Abit KD7, AMD2100XP, which RAM? 2100 0r Higher?

[Jerry944T]

Purchased new MB, Abit KD7, and am using an AMD 2100XP processor. I have two sticks of 256 2100DDR RAM from my former board. Been out of the loop a bit so I need to know if there is any advantage to using higher rated RAM. I checked the Crucial site where I have always purchased RAM before and the fastest RAM they have is 2700DDR Cl-2. Other sites have RAM with speeds up to 3500DDR. Typically I do try and overclock but just a little so my question is will the faster RAM offer a significant advantage or should I save a few $$ and stick with the RAM I already own?
Thanks in advance for any opinions or facts.
Jerry

 

[CaptnKirk]

The KD7's are designed to run with the memory bus at the higher speed which would be the PC27000 - which is the DDR333. Anything over that is speculation on the
part of the memory manufacturers, as the JEDEC which is the controling organization that writes the specifications does NOT recognize anything over the PC2700.

Yes I know - you can buy the PC3000 or the PC3200 or the PCBla-bla-bla - but the point is that there is no valid electronic specification above PC2700.

The KD7 (allegedly) will accept the PC3200, but chipset makers don't 'Officially' support anything over the PC2700/DDR333 anyway - so it's back to speculation.
Most of the stuff that is being sold above the PC2700 level is 'second tier supplier' overclocks of the PC2100 or PC2700 repackaged and reidentified.

The advantage of the PC2700 over the PC2100 is that the memory bus speed of 166 is doubled through the DDR to 333, and the Motherboard has an automatic divider that keeps the AGP & PCI's in spec and runs the memory about 15% faster than the PC2100 runs at its 266 speed. Since it's backwards compatible, it can run either the PC2100
at the 266 or the PC2700 at 333, and since some people like to raise the FSB and smoke-'em, they can actually be run somwhat faster with overclocking.

Samsung does make a PC3200 memory chip that they claim to be TRUE, but since there is NO VALID JEDEC SPECIFICATION, it could be anything they want it to be.

This Article may give you some insite to the memory available.

I have used both Samsung and Crucial, and in reality I think that Crucial is the best.

 

[tapir]

I would say stick with the PC2100. AMD processors aren't as dependent on memory bandwidth as P4s are so you will not see a huge performance increase for the $150 or so you would need to invest in 512MB PC2700.

 

[Jerry944T]

Thanks for the education guys. I guess the question now is if you have a 266fsb processor, in this case a 2100XT, does the 333mhz RAM make any appreciable difference or does that only apply to the newer processors that are running higher bus speeds? I understand that if you are overclocking then the FSB speed changes but are we talking about any real world difference?
TIA
Jerry

 

[CaptnKirk]

If you have the motherboard that supports the PC2700 - DDR333 RAM, the system will autodetect and turn on the 5:1 divider and you get the 15% faster memory right then. If you are overclocking and pushing the FSB up, your PC2100 will go to about 145 ( 2X = 290 RAM ) before it peaks out, whereas the PC2700 starts with 166 (DDR333)and can be pushed to 185 to 195 ( 270 to 390 DDR equivalent ) before breaking down.