Backwards Compatibility Issues

[MACHI]

Hi guys. My motherboard only supports 200/266MHz clocked DDR SDRAM DIMMs. I recently purchased some 333MHz DDR SDRAM DIMM because I heard from friend who I consider very knowledgeable and reliable that the RAM would be backwards compatible. I now hear that this may not be the case. Is this true or not? Should I not attempt to install this?

Also my motherboard has two RAM slots. Theoretically it supports up to 2gigs, however, Intel and Gateway only officially certify it to 1gig. Its an Intel board with an Intel 845 chipset. Should I attempt to install both, or the gig in slot 0 and THEN the other in slot 1. I've heard that these potential compatibility issues could either fry the board the ram or both... I need some serious advice here.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you guys have......

[saphalline]

Fry the mobo and RAM?? :confused: Where did you hear that? Completely wrong. You won't fry anything just because of a compatibility error. At least not with DDR RAM. The worst that will happen is it won't boot up.

DDR is supposed to be fully backwards compatible, but some chipsets and OEM system BIOS's do occassionally prevent that. Leave it to the non-conformists. :rolleyes: The best advice I can give is just to try it and see what happens. If it doesn't work, no harm done. If it does, great! :D

[MACHI]

Fry the mobo and RAM?? :confused: Where did you hear that? Completely wrong. You won't fry anything just because of a compatibility error. At least not with DDR RAM. The worst that will happen is it won't boot up.

DDR is supposed to be fully backwards compatible, but some chipsets and OEM system BIOS's do occassionally prevent that. Leave it to the non-conformists. :rolleyes: The best advice I can give is just to try it and see what happens. If it doesn't work, no harm done. If it does, great! :D

Thats what I like to hear! -- Should I try to install both? And if so, should I put the gig in the primary slot and the 256 in the latter or the other way around? - Also, should I install both at the same time or one at a time?

Thanks for the reply

[jlreich]

Just experiment to see what works or not. Like Saph said nothing will get fried, it just wont boot, or in some instances it will boot but the system will not be stable, or it will only recognize part of the ram. When it comes to ram you can try just about anything you want with the exception of trying to put SDRAM into a DDR slot or vice versa. :eek:

And don't worry if you get a load beep or something, it's just the mobo telling you it doesn't like it. The worst that can happen is it won't work.

Although chances are if the manufacturer of your system says it can only take 1GB, then that's all it will probably take (blasted OEM's crippling systems). But it's worth a try if you already have the ram.

Oh, and don't forget to ground yourself by touching an unpainted metal part of the case before touching any components. :)

[saphalline]

Mobo's with the i845 chipset were relatively variable in their RAM configs. Toss in the OEM wildcard and you could be looking at a real franken-puter! Try it all at once with the 256 in the first slot, then switch them if necessary. Try them one at a time in each slot, etc. But of course, stop experimenting when you find a combo that works. ;) If stability ends up being flaky, test the RAM with MemTest86 (www.memtest86.com) on a floppy and see if any errors pop up.

Let us know how it goes.

[rond36]

What operating system are you running?
If it is XP you should be ok.
If it is Windows 98, 98SE,or ME don't install more than 512KB because it may not boot. If it does boot it will crash with an out of memory error.

[saphalline]

You mean MB, right? ;) Hehe.

That does bring up a good point, though.