Upgrading Rdram

[Sepquietus]

Hi,

Im planning on upgrading my ram from 384 to 768. Right now I have 2 sticks of pc800 rdram of 64mb and 128mb. But now I hear all about DDR and I wonder if thats the way to go. I was going to buy 512 of PC600 512MB RDRAM KIT Syncmax cause it only sets me back $100 (thanx pricewatch.com). But this is going down to pc600 (whatever that means). Id like to save money, but im not really interested in buying a new board cause mine works fine and I like the philosophy of if it aint broke, dont fix it.

My CPU
Dell 8100, p4 1.3g, Geforce 4 Ti4200 128mb, 384mb rdram pc800, 100gb drive,

My questions

Is Syncmax good ram?
Should I upgrade?
Is $100 for 512mb rdram too much?
Is pc600 significantly slower than 1066?

Im a college student so money is an issue, but speed is obviously one too. I want to blow away my friends, but $100 is a lot to me. I dont have tons to spend so if it costs more than 150, it does me no good. Any help for this lost soul would be much appreciated.

[Swordfish]

you can't mix memory...like PC600 and PC800 cannot co exist.

how many memory slots do you have?

you will have to get a PC800 RDRAM...remember you have to match the speeds of memory(with those that are already installed).

like if it was 384MB PC600..you could have gone with that 512MB of PC600 but not with PC800.

just check at pricewatch you may get better deals.

sorry...forgot to mention...welcome to sysopt

[Sepquietus]

the pc800 is much more expensive. Is it true that I cannot have 2 sticks of 128mb pc800 rdram and 2 sticks of pc600 rdram? And if I did this, would I be hurting my speed enough to not make it worth it?

I have 4 slots to expand into but I'm pretty sure I have to match ram. At least thats what dell says.

[Someone Stupid]

The pc600 will be slower, and you'd have to go with all pc600. Can't mix it with pc800. All the memory has to be the same speed (pc600 or 800).

Oh, check the reseller ratings before you buy anything online, you could be getting it from a place with bad service and not know it until it's too late.

[zeus21]

pc600 is not designed to work with a 400 mhz fsb youd be hurting not helping your computer

[Sepquietus]

Well, im kinda itching to speed my cpu, so would I have to buy a new board to install ddr ram? Can i install ddr? i think that if the board isnt much, that it could be cheaper than buying pc800 rdram.

[$1500-P4 gamer]

If its a 100fsb cpu you certainly CAN mix the pc600 with pc1066 or anything else. Rimm4200 is the only rdram that is dif. You just set the mem multi to 3x NOT 4x and it will ALL run at pc600 as the end result. Just like sdr guys pc100 can go back to pc66. I had the !850 Asus P4T-E mobo so I know.

[cbh]

In Singapore, RDRAM is not popular because it's too expensive so many people choose DDRRAM instead.

[zeus21]

rdram is dead now i hate it i have it intel d850gb... the same basic mobo as your asus p4 1500 just mine isnt overclockable b/c its oem intel

[Sepquietus]

I really thank everyone for their help, but I wish I could understand what you were saying. Especially $1500-P4 gamer. He seems like he told me improtant things, but i didnt understand a word. I think im a little out of my league.

LOL

Thanx anyways.

[cbh]

If you can't afford RDRAM, buy and use DDRRAM.

[zeus21]

that wont help him if his motherboard is a rdram mobo he needs rdram to match his specs

[$1500-P4 gamer]

Try to simplify it some here.
Think of pc800 as just a 800mhz chip (cause thats what they are.) Same with pc600 and pc1066. Ignore the pc part-its the mhz it runs at. Just like a cpu is rated in mhz. Now Intel is the one confusing you really. They have what is called a quad pumped bus. Which means whatever the cpu fsb is its x4. So a 100fsb P4 puts out 400mhz fsb (100mhzx4). Meaning for a 100fsb cpu to run without being slowed down by the mem performance wise it must have pc800. Hmmm how did we get to 800mhz from 400mhz fsb on cpu? Easy, folks forget rdram is ddr also. So duel data rate means works on rise and fall of signal thus making it 400mhz x2 for 800mhz mem needed. So a 100fsb Pentium 4 is matched perfect to pc800 without any bottlenecks (where it slows down). But Intel allows you to set the fsb to x3 instead of 4 for mem. Which makes it comapat with pc600. Why? Cause when Intel released the P4 pc800 wasnt stable so they HAD to use pc600 at first release. pc800 showed up RIGHT afterwords. To releave that bottleneck.

Now if P4 is 133fsb that means you SHOULD use pc1066. Thats with the 4x mem multi in bios. With 3x (slow down remember) it WILL run pc800. As the cpu fsb goes higher the last tier of rdram becomes useless to it. See what I mean. So you can always go ONE speed rdram lower than the cpu fsb needs by setting to 3x mem multi in bios. BUT its not recomended for max performance.

Sorry thats about as simple as one can make it I think.

By the way Sepquietus, your p4 1.3g is a 100fsb cpu. Im 100% sure of it. So pc600 will work though pc800 would be best. As you will have to set bios mem multi (know where that is? Look in manual or enter bios) to 3x from the 4x its at now. Making it ALL pc600 essentially. Problem is it lowers cpu performance that way. So your 1.3 will act like 1.1gig or so It does make that big of a dif. So if you can afford it pc800. If really tight on cash and mem is more important than cpu speed then go pc600. That help?

[Sepquietus]

Wow, thanx. I think I understood most of that. I guess ill wait on the upgrade cause the price is way too high. If anyone is still reading to this point, does anyone know:

How much would it set me back for a new p4 board that accepts ddr ram and I at least 512 ram?

I'm assuming I could sell my board and ram for about a third the cost, which i guess is about $100. Am i hoping for too much?

[zeus21]

im having trouble finding out if my ram is ecc or not im guessing not since ecc is more expensive and this is a compaq computer which i am modifing do u know an easy way to find out?
b/c i definatly need more ram i when running games am eating up 300 mb of pagefile and running with only 50 mb free in windows at idle states