333 mhz Bartons

[episodic]

My ASUS KT400 motherboard supports 333mhz Bartons. I've got a gig of pc2100 memory which runs at 266mhz. Can I upgrade to a 333mhz barton without upgrading the memory? What are the drawbacks - and is it still worth it?

Thanks for helping!

 

[tapir]

I believe its possible to run 166MHz CPU/133MHz memory, but I don't really see why you'd want to. What processor are you thinking of buying? and what are you upgrading from?

IMO you are better off buying a cheap thoroughbred-B at 266 bus and raising the multiplier through the roof, you'd get more MHz for the buck and the same mem performance

 

[episodic]

XP 1500 is the one I'm upgrading, was thinking of an Athlon XP 3000.

Just don't want to loose that memory investment if I can. . .

 

[LostInSpace927]

You can upgrade the processor to a 333 Mhz Barton, it will only run at 266. With out OCing of course. So basically it will nullify the 333Mhz performance you were seeking.

 

[Dantzig]

Sell the PC2100 RAM in FS/FT and buy some cheap major-brand PC3200. It will only end up costing you a few bucks.

You don't want to mess with asynchonous timings where the RAM bus speed is lower than the CPU bus. For some reason, it causes a lot of issues with most boards--stability and performance.

 

[godmare]

Originally posted by: LostInSpace927
You can upgrade the processor to a 333 Mhz Barton, it will only run at 266. With out OCing of course. So basically it will nullify the 333Mhz performance you were seeking.

Depending on the BIOS version, which is flashable regardless, the FSB and RAM speeds may be set independently, allowing 266 ram with 333 fsb. However, this will adversely affect performance, as, given that the fsb and ram are out of sync, data will most of the time be waiting for the next clock cycle.

The PCI/AGP frequencies are not lockable with that chipset, meaning overclocking a T-Bred in lieu of a Barton is not a good option.

You'll have to decide between dumping the ram and buying a Barton, or 'settling' for a T-Bred. Nice thing is, upgrading from a 1500, you'll notice a great improvement either way.

 

[myocardia]

If you're too cheap to also buy faster ram, just buy yourself an XP2400, the fastest XP with a 133 fsb.