Memory RMA my ddr2 or buy new ddr3

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by james_p, 28 May 2011.

  1. james_p

    james_p What's a Dremel?

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    Hi,

    I have a fairly old pc and one of my ram sticks has just failed. The ram has a lifetime warranty so I can send it back to Crucial. However, I can't decide if I should do that and/or buy some new ddr3. My motherboard supports both types, but it is limited to 1333. I'd probably buy 2x2GB of 1600 and under clock it.

    The current ram is Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4

    Would I notice much difference? I run windows 7 x64

    Sent using Tapatalk
     
    james_p, 28 May 2011
    #1
  2. Blogins

    Blogins Panda have Guns

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    Certainly RMA to get a replacement for the faulty RAM.

    If you feel the urge to upgrade then DDR3 is the cheapest and latest thing!
     
    Blogins, 28 May 2011
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  3. mucgoo

    mucgoo Minimodder

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    mucgoo, 28 May 2011
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  4. lp rob1

    lp rob1 Modder

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    Well, if your motherboard really CAN support both RAM types, then get the DDR3 by all means! More speeeeed!

    But motherboards only have so many RAM slots. And only one chipset. Which means that even if you could brute-force the new RAM into the old slots (which do not match), then the pin layout would be all wrong, the RAM would not be recognised and even then the chipset would not support the higher frequency.

    So, to answer your question,
    Yes. You would notice a difference. Mainly the fact that it won't boot.
     
    lp rob1, 28 May 2011
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  5. lp rob1

    lp rob1 Modder

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    I've probably just made a fool of myself
     
    lp rob1, 28 May 2011
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  6. murraynt

    murraynt Modder

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    RMA the ram then sell it and buy DDR3
     
    murraynt, 28 May 2011
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  7. Bloody_Pete

    Bloody_Pete Technophile

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    AsRock makes boards that'll run DDR2/DDR3, and they're not too bad, just not amazing. They have 2 slots for each type usually.
     
    Bloody_Pete, 29 May 2011
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  8. WhiteKnight226

    WhiteKnight226 Minimodder

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    What he said
     
    WhiteKnight226, 29 May 2011
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  9. Deders

    Deders Modder

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    Probably won't notice much difference in windows itself, but in apps and games that can make use of the extra bandwidth (crysis comes to mind) you will get performance improvements.

    Also if you do go for higher rated ram, you'll most likely have room to lower the latencies giving you a more responsive system.
     
    Deders, 29 May 2011
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  10. james_p

    james_p What's a Dremel?

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    james_p, 1 Jun 2011
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