putting ddr2 667 in mobo 1066/800

[Kalmah]

I've always been anal about matching up specs to my motherboard but I am currently in a little dilema.

I got some birthday money that I'm itching to spend. I'm currently running a pentium D.
I'm wanting to upgrade to a core 2 duo. They both use the same socket type of course, but my current motherboard doesn't appear to support the core 2 duo. (can I assume that this is the case since it doesn't mentioned in on the manufacturer info for the mobo?)

the motherboard is an intel d945gnt. If I can just throw a c2duo into this as temporary that would be great. I can't afford a full blown overhaul right now.

So I'm looking at motherboards. None of the ones that I'm interested in support ddr2 667 memory. The lowest I've seen was 800.

So that leaves me a couple options:

1)* buy motherboard that doesn't match my memory but put memory in anyways.. upgrade later

2) buy motherboard and cheap memory to replace my really low latency expensive ddr 667 memory

Is cheap ddr2 1066 going to be better than low latency expensive ddr2 667?

I appreciate it.

 

[yh125d]

Originally posted by: Kalmah
I've always been anal about matching up specs to my motherboard but I am currently in a little dilema.

I got some birthday money that I'm itching to spend. I'm currently running a pentium D.
I'm wanting to upgrade to a core 2 duo. They both use the same socket type of course, but my current motherboard doesn't appear to support the core 2 duo. (can I assume that this is the case since it doesn't mentioned in on the manufacturer info for the mobo?)

the motherboard is an intel d945gnt. If I can just throw a c2duo into this as temporary that would be great. I can't afford a full blown overhaul right now.

So I'm looking at motherboards. None of the ones that I'm interested in support ddr2 667 memory. The lowest I've seen was 800.

So that leaves me a couple options:

1)* buy motherboard that doesn't match my memory but put memory in anyways.. upgrade later

2) buy motherboard and cheap memory to replace my really low latency expensive ddr 667 memory

Is cheap ddr2 1066 going to be better than low latency expensive ddr2 667?

I appreciate it.

I can't think of a reason a modern intel chipset motherboard wouldnt support DDR2-667 even if it isn't listed. Just don't expect to overclock much on that ram.

Cheap high latency 1066 ram should be faster yes. 1066 with 5-5-5-15 timings has the same access times as 667 with 3-3-3-9 times

 

[Kalmah]

Great. Thanks for the info.

I just looked at getting some cheap memory and it appears that it can be within my budget.


I think I've finalized my decision. If anybody wants to take a look here are my choices.

Processor
Motherboard
Memory

I'm still running xp 32-bit so I'm sticking with 2 gigs of ram for now. This system is for gaming, unless somebody is willing to convice me otherwise to get more than 2 gigs.

I'll throw my 8600gt video card in and should be good to go.

 

[yh125d]

Spend an extra 15-20 for 4 gigs. You'll still be able to use 3-3.25 or so even with 32 bit

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820104038

 

[yh125d]

I'd also recommend getting a board with pci-e 16x 2.0 instead of 1.0. You can definitely afford to take a step down on the processor to the e5200 or e7200 so this and the ram will fit in your budget. with only an 8600gt you're overspending on CPU

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: Kalmah
Motherboard

P31/G31 chipset is hard-limited to 4GB physical memory and does not support memory remapping (same as Intel 945 Series), which means you'll get the old 32-bit limit when installing more than ~ 3GB RAM. This is a hardware limit that 64-bit OS won't solve. If you intend to use more than 3GB with 64-bit OS at some point, you'll need a different board again.

 

[Kalmah]

That's fine for now I think. I imagine I'll be upgrading my video card eventually. If the processor is allready ahead of the video card then I'll be set for a little while longer.

I didn't realize which version pci-e it had. Didn't even think about it actually. When I go 64 bit sometime down the road I'll probably swap to a better motherboard anyways. Well, since it appears that I'll have to..

As for the ram.. I can't decide. Is there really any way of testing how much ram you are using while playing a game? Yeah, I could go into the task manager and look.. but if it's paging from the hard drive because of not enough then it's not really accurate..?