DDR266 RAM Question

[ledfortr]

Hey All!
I have an ECS PVMM2 mobo and I am looking to a memory upgrade.

I currently have 256k of pc133 and am looking to upgrade to ddr266.

184-pin 2.5V DDR SDRAM (DDR266/DDR200)<--type of RAM that will work... I was looking for 512k (or so), I understand that there are many different considerations with DDR266, can someone please enlighten me and tell me what would be the best bang for the buck on this specification?


THANKS!!!

 

[dakels]

what motherboard is this? I can't seem to find any specifications on that model.

anyways, PC133 SDRAM is not the same as DDR 266 ram. They function differently and the sizes are different. You cannot put 184 pin DDR ram into a 168pin SD slot. Now some motherboards have DDR and and SD slots but I belive you have to use one or the other. Preferably DDR since it is much faster and nowadays DDR 266 (DDR 2100) is about the same price as PC133's.

You need to check to see if your board will take DDR 2100 chips. You will have 2 different types of RAM slots on it. If your system can use DDR, then removing the 128mb PC133 and putting a 512mb DDR 2100 chip in the DDR slot should make your computer run much better. 512mb DDR 2100 modules are as cheap as $30-50 after rebates. Check the Hot Deals forum. In the meantime you need to see if your motherboard will accept DDR.

 

[Malladine]

I belive you have to use one or the other.

This is correct.

Lots of ECS mobos have both slots and the motherboard you mention (the P4VMM2) is one of these! It supports up to PC2100(DDR266) ram, 2gb max. Here's the link: P4VMM2.

Just don't go trying to force the DDR ram into the slot which contains your current SDRAM. You'll see two seperate blue slots, those are 184pin DDR.

As far as what manufacturer you would be best advised to go with, i'd say crucial. Crucial has a neat website. Just find your motherboard in their database and it'll bring up ram which is compatible. kingston

 

[Lord Evermore]

It's P4VMM2, a VIA P4M266 board, one of the ECS boards that takes both SDR and DDR (not at the same time). I assume it's one of the 1.x revisions, since the higher revisions don't support PC133 modules. Pretty much any DDR module should work, though installing anything higher than PC2100 would be a waste since the board won't run it any higher. PC1600 (DDR200) would be ill advised as well, since it will probably be more expensive and hard to find than PC2100. Any DDR module for a desktop will be 184 pin 2.5V, those are standards.

You should get a significant performance gain from moving to DDR with a Pentium 4 processor.

Newegg currently has 512MB modules of Corsair ValueSelect PC2700 memory for only 55 dollars. A very good deal, even cheaper than Crucial or Kingston. They should work perfectly in your system. The PC2100 modules are the same price, so you should get the PC2700 since it may be useful at the higher speed in the future, and it will work just fine at PC2100 speeds.

 

[dakels]

going from 128mb of PC133 to 512mb DDR 2100... if he has any sort of a decent processor, it's gonna feel like using a new computer especially if's he's on WinXP.

 

[BmXStuD]

256k or 512k u mean 256mb or 512mb?

 

[ledfortr]

Sorry, It is the p4vmm2 rev. 2.x
I have 256mb or pc133
Looks like I will go for the Corsair PC2700 (512) from NewEgg.


Are there any other considerations for types of pc2700?

 

[ledfortr]

I went for the corsair pc2700 (512) and it looks like there might be some issues with the install. The system will not boot once I put the new memory in. It simply beeps 4 times without video. I am currently researching compatability and maybe I have to do something to the board itself (jumpers....) any ideas?

 

[ledfortr]

Apparently, for this MOBO you have to short some pins for the memory to work correctly. It ships with SD compatibility. I will now attempt again!

 

[ledfortr]

SMOKIN'
That got it. I had to short 80 jumpers to get it to work. Literally 80!!!! This board is a pain, they weren't easy to get to either.

I took the advice of everybody and upgraded from a tnt2 ultra to a radeon 9100 (128) and from 256mb of 133 sdram to 512 pc2700.

Going through benchmarks now

using 3dmark 2001 SE here are the results
prior to upgrade: 1405
with just video card upgrade: 6114
with memory and vid upgrade: 6520

Not a bad step up for $140 total.