Does any DDR RAM work (but run slow) if used in an older machine?

davejm

davejm

davejm

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We're in the process of looking to upgrade the RAM in some PC's here at work. They are currently running either PC2100 (133mhz) or PC3200 (200mhz).

I'm guessing if we order PC3200 RAM, it will work in both machines? i.e that it'll just run slow in the machines that don't support the faster RAM?
 
Cool... I was sure that was the case, I just wanted to double check as we'll be ordering a fair few.

Aye, I wouldn't be silly enough to order DDR2 for DD1 machines! :D
 
In the old days I had a rule that 1 away would be fine but 2 away was a risk. By that I mean DDR3200 instead of DDR2700 would be OK but I'd not consider DDR3200 if the system mandated DDR2100. In the majority of cases it would be fine but on some it might cause problems and it was all to do the RAM keep alive refresh rate. There was always a chance that in the slower system with higher speed RAM the system would refresh the RAM to keep the contents alive and therefore would cause problems.

These days none of the above really applies as I've had no personal problems in using high speed DDR2 RAM in systems that ask for the slowest.
 
Depending on how old the machines are and what chipsets they use, bios capabilities etc, there is no guarantee they will run the newer memory. In some cases, older machines have issues with newer memory that is made with higher density ICs than what available when the system was built. I'd suggest you check with the memory manufacturer and / or the MOBO maker before you spend your money.
 
Yellowbeard said:
Depending on how old the machines are and what chipsets they use, bios capabilities etc, there is no guarantee they will run the newer memory. In some cases, older machines have issues with newer memory that is made with higher density ICs than what available when the system was built. I'd suggest you check with the memory manufacturer and / or the MOBO maker before you spend your money.
Click to expand...

Now the above is a good point. Doesn't the G31 chipset have some sort of limitation on the total numbers of banks that can be used which limits you to both the type and size of DIMMS you can use?
 
IAmATeaf said:
Now the above is a good point. Doesn't the G31 chipset have some sort of limitation on the total numbers of banks that can be used which limits you to both the type and size of DIMMS you can use?
Click to expand...

Technically, this is true with every chipset. However, you won't always see the densitiy issues depending on how ICs progress during the lifespan of tha chipset and how well/frequently the BIOS is updated.
 
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