Real Quick Question about RAM Speeds

[DJCrunkMix]

I just ordered OCZ RAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) along with Epox-9NPA+Ultra motherboard. Now, I just opened my package and the RAM wasnt there !! It was backordered!. So, I went ahead and cancelled that OCZ RAM.

Now, I need to buy RAM from newegg.com (believe me, I have had bad experience with zipzoomfly.com, they suck big time). Hence, the question is that can I buy DDR 500 RAM ? Will it work with my motherboard? If yes, then it is worth buying a faster RAM? How much of a difference will it make as far as gaming is concerned?

Thanks in advance, please reply asap. I want to order it by tonight.

~ DJ

 

[Decoy84]

EPoX 9NPA+ Ultra

CPU
AMD Athlon 64 for Socket 939

Nope, looks like DDR 400 is where it's at for ya. I've heard of some people having some issues with corsair ram on the Epox mobo's too so watch out for that. OCZ is great ram if you ask me. Pricegrabber OCZ ram and you should come up with some good shops. MWave.com is a good choice.

Chipset
NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra

Hypertransport bus
1 GHz

FSB frequencies
200-400 (with 1MHz increment)

Overclocking friendly functions
Adjustable Vcore, Vmem and Vchipset
Independently adjustable PCI/PCI Express bus frequencies

Memory
4 DDR DIMM slots for dual-channel DDR400 SDRAM

PCI Express slots
1 x PCI Express x16

3 x PCI Express x1

PCI expansion slots
3

USB 2.0 ports
10 (4 ? on the back panel)

IEEE1394 ports
2 (0 ? on the back panel, implemented via the VIA VT6307)

ATA-100/133
2 ATA-133 channels

Serial ATA
4 Serial ATA-300 channels (with RAID support)

IDE RAID support
RAID 0, 1, 0+1

Integrated sound
Eight-channel AC97 codec Realtek ALC850

Integrated LAN
Gigabit Ethernet (Cicada CIS8201 Gigabit Ethernet PHY)

Additional features
Integrated onboard POST-controller

BIOS
Phoenix-AwardBIOS v6.00PG

Form-factor
ATX, 305mm x 245mm

 

[Arcanedeath]

DDR 500 is overclocking memory it will work fine up to 250 mhz w/ your system but its not really necessary unless your overclocking w/ a 1:1 raito and using memory dividers w/ A64 doesn't make that large of a performance difference.
edit: so even ddr 400 ie PC3200 will work just fine

 

[DJCrunkMix]

^^ Ok, Cool Thanks... any good deals with DDR 400 RAM that you guys have in mind?

 

[JimPhelpsMI]

Hi, In general: Ram is made to a spec without speed. Then it is tested and whatever speed it exceeds a certain percentage is what it is marked. It is always, if of the same spec except for speed, downward compatible. It will run at the highest speed at or below it's rating that the MB is capable of. If matched with slower Mem it will have to run the speed of the slowest mem.

Hope this helps a BIT, Jim