago, some corsair XMS3200..
its been in 3 pc builds now, this is the last as its finally running at full speed

so it saved me at least £150 in selling old to buy new

[mdg900]

Apparently Custom PC managed to overclock the RAM I've ordered to 1066MHz!

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


So I'll probably try and overclock it and see what happens.