ram question

Previously Chris-John Turner <cjturner55 RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote:
 > Hi all,

 > I have decide to increase the amount of ram in my system from 512mb to
 > 1024mb. I thought I would also change the memory type. My current system
 > is:

 > AMD Xp2500+ @ 2.3ghz (XP3200+)
 > 2x256mb TwinMos (Winbond) pc3200 DDR
 > Epox 8rda+ (rev 1.1)

 > Fsb is 200x11 rock solid.

 > I've noticed that my mobo is resticted upto pc3200 DDR - are there any
 > mobo's that support higher - or - can I use above pc3200 ddr in my current
 > system?

It is not only the speed, but also the CL-time. PC266 CL2 is
about as fast as PC333 CL2.5 or PC400 CL3. With faster RAM
than the board supports, you may have to decrease CL manually
in the BIOS to get full speed. Not that there is much difference
in system performance, RAM speed is overrated.

In any case, I strongly advise you to run memtest-86 (-> google) for
several hours, preferrebly a day. If there are no problems reported,
the RAM is most likley fine, memtest-86 is very thourough.

 > Can anyone recommend decent DDR ram?
 > I've looked at buying Corsair XMS pc3700 2x512.

Personally I mostly use Infineon/Infineon or Kingston modules.
I had one Infineon module with a weak bit. Discoverd it only
after several months, but memtest-86 found it within some
minutes. Since then I run Memtest-86 on each new machine.

Arno
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