Which memory should I use?

[dundevil]

I am getting a new HP 774e with an Athlon 2600XP.

It come with 256 Meg of DDR 2100 memory.

Would DDR 2700 be a better choice?

Would DDR 2700 add speed?

Cold I add a 512 DDR 2700 stick to the 256 DDR 2100?

Dundevil

 

[Zepper]

Unfortunately a lot of name-brand machines don't allow the user to get to much of the BIOS settings (saves them tech support costs). That and sufficient other reasons are why most of us here roll our own. Memory speed is limited to that of the slowest one in the box. So if you leave the pc2100 in there, all the memory will run at that speed. So, for you, there is little sense in getting other than the same that's already in there.
. HP generally uses ASUS mobos. So if you are willing to take the chance, you could try flashing your BIOS with the ASUS one that most closely matches your mobo (the model no. printed on the mobo between the PCI sockets should get you close). Then perhaps FSB speed adjustments, clock multipliers, core voltage, CAS precharge, etc. adjustments would be available to you and faster memory might be practical, but you'd have to dump the one you already have.
. Oh, and unless you use some pretty high-end software, more than 512MB of RAM is a waste of money. When I had 96MB, virtual memory was used extensively (over 128MB worth). Since I put in a 256MB module (removed the others) and still have Cacheman (shareware) loaded, my virtual memory (disk swap space) has never been used...
.bh.

 

[Storm]

Originally posted by: dundevil
I am getting a new HP 774e with an Athlon 2600XP.

It come with 256 Meg of DDR 2100 memory.

Would DDR 2700 be a better choice?

Would DDR 2700 add speed?

Cold I add a 512 DDR 2700 stick to the 256 DDR 2100?

Dundevil

DDR ram is like your regular sdram except it makes two processes for every clock cycle. Hence the name of it DDR stands for Double Data Rate.The numbering of 2100 and 2700 denotes the speed at which the ram runs at.

DDR 2100 ram is estentially ram that is guaranteed to run at 133mhz. Since it does "double" the work its considered to be running at 266 front side bus.

DDR 2700 is ram that is guaranteed to run at 166mhz fsb. Theoretically doubling that is 333mhz. Since the ram runs at 166, it will run at 133 mhz.

Since your ram requires DDR 2100 you can use any ram that is specified to run at the same speed or faster like DDR 2700. Mixing the ram should not be a problem. Unless you plan on building a computer for the future(where the system requirements for ram could be DDR 2700 or higher) you should just get another stick of 256 DDR 2100 ram or a stick of 512.

I hope this helps heh cause its late.