Interesting RAM Question

[todd2000]

So I have a simple question for ya, that im debating. Im upgrading the RAM in my Aunt's Bosses computer, and her Motherboard supports PC2100(266Mhz)/PC2700(333Mhz)/PC3200(400Mhz). Right now she has one 256MB PC2100 in there. We just bought another 512MB of PC3200, and the thought crossed my mind, which would be better? If I took out the 256MB, which is slower, and just had the 512MB of 400Mhz RAM, or Kept the 256MB, and added the 512MB, and had 768MB of 266Mhz Ram? So to sum it up which do you think is better?

768MB of 266Mhz RAM
or
512MB of 400Mhz RAM?

Would the faster RAM be worth sacrificing 256MB?

PS Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, but I wasn't really sure where to put it cause it's not really a Mac hardware question, MODS: Please move it if you think it should be elswhere.

 

[gekko513]

It's hard to say, but I think for general use most would find 768MB of slow RAM better to work on than 512MB of fast RAM.

The reason I think that is because with 768MB the computer would work more consistently, but with 512MB, the computer would be faster at times, but then the user will get slowdowns and lag more often. I think most find it more frustrating to get unpredictable slowdowns.

 

[CanadaRAM]

It depends on the motherboard, whether it merely supports 400 MHz RAM, or whether it actually can run the memory buss at 200 MHz (400 MHz DDR)

If you leave the 266 MHz in there, guaranteed it will run all the RAM at 266.

Whether 768 @ 266 is better than 512 @ 400 depends on the OS and the programs you are running. In most cases under XP, 768 Mb would be better, because 512 is about the minimum that XP can run at decent speed with. The swap file on the hard drive is WAAYY slower than the RAM, so you take a bigger hit from having to use the swap file, than you do dropping from 400 to 266 MHz.