Upgrading memory

[Mini Me]

I have a Biostar motherboard with an Athlon XP 2700+ in it and 1 GB of
PC2700 memory (two 512 meg sticks).

I promised my wife I'd upgrade her computer from 256MB and add a 512MB
stick.

She's running an XP 1600+, so PC2700 is fine.

My question is... Can I buy a PC3200 stick of 512MB, put it in my
computer and give her one of my PC2700 sticks?

Can you mix speeds? I figure the PC3200 will "slow down" to match the
slower PC2700, but at least I'll be halfway to upgrading completely.

 

[Roy Coorne]

I have a Biostar motherboard with an Athlon XP 2700+ in it and 1 GB of
PC2700 memory (two 512 meg sticks).

I promised my wife I'd upgrade her computer from 256MB and add a 512MB
stick.

She's running an XP 1600+, so PC2700 is fine.

My question is... Can I buy a PC3200 stick of 512MB, put it in my
computer and give her one of my PC2700 sticks?

You can... but it depends on the motherboard whether it will work...

Can you mix speeds? I figure the PC3200 will "slow down" to match the
slower PC2700, but at least I'll be halfway to upgrading completely.

In principle, yes... but...

roy

 

[Chris]

I once put PC2700 RAM in a PC2100 board and it worked fine, the RAM matched
the speed. I assume it is backwards compatible. PC3200 is cheaper than
PC2700 so go for it!