Faster RAM should always down clock to match the highest speed that the board supports, in this case 667.
BUT, the faster RAM itself may not be supported by the board as it then depends on the whether it supports the chip density on the newer stick/single vs double sided and a whole host of other goodies.
So buying a new DDR2 RAM kit most likely will not work on such an old board.
It really is like playing roulette with older boards and newer memory.
BlueCat57 :
I LOVE Toms! This is exactly the question I'm dealing with right now.
Note: I found that same sort of RAM that you did that Petrossa points out is ONLY compatible with AMD boards. Most of the cheap stuff seems to be only compatible with AMD boards. It looks like the P5L-MX motherboard may only be compatible with DDR2-667 RAM. Is that correct Petrossa? I'm checking too. According to the ASUS website they are only compatible with DDR2-667. Not sure if RAM is "backward" comptible.)
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OK, I have three systems that use DDR2 800 RAM. One died so now I have 2x2GB modules that I can use. One of the remaining boards has 4 slots and can use up to 16GB.
The stuff compatible with Intel boards seems to be a lot more expensive. If I'm going to pay that much I might as well save up for a new system.
So now I have a couple of options.
1. Find someone who wants to buy 4GB of DDR2-800 RAM that is compatible with an Intel board. (wink, wink)
2. Figure out if any two of the three RAM kits I have will work together on the mobo with 4 slots. I know that you have to add them in pairs what I don't know is:
a. How closely everything needs to match. I'm guessing I can find the answer here on Toms.
b. If I can just "experiment" and see if they work together. I definitely want to find out if there is any chance of damaging components by experimenting.
Here are the three RAM kits I have:
1. OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2RPR800C44GK
• DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
• Timing 4-4-4-15
• Cas Latency 4
• Voltage 2.1V
2. CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C5C
• DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
• Timing 5-5-5-18
• Cas Latency 5
• Voltage 1.8V
3. OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2P8004GK
• DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
• Timing 5-4-4-15
• Cas Latency 5
• Voltage 2.1V
Any suggestions (offers)? If you think I've highjacked this thread let me know and I'll withdraw this post.
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