Intel 820 to 850 upgrade RDRAM question

[Krusher]

I have an older Dell B866r that I currently use for a web/file/game server. It has an Intel-based 820 board as far as I can tell, probably a variation of the VC820 without built-in audio. The processor is a Slot 1 P3 866.

This mobo uses the fast (for the time) but expensive PC800 ECC RDRAM (RAMBUS, RIMM, take your pick!) When I get to a computer show eventually I am thinking about swapping out the Slot 1 P3 mobo for one of the newer 850 mobos, and still want to use my PC800 RAM. PC1066 RAM had the bit width doubled, so I'm thinking that there are two different requirements for PC800 RAM now and don't want to get stuck with a mobo that I can't use. (Because new RDRAM costs more than the mobo.)

Therefore...will any Intel 850 based mobo work with the older style 40ns ECC PC800?

My upstairs computer has a 2.4B processor in it, which would be the likely "donor" so I could upgrade my 2.4 GHz Asus based PC to hyperthreading.

Thanks!

 

[Dahak]

Yes, any board with the intel 850 will work with your current rambus ram... the only catch is that it has to be installed in pairs. where as the pentium 3 boards where only single sticks. For the PC1066 you will need a different board, there was only one made in limited release that i can recall by asus. Although sis has some rdram supporting chipsets, i havent seen any retail board with it

 

[Oyeve]

Dahak is right. The asus p4t533 mobo (I think). I have one running 2 sticks of 512meg each of Samsung PC1066 RDRAM memory. Runs great but I have no real use for it. If you want to buy it let me know.

 

[Krusher]

Thanks for the info Dahak and Oyeve. My old 820 board does have two identical sticks of ECC PC800, 256MB each, so I should be all set.

Thanks for the offer Oyeve; I figure though by the time I am ready to upgrade my upstairs 2.4GHz processor upstairs, that the 850 mobo should cost around $50 and that's the only part I need. (And a new processor for the upstairs computer, but that was a given anyway.)