I have a little problem with regards to fast ram with a slow mobo

[Wisgary]

I'm about to buy some RAM for an acquaintance, but he doesn't have the motherboard manual or anything, and can't figure out his motherboard model. I can't go up to his house at the moment. I know pretty much for a fact that the motherboard is DDR capable, because it's using an Athlon XP processor in the high 2,000+ses, and last time I saw I remember the RAM was set at 266 DDR. Here comes the problem, I'm not sure if this is due to cheap RAM during the initial build of the PC, or because this is the motherboard's maximum. The only RAM I have available at a reasonable price to me is 2700 (333mhz) DDR RAM, if this motherboard happens to have a maximum of 266mhz, will it still run it, just at the lower speed? Or will it fail to post and/or fail to work period?

BTW I vaguely remember a UL 400 at the top right of the BIOS boot up screen which I have no idea what it meant. And somewhere in the BIOS ID string it said VIG0826. I'm not sure if this would correspond to a Biostar M7 VIG 400, which would be convenient because it has a max of 333mhz for the RAM.

 

[jcambece]

if my IST knowledge serves me right it will work,but at a slower speed. it will max out at 266. this is a safe gaurd at it burning out,but it then again cost more for the faster ram. so if you are charging for the ram go for it if not... the better be a good friend, i would never just give up pc parts with out a trade of some sort.

Cambece

 

[Wisgary]

The places where I can buy it locally around here start at 40 bucks per stick of 512 DDR333, and I wanna buy 2 so he can get a gig, should be enough for his regular use. And yeah, he's paying for it so it wouldn't matter either way.

 

[Wisgary]

Any more opinions?

 

[fire400]

During the AXP days, DDR 2100 RAM was still seen as a worthy opponent to 2700 because 3200 was still smiling its way into the DDR atmosphere.
I would personally just get the DDR 333 sticks. Even if the previous sticks already installed onto the mobo are running at 266, the DDR333 sticks will run at 266 as well. I know with Corsair you cannot do this with the setup all the time, since they have a hard time trying to adjust themselves with older motherboards and some mobos cannot readjust the speeds. Get some generic 2700 sticks and you should be fine.
If you are series with your time and effort, there is no reason why generic 2100 sticks will not work on the mobo as well.

 

[Wisgary]

It has just two slots, so the 2100 stick currently installed will be taken completely out of the equation, it will just be the two 512MB 2700 sticks on the mobo. Hopefully the motherboard is rated at 333, so it can take advantage of the speed, but if not hopefully it'll work at 266.

 

[Raduque]

Eh, the ram'll work. It's rated for up to 333mhz DDR, which means it'll even work at 200mhz DDR.