PC2700 Ram on an Abit KR7a Raid

[Spliffmeister]

This migh be a stoopid question but....

I currently have 1 stick of 256meg Kingmax PC2400 DDR Ram (which runs at 300Mhz) on my Abit KR7a 133-Raid motherboard. I want some more ram but I can't find PC2400 DDR Ram anywhere.

I can however get hold of some Kingmax PC2700 DDR ram, which I know runs at 333Mhz, will I be able to just stick this in and all will be fine or not?

Answers on a postcard please....

 

[Arris]

I'm not familiar with your motherboard but it will specify what speed that your running your memory. 2 sticks of similar kingmax that are rated for different speeds should run fine but not both at 333DDR, although the older PC2400 might run at that speed.

 

[Vehementi]

Your board has a KT266, so it only supports PC2100 DDR. Why do you need PC2400?

Yeah you should buy another stick of Kingmax 300, so you won't be mixing brands. Such is bad. Where'd you get it in the first place?

 

[Phantasm66]

for once the Veh man is right:

CPU
Support AMD Athlon XP 1500+ ~1900+/AMD Athlon 700MHz~1.4GHz or future Socket A Processors based on 200/266 MHz(100MHz/133MHz Double Data Rate)
Support AMD Duron 600MHz ~ 950 MHz or future Socket A Processors based on 200 MHz
(100MHz Double Data Rate)
Chipset
VIA KT266A / VIA VT8233

Memory
Four 184-pin DIMM sockets support up to 4 GB PC1600/PC2100 DDR SDRAM module
BIOS
SoftMenu™III Technology to set CPU parameters

Functions
Four channels of Bus Master IDE Ports supporting up to 8 Ultra DMA 33/66/100/133( RAID 0 /1/0+1).
Miscellaneous
1 AGP slot, 6 PCI slots.
Ultra DMA 100/RAID
High Point HPT372 IDE Controller
Ultra DMA 133MB/sec data transfer rate

http://www.ocworkbench.com/hardware/abit/kr7araid/kr7araidp1.htm

you are "limited" to pc2100, and that's common as muck. I recommend crucial or kingston. You can buy crucial pc2100 ram on the uk web site in about 5 seconds....

 

[Phantasm66]

i put "limited" in "" because there's nothing to turn your nose up at pc2100. its still ddr-sdram and there's plenty of folks still with sdram out there....

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Fast memory is good when overclocking.

 

[Rick]

Like Mic stated, if you are overclocking, you may want to opt for the "faster" memory.

There should be no major problems. The motherboard determines the speed of the memory - Not the memory. So that shiny new PC-70000 will run at 2100 speeds regardless.

Mixing brands and types can be slightly more risky than buying the same brand/type though. Memory is very finicky and boards are sometimes selective on what they accept and do not accept. Your best bet is to stick with name brand memory to ensure there are no compatibility problems (Or so the propaganda and my personal experience says)

 

[Phantasm66]

yeah you guys are right.

i refrain from turning my nose up still at pc2100 because, as i said, there's still plenty of folks with sdram. i don't really overclock and i've got 1GB ddr-sdram.... heheh that's fine in my book.

my point is that getting pc2100 is easy and the prices are really dropping. i am sure i posted a news item on the main page that ddr pc2100 is getting a LOT cheaper in comparison to sdram, which is in fact getting more expensive. its like SIMMs - the little blighters are hard to find and too damn expensive these days... for what you get at any rate...

 

[Spliffmeister]

Thanks for your thoughts guys... :grinthumb

I bought the original stick of PC2400 Ram, not so I can overclock the speed of my FSB more safely, but so I can run it at CAS2 (instead or 2.5) and at 266Mhz - which I do.

If I buy PC2100, I won't be able to run both sticks at that speed and at CAS2 (or at least I will be less likely to).

My question is, If I buy PC2700, will combining the two different speeds of Ram have an adverse affect? Or will it work at all? I realise it won't be running at 333Mhz (much like my PC2400 isn't running at 300Mhz). But as it is underclocked, I should be able to run it at CAS2 and at 266Mhz. I think you are all right in part, I think the PC 2700 should run underclocked no probs at all (I hope) - I'm just being cautious.....

Oh I don't know, I might just save my pennies and spend it on something completely different......

Thanks again for your thoughts :grinthumb

 

[Phantasm66]

as far as i know, when you fit different spec ram modules, they run at the lowest common denominator.....

 

[Vehementi]

My other machine runs a stick of DDR333 w/ a KT266. Works fine.

Get Kingmax DDR333 if you opt. It will be fine, and you can run both at CAS2.

P66 -> For once? C'mon...

 

[Arris]

Originally posted by Vehementi

P66 -> For once? C'mon...

Completely right for once

And Spliffy as stated previously in this thread the motherboard chipset dictates what speed the memory can and will run at, your best bet is to stick with the same brand of memory. You should be ok with the 300 and 333 rated stuff together as it will all run at 266. You would be very unlucky if you had any problem with this combination.

 

[Tarkus]

Should be no problem. I'm running PC3200 on mine at 158 Mhz FSB and 2-2-2-5 setting.

 

[Spliffmeister]

Hmmmm

Just bought some and my PC is only picking up 128 of the 256meg extra Ram :-/ so I now have 392meg!?!? I've checked that its the new stick and not the old one thats only 128meg - and it's definately a 256 stick - I think I'm gonna take it back, unless there's something I should know....

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

From Abit KR7A-133R User's Manual v1.0.1, page 2-7:
According to the datasheet of VIA KT266A chipset (Revision 2.1, September 14, 2001), x 4 bit memory chip is not supported.

What kind of memory module is it?

 

[Spliffmeister]

Mic,


Kingmax 256MB PC2700 BGA DDR SDRAM

Size (MB) 256
Bus Speed (MHz) 333
Access Time (NS) 6
CAS 2.5
Buffered NO
ECC NO

 

[Spliffmeister]

Yoink,

just swapped the stick of Ram - it was tested as faulty so the shop swapped it no probs....

I've now got 512Mb of super fast Ram.

 

[JSR]

phant

msi kt333 ultra w/ raid.....anandtech also did a comparison w/ nforce2....and basically no diff.....can stay w/ cheaper 2100/2700 ram.....and now cheap..and you don't want to f around w/overclocking a 2100 anyway.......the videocard is everything..........the only thing is no agp8x.....but nothing is able to use it.....motherboards and all that basically do nothing compared to the cards........if you really want to see a performance boost.........put it in the video card