Should I mix memory? Seems a waste not to use my old stuff...

[Dan B]

I have a 512Mb PC3200 DDR400 but also an old 256Mb pc2100 chip.

would I be best to keep the old 256 chip out of my computer or would it
be alright to use it?


I have an athlon64 3000+ and geforce 6800 and various other stuff that
isnt *that* old.

I think i read that the athlon 64 doesnt need all the memory chips to be
equal and doesnt just take the speed of the lowest one like older chips.

Dan B

 

[spodosaurus]

I have a 512Mb PC3200 DDR400 but also an old 256Mb pc2100 chip.

would I be best to keep the old 256 chip out of my computer or would it
be alright to use it?


I have an athlon64 3000+ and geforce 6800 and various other stuff that
isnt *that* old.

I think i read that the athlon 64 doesnt need all the memory chips to be
equal and doesnt just take the speed of the lowest one like older chips.

Dan B

The old pc2100 chip will cause all the memory to run at that speed. If
you use it, you'll slow down the memory.

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people around the world are waiting for a marrow transplant, too. Please
volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
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[jaster]

I have a 512Mb PC3200 DDR400 but also an old 256Mb pc2100 chip.

would I be best to keep the old 256 chip out of my computer or would it be
alright to use it?


I have an athlon64 3000+ and geforce 6800 and various other stuff that
isnt *that* old.

I think i read that the athlon 64 doesnt need all the memory chips to be
equal and doesnt just take the speed of the lowest one like older chips.

Dan B

There is a great timing disparity between pc2100 and pc3200 and if you're
lucky both will run at pc2100 speed. I don't know how the AMD 64
3000 or your chipset handles memory but I too read that AMD 64s are
very efficient utilizing memory. Also you might be able to OC the
pc2100 in your bios.

I think you ought to use both together for 768mb which does speed up
the system overall. If you notice memory errors, system problems,
application problems then remove the pc2100. You can run memtest86 with
both chips installed to look for errors. Even if the memory
configuration passes keep watching for system or memory errors. Everest
110, CPU-Z, 3DMarks test your system so you can compare
performance with both chips in to the pc3200 chip only.

 

[Sayso Takewashi]

I have a 512Mb PC3200 DDR400 but also an old 256Mb pc2100 chip.

would I be best to keep the old 256 chip out of my computer or would it
be alright to use it?


I have an athlon64 3000+ and geforce 6800 and various other stuff that
isnt *that* old.

I think i read that the athlon 64 doesnt need all the memory chips to be
equal and doesnt just take the speed of the lowest one like older chips.

Dan B

I think,it will work.But depend how much the Mainboard and the new
Memory Module like each other.

Yes,why not?

The loss of maybe 5-7% Speed Gain will be compensated by not swapping
and will make the System feel more faster than the higher Speed Modules
could somebody make believe.
I have also 768MB Memory and could open 12-15 Programms (330MB Memory
left,Swapfile used 461MB).With 512MB Memory the Figures are 92MB left
and 500MB Swapfile used.

 

[DaveW]

Wrong. Your system will run at the speed of the slowest RAM, thus at PC
2100 if you include that stick.
Do NOT use it.

 

[jaster]

There is a great timing disparity between pc2100 and pc3200 and if
you're lucky both will run at pc2100 speed. I don't know how the AMD
64 3000 or your chipset handles memory but I too read that AMD 64s are
very efficient utilizing memory. Also you might be able to OC the
pc2100 in your bios.

I think you ought to use both together for 768mb which does speed up the
system overall. If you notice memory errors, system problems,
application problems then remove the pc2100. You can run memtest86
with both chips installed to look for errors. Even if the memory
configuration passes keep watching for system or memory errors. Everest
110, CPU-Z, 3DMarks test your system so you can compare performance with
both chips in to the pc3200 chip only.

Size matters. Overall system performance trumps memory speed. Most
operating systems care whether there is 512mb or 768mb. I can't think of
any applications that care whether system memory is running 533mhz or
333mhz but the motherboard/cpu combo might care.

If the 2 chips, bios, chipset and cpu play nice together at pc2100 (ie, no
memory errors) then actual memory speed will only be noticed in
benchmarks. The pc3200 might drop cached memory or require more memory
refreshes when accessed at 333mhz but it shouldn't be a noticeable problem.

 

[BarryNL]

Size matters. Overall system performance trumps memory speed. Most
operating systems care whether there is 512mb or 768mb. I can't think of
any applications that care whether system memory is running 533mhz or
333mhz but the motherboard/cpu combo might care.

It depends what you're doing with the system. If you're not using over
512mb then the extra 256mb will simply slow your system down. Use Task
Manager occasionally when you are using your PC heavily and check if
you're actually using over 512mb. If not, you're better off with the
faster RAM.