Should I mix PC3200 RAM (dual chan) with PC2700?

[MDesigner]

My motherboard has 4 DIMM slots. Right now it's got 1GB in there.. 2 x 512MB, PC2700. Nothing special about this RAM.

I just got my 2GB sticks in the mail, 2 x 1GB, PC3200, dual channel kit. Now.. would it be better to just pull out the old RAM entirely, and drop the new 1GB sticks in the dual channel slots, and have a total of 2GB? Or, is it better to leave the PC2700 sticks in, and put the PC3200 sticks in the dual channel slots, for a total of 3GB? Would there be some sort of a performance hinderance due to the mixing of RAM speeds?

Thanks for any info..

 

[mrmann14]

Well your pc3200 would be running at pc2700, so I'd probably take it out and get some $$$ for them

 

[MDesigner]

Ah, so the PC3200s would drop in speed to match the PC2700.. that's bad. That was the answer I needed.. thanks

 

[mrmann14]

Yeah it can only run as fast as your slowest memory.

 

[zagood]

Asked a similar question a few days ago, check it out.

-z

 

[Jiggz]

Originally posted by: MDesigner
Ah, so the PC3200s would drop in speed to match the PC2700.. that's bad. That was the answer I needed.. thanks

It all depends on your FSB and bios settings. If the FSB is 166, removing the PC2700 and installing the PC3200 will not make the PC3200 run any faster, unless you have option in your bios that will allow you to increase the memory speed asynchronous to the CPU. If you do not have this option in your bios, then the PC3200 will only run at PC2700. So even removing the PC2700 doesn't improve your speed. If your FSB is 200 (which I doubt since you are now running PC2700, unless you are running asynchronous) then removing the PC2700 will improve your speed.

 

[MDesigner]

My motherboard has a 1GHz FSB, according to the stats on newegg. (Soltek SL-K8TPro-939)

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: MDesigner
My motherboard has a 1GHz FSB, according to the stats on newegg. (Soltek SL-K8TPro-939)

he was talking about your BIOS, not your mobo