Memory Question?

[Acidheadcracker]

Have just built my new rig. It's an Athlon xp 2600+ with 333mhz fsb. I'm using ddr 2700 333mhz memory. I've heard somewhere that your better of having the memory speed the same as the fsb speed i.e. both 333mhz as opposed to having the memory running at 400mhz and the fsb at 333. I suppose the reason for this is that both the fsb and the memory speed are sycronised! Is this true or am I just talking s**t?

Secondly, is it possible to have both a 333mhz ddr chip and a 400mhz ddr chip in the same pc or would they both need to be the same speed?

Thanx in advance for any advice...

 

[Acanthus]

The speeds do have to match.

Running your ram at async speeds (fsb 333, ddr400) does increase performance, but its not enough to notice. Its optimal to run the ram at the same speed as the FSB and crank the timings down as far you can.

 

[Acidheadcracker]

Cheers for that, it's kinda what I thought. How would I go about "cranking the timings down as far you can"? I presume you mean the latency timings?

 

[bradruth]

Performance actually decreases when running asynchronously, so keep them in sync. You can have a 2700 and a 3200 stick together, but they will run at 2700 (the lower speed). There are 4 different RAM timings. The usual stock setting is around 2.5-3-3-7. You may want to try running as low as 2-2-2-5 if possible. Even 2-3-3-6 would be good.