help

A

AirForceOne

n00b
Joined
Jun 14, 2004
Messages
9
-hey all im new here and i have a question.
-Ok, my cpu is amd athlon 2400 and it has a fsb of 266mhz.
-when i bought the computer it has 512mb PC-2100
-since im a hardcore gamer, i want to make my computer faster and run games more effient
-i want to buy 1024mb ram and i know i have to have it PC-2100 because my motherboard's fsb is 226mhz. am i correct? :confused:
-will putting 1024mb ram with a speed of PC-2100 make my computer faster? or do i have to buy faster ram (like PC-3200 or something)?
:confused:
thanks :)
 
Not necessarily. Your PC won't actually run any faster clockspeed wise with the added RAM. However your operating system will probably be able to run more effeciently (ie not using as much of the Hard disk swap file since it will have more space to play with). In games, your load times will most likely be shorter (for instance on BF1942 and FarCry), but you might not notice too much of an actual gaming performance increase unless of course you are in the habit of having all sorts of things (virus scanner, winamp, AIM, ICQ, YahooIM, Kazaa, adware, etc.) loaded up at all times. Usually I just close out everything and turn off the virus scanner when I'm playing a game. Recently I went from 512MB to 1 gig of ram, and from a 9700pro to a 9800pro. What I noticed was things seem to run smoother and a little faster on loading games and etc. The rest of the system handles most things just a little better but I wouldn't say its just a huge performance increase. BTW, if I were you I'd go for PC3200 ram. PC3200 ram is backwards compatible with regular DDR PC2100 as it will run at that speed if you set up the motherboard to run it (you will need to set up the timings and bus speed manually though as SPD settings will probably screw up your motherboard causing a nopost until you reset the bios).

edit: Oh yea my reasoning for going PC3200 is:
1) It costs close to the same for 1 gig of PC3200 as it does for PC2100 (new)
2) PC3200 can run faster if you ever decided to get a new motherboard and processor, and if you go A64 anytime in the next year, you'll need it to run synchronous with your processor so you don't have a crippled A64 system.
3) Even if you don't go A64, you could probably upgrade your Mobo/proc. to a Nforce2 and a faster 400mhz bus Athlon XP part.
4) PC2100 ram is nearing obsolescence due to the fact the 2 major processor makers are producing processors that run on faster busses (333mhz 400mhz) than PC2100 can run effectively on. PC3200 has a longer effective life with the newer processors available now and probably won't be obsoleted for another year (when DDR2 finally takes over the mainstream ***or at least in my estimation thats what will happen in about a year***)
 
CVNet1 said:
Not necessarily. Your PC won't actually run any faster clockspeed wise with the added RAM. However your operating system will probably be able to run more effeciently (ie not using as much of the Hard disk swap file since it will have more space to play with). In games, your load times will most likely be shorter (for instance on BF1942 and FarCry), but you might not notice too much of an actual gaming performance increase unless of course you are in the habit of having all sorts of things (virus scanner, winamp, AIM, ICQ, YahooIM, Kazaa, adware, etc.) loaded up at all times. Usually I just close out everything and turn off the virus scanner when I'm playing a game. Recently I went from 512MB to 1 gig of ram, and from a 9700pro to a 9800pro. What I noticed was things seem to run smoother and a little faster on loading games and etc. The rest of the system handles most things just a little better but I wouldn't say its just a huge performance increase. BTW, if I were you I'd go for PC3200 ram. PC3200 ram is backwards compatible with regular DDR PC2100 as it will run at that speed if you set up the motherboard to run it (you will need to set up the timings and bus speed manually though as SPD settings will probably screw up your motherboard causing a nopost until you reset the bios).

edit: Oh yea my reasoning for going PC3200 is:
1) It costs close to the same for 1 gig of PC3200 as it does for PC2100 (new)
2) PC3200 can run faster if you ever decided to get a new motherboard and processor, and if you go A64 anytime in the next year, you'll need it to run synchronous with your processor so you don't have a crippled A64 system.
3) Even if you don't go A64, you could probably upgrade your Mobo/proc. to a Nforce2 and a faster 400mhz bus Athlon XP part.
4) PC2100 ram is nearing obsolescence due to the fact the 2 major processor makers are producing processors that run on faster busses (333mhz 400mhz) than PC2100 can run effectively on. PC3200 has a longer effective life with the newer processors available now and probably won't be obsoleted for another year (when DDR2 finally takes over the mainstream ***or at least in my estimation thats what will happen in about a year***)
Click to expand...
are you trying to tell me that i should get a new motherboard and cpu and go with PC3200? :(
why should i go with pc3200 if my motherboard's fsb is only 266mhz?
thanks in advance :)
 
The reason I say go with PC3200 is its totally backward compatible with PC2100 (ie you can run PC3200 which is normally 400mhz FSB speed at PC2100 speed which is 266FSB speed and it will operate and behave just like it was PC2100). The upside to this is the upgrade path. Look at todays latest greatest systems on either side of the aisle. Although Intel is soon to release a DDR2 chipset supposedly, they are still presently using DDR ram and PC3200 is the highest officially supported DDR ram that they use. On the AMD side, PC3200 is supported officially and operates sychronously with all their latest systems (Socket-A XP, S939 A64, S754 A64). Since the price of 1 gig of PC2100 is not that much different in the market from the price of 1 gig of PC3200 today, I would recommend going with the PC3200. Your processor and system that you have now can stay the same, and will happily run with the PC3200 at a 266Mhz FSB speed. Sure the PC3200 will be working (happily) at a lower FSB than it was designed for, but lets say in 6 months you decide that you want an A64 S754 system. You can take that 1gig of PC3200 you bought for this PC, and use it in your new latest greatest system and it will run there at its full 400Mhz FSB speed. That is my point. If you buy PC2100, you are buying something that is already maxed out performance wise and thus offers no future proofing and will be of no use to you if you ever decided to upgrade other parts (processor/motherboard) of your system. Thats all I'm saying.
 
It will not speed up your computer's operating speed, though you might be able to run the memory at tighter timing... basically, your answer is "somewhat faster". Tighter timings means the RAM can do more "stuff" in a given period of time. Normally, the higher the rated speed, the tighter you can run the RAM at lower speeds. For more questions about RAM timings, you can use google to find out what all tighter timings means. However, if you buy PC3200 RAM, you can upgrade at some point to a computer with a FSB speed of 200 MHz and still use the same memory - which is a speed you can't reach with 2100 RAM.

-SEAL
 
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