DDR266 vs. DDR400

[Athlonin]

I currently have a soyo k7v dragon+ with an athlon XP 1600+. I just ordered a new motherboard and processor combo from newegg... abit kv8 and athlon 64 2800+ for $198. Im just planning on swapping mobos and processors. Anways, I have 512 mb ddr266 from my old setup that i could use in the new motherboard, at least until i find a good deal for some ddr400. Is this memory upgrade going to give me much of a performance boost? And would getting a gig of ddr400 for the new board make a ton of difference aswell?

thanks

 

[CraigRT]

You really can't use the DDR266 in the new mobo, as the processor for the new mobo requires 400MHz RAM. (at least I am 99& positive, there MAY be DDR333 support, but not less than 333Mhz) so you should really upgrade to the 400 now before the new stuff comes and you can't use it because of the RAM.

 

[Athlonin]

i figured that the ddr266 would work because on the abit website, talking about the motherboard, it says "CPU Integrated Memory Controller - 72-bit memory controller supports DDR at 266, 333 and 400MHz." Hope this 266 memory can work for a while

 

[Pudgygiant]

You need at least PC2700, DDR333, just to boot. So I'd say yes, considering you dropped $200 or so on the combo, that it's worth it.

 

[Athlonin]

where do u guys see that i need ddr333 just to boot? seems the motherboard and processor will support 266???

from AMD site:

The AMD Athlon 64 processor is the world?s most technically advanced PC processor and the only Windows-compatible 64-bit PC processor. Advanced technologies in the AMD Athlon 64 processor include:

An integrated memory controller with peak memory bandwidth of up to 6.4 GB/sec, supporting PC3200, PC2700, PC2100, or PC1600 DDR SDRAM

and from Abit Website:

CPU Integrated Memory Controller
- 72-bit memory controller supports DDR at 266, 333 and 400MHz

 

[Cannabis]

I know for fact ddr 2100 will work with a A64 as Im running it now until i can afford a gig of PC3500.

 

[Athlonin]

ok thanks cannabis, i was kind of worried there for a second. So back to the origonal question... how much improvement would the upgrade really provide?

 

[Pudgygiant]

News to me, but it seems kind of pointless because it'd be a huge bottleneck. Sorry for the misinformation.

 

[Gurck]

If your mobo supports running ram asynchronously you might be able to use the old ram. Even so, though, it will seriously choke the system. I'd shell out for faster ram & sell the old stuff.

 

[Athlonin]

Cannabis... could u tell me how well your system is running? Do u think that the memory is a huge bottleneck? I should of gottten in on the kingston deal for 512 DDR400 for $60 AR but didnt buy the combo til after the deal ended. damn

 

[Athlonin]

It seems that the memory support comes directly from the processor. Why would pc2100 memory be a huge bottleneck?

 

[ViRGE]

Because it's not enough bandwidth.

 

[geecee]

I have a similar dilemna, Athlonin. I have 2 512MB PC2700 DIMMs and don't really want to shell out another ~$200 at the moment. Can anyone quantify the performance hit from not using DDR400 or better (like 20% worse, etc.). TIA.

EDIT: NM. Didn't see this thread until now. Answers the question nicely.