Do I need to upgrade my ram?

[Goonthar]

I am planning on upgrading my comp I've currently got an MSI kt4v mobo running an AMD 2200xp with PC2700 333mhz ram I'm thinking of purchasing an MSI K8N Neo4-F and an Athlon 64 3400 now what i'm wondering is can I use my existing ram on this setup and upgrade it later on or am i going to have to purchase the ram right away. Also is there a special type of 400mhz ram i should be looking at like dual channel? and whats this DDR2 stuff? Is it something I should be looking into?

Any info would be a great help.

 

[iss]

From what I have seen the MSI K8N Neo4-F only lists support for PC3200 ram.

 

[Merc14]

That board will support PC2700 (From website:Supports dual channel DDR 266/333/400, using four 184-pin DDR DIMMs.) DDR333 is actually PC2700 just like DDR400 is PC3200. Basically you multiply the RAM speed by 1 byte (8 bits) and you get the larger number so 8x400 is 3200bit RAM 8 x 333 rounds up to 2700. DDR = double data rate which means the RAM reads/writes on both the up and down cycle and DDR2 is the newest form RAM available, and no your new CPU won't support it. DDR2 works at a much higher frequency but with longer latency so there is no real benfit as of now to it.

 

[Goonthar]

so in other words I could use my existing 333mhz ram with a newer AMD 64 3700+? or would it be to slow?

 

[Merc14]

Yes it will run but not real well. The RAM will be a huge bottleneck IMHO. You'd be better off getting 1GB (2 x 512mb) Corsair Value RAM for $85 @ PC3200 DDR400 and avoid the issue.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440 .