pc100 recommended..ok to use pc133?

[XRdirtHead]

This is my buddies and it came with 64mb or ram. It has two available slots for memory. I'm just looking to increase his memory for the least amount of money. I used the Crucial memory helper to find their recommendation for 128mb pc100 168-pin module at fifty bucks a piece...would it be ok to use one 256mb of pc133?
Don't want to sink too much into this POS.

 

[Cheezeit]

pc133 is fine. you can always lower the speed if you want

 

[XRdirtHead]

So would I have to lower it in the bios or would it just work....

 

[Cheezeit]

If it dosen't support 133, then it will automaticly run it at whatever its able to run it at.

or, if the other ram in the system is pc100, then it will run the pc133 at pc100

most likely, it just works

 

[sparkyclarky]

Generally yes, but there are some rogue (actually becoming increasingly more common) memory chips that don't properly scale down from PC133 to PC100. I'd give it a shot though.

 

[Bozo Galora]

Originally posted by: XRdirtHead
So would I have to lower it in the bios or would it just work....

FWIW: I personally have never had any success in upgrading memory in old PC100 systems with current manufacture PC133 or PC166. RAM is manufactured differently today with denser drams and dif SPD chips. What was double sided in old days is single sided today. The mobo may not even support 256MB sticks.
I have had to go on ebay and buy ORIGINAL years old Cisco router memory.

While it may initially appear as if your mem is in and working, by going to SiSoft Sandra mem module, it will say something like 384MB RAM installed, only 128MB working.
Or it may not boot at all.

Note I am not saying your RAM purchase wont work, I am only saying it has not worked in any case for me.

RAM is just RATED to run at a certain speed, it can run slower (or perhaps higher)
If your bios is set to CPU/FSB 100 (like 8X100), then thats what it will run at. If you set FSB at 133 then you will be overclocking CPU by 33% - which prob wont go.

 

[XRdirtHead]

Thanks,
The mobo will only handle 256mb of memory. It has two slots so I know I should go with two 128mb sticks but it would be cheaper to stick in one 256mb stick...
Maybe I should hit newegg and see what I can find there....

 

[Valkerie]

I recommend just gettin' used PC100 sticks for like 5 bucks. For the price of what PC100's are worth at retailers/vendors, that's as much as DDR RAM. And for the price you get an SD stick, you can actually get a DDR mobo with actual DDR memory. PC100's are ancient and are becoming antiques. They are one of the few peices of computer hardware that aren't dropping prices as it should be worth today - less than 5 bucks.

 

[XRdirtHead]

EBAY...here I come...

 

[ElFenix]

actually, it might not be. pc133 memory was generally higher denisity than many pc100 chipsets (such as the i810 and the BX) could handle. so it wouldn't work in the system.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I think that's a matter of single sided and double sided memory. Some computers get whacky with those. It has nothing to do with PC100 and 133. 133 will work fine. If you run into a problem it will likely be your system only reads half the ram chips and detects half the ram...

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: DLeRium
I think that's a matter of single sided and double sided memory. Some computers get whacky with those. It has nothing to do with PC100 and 133. 133 will work fine. If you run into a problem it will likely be your system only reads half the ram chips and detects half the ram...

it wasn't really single or double sided. it was density. you had single and double sided pc100 sitcks that would work fine in all i810 motherboards. when PC133 was defined as a standard, most PC133 was made with banks that were too large, individually, to be addressed by the chipset. so you could have single or double sided, but if the ram used those chips i810 and others wouldn't work with it. it isn't a PC100 and PC133 issue, as low density could be used for PC133, but it wasn't common.

here is a previous discussion on the subject

more info