pc100 vs. pc 133 RAM

[andruxa]

I do DV capture, minimal editing and burn to SVCD...

Ok, I know I should get new system, but right now it is not feasible (until fall/winter time), so my question is:

I have 256 pc133 ram in my comp (P3-1000), should I put another stick of pc100 ram (got free from a friend) or should I leave the memory bus running at 133 and native 256 megs?

In other words: which is faster/better throughput: 256 Megs of pc133 or 384 Megs of pc100? (it will all run at 100 if I put one stick in)

[andkiich]

If I'm not mistaken one of 2 things will happen:

1) The motherboard might not support 2 different speeds of RAM and have a coniption fit.

2) The motherboard will accept the new RAM, but it will have to turn down the speed of the other RAM to 100, so you'll have more of a slower type of RAM.

[andruxa]

No, you are not mistaken, all the ram will run at lowest speed present (weakest link rule), and I did mention it (read carefully again).

My question was: is it worth increasing RAM amount by 33% by losing 25% in speed?

[bugster]

It really depends on what you are doing with your PC and if it is using all the available memory at the moment. If it is currently using all the memory, and swapping to disk a lot, the extra memory would be an advantage, speed wise. If you never run anythin that utilises all the memory, then it won't help and because of the slower memory bus may even slow things down a little.

Use the task manager to take a look at your memory useage, then you can decide if it is worth adding the extra, slow memory.

Oh, and I really think this post belongs in Off-topic as it is not really video related. Moving you there.

[gmatov]

Since you have a P3-1000, your buss frequency is already 100 mhz, so your PC 133 RAM is only being refreshed at 100 mhz now. (Effectively, it IS PC 100.)
So, if you add the PC 100, you will have, effectively, 384 megs of PC 100, whereas now you have 256 meg of PC 100.

Install it after you have used some kind of benchmark program, and run it on the 256 meg. I would recommend SiSoft Sandra, as they have a free version, minus some of the more esoteric modules. Go to www.sisoft.com
Then run the same with the additional 128. You may not see an increase, but you definitely should not see a decrease.

Remember, a slow buss frequency can charge fast RAM, but a high buss frequency cannot charge slow RAM.