Memory

**investigater** · 12-07-07, 12:36 PM

I have recently upgraded my pc and have a question about the ram. I have duel channel board with 4 slots. I have 2, 1gig sticks at 400mhz and was looking to fill the other 2 slots with 2, 1gig sticks of 800mhz. Will this improve the performance or will they only work as fast as the 400mhz sticks that i have?

my specs are:

CPU: intel duel core 3.0Ghz
Video Card: invidia 8600 512 MB ddr3
Ram: 2048 MB (2 x Ballistics 1024 DDR2-SDRAM @ 400Mhz )
Mainboard: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
Product number: P31-DS3L
Chipset: NorthBridge : Intel P31/P35
SouthBridge : 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC

**SapiensErus** · 12-07-07, 12:44 PM

Originally Posted by investigater

I have recently upgraded my pc and have a question about the ram. I have duel channel board with 4 slots. I have 2, 1gig sticks at 400mhz and was looking to fill the other 2 slots with 2, 1gig sticks of 800mhz. Will this improve the performance or will they only work as fast as the 400mhz sticks that i have?

my specs are:

CPU: intel duel core 3.0Ghz
Video Card: invidia 8600 512 MB ddr3
Ram: 2048 MB (2 x Ballistics 1024 DDR2-SDRAM @ 400Mhz )
Mainboard: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
Product number: P31-DS3L
Chipset: NorthBridge : Intel P31/P35
SouthBridge : 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC

Yes it will work, and still behave as dual channel memory, in most cases. However, BOTH sets will be running at the reduced speeds and latencies. So it will be like having 4 giigs of DDR2 400. And it will work if and only if the lower settings as far as latencies and timings it must default to are compatible with the 800 sticks (which is usually the case).

**investigater** · 12-07-07, 01:49 PM

I also have another question. Tho old MOBO that i have with 2 gigs and radeon video card i want to upgrade another persons pc. That person does not have a sata hard drive but the sripe one if that makes sense. The mobo has the sata and also has a plug in for the cd drives, but it also has an extra one that resembles that same socket. Can a hard drive be plugged into that socket and still work or will the hard drive have to be upgraded as well?

It has 2 of the same sockets that i use one for the cd drives, can the other one have a hard drive connected to it till they get a new hard drive is what im asking. I know about the floppy drive socket as well. Thanks in advance.

**Mcstrange** · 12-07-07, 01:55 PM

You mean an IDE drive? the one with the big ribbon cable?

Yes that is the same sort of cable CDroms use to use, not the smaller A-Drive slot, but if you are talking IDE then it should plug in and work.

Just be careful and line up the pins as there is one missing and you dont want to bend them.

**investigater** · 12-07-07, 02:21 PM

So whats the deal with CL? The higher the better or lower the better? DIMM memory? Buffer or un-buffered? Going to buy some new ram, at least 2 sticks of 1 gig ram at 800Mhz, but there are CL's that i am getting involved with and buffered or un-buffered...

**Mcstrange** · 12-07-07, 02:29 PM

fucking talk about complicated mumbo jumbo that ends up meaning about jack and shit to an end user...

CL is CAS LATENCY. Its a value that effects memory benchmarks in the 1-2% range if that... The lower the better, but you should shoot for 'same as' old rams CL... You can look into the bios to see what it is running at.

And unbuffered is where its at.

**investigater** · 12-07-07, 02:30 PM

Your the man Mcstrange.

**SapiensErus** · 12-07-07, 02:34 PM

CL = CAS Latency. Lower is better thats enough to know.

Only worry about getting unbuffered memory.

EDIT: McStrange beats me to it again!

**investigater** · 12-07-07, 02:39 PM

Thanks SoySoldier. Been lots of help. I know a bit about computers now that i've had to build my own but want to make sure i spend my money wisely on good shtuff and that what i buy will push what i have to the max performance level.