love OCZ...But a trade off?

[Kamrooz]

Well my memory has been dying out recently and I just called OCZ for an RMA. About 2-4 years ago I bought two dual channel 2x512 kits. They were priced at 450 a set and were the enthusiast memory modules at the time. 2 of my sticks have stopped working in dual channel mode and giving constant system lock ups (even in memtest) while the other two ran memtest with 33 passes and 0 fails.

Now here's the dilemma....They don't make my modules or have them in stock anymore...which are these..

http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_ddr2_pc2_4200_platinum_enhanced_bandwidth_ltd-revision_2_dual_channel-eol

Unfortunately they don't carry that model anymore so they are going to be giving me these as a replacement. My motherboard only supports 400/533 ddr2 memory..but they are giving me 667 modules...

http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_ddr2_pc2_5400_gold_gx_xtc_dual_channel

Comparing 3-2-2-8 to 4-4-4-12 is a huge slap in the face...But they told me that my motherboard will clock the 667 memmory down to 533...Also since it's being clocked down I asked if I can tighten the timings...He said I could probably tighten them to 3-3-3-8 so it's not a huge performance loss.

Overall I've never installed faster memory in a motherboard that supports lower speeds..Will this work?...They are also taking my four 512 sticks and replacing them with four 1 gb sticks as a upgrade replacement since the two memory modules would conflict. Seems like a great deal but I wanted to run it by everyone here first before I ship these suckers out tomorrow. Any insight?....Good or bad trade up?...Or should I try to call them and ask to give me closer timing ram but just two 1 gb sticks to make up for their cost?....

Overall if I can get the modules they said to 3-3-3-8 and upgrade to 4 gigs of ram it'd be nice....Only problem is this is a video editing rig...so I don't know how much the downgrade in quality ram would effect me. But the increase in actual memory space I think should help though.

But yea...Worth it or not?..Also will windows xp pro 32bit even support 4 gigs?..I know my motherboard does but I heard a few times windows xp supports only 3 gigs of 3.5 confirmation?

Mobo - Asus p5ad2 Premium
Cpu - Pentium d 540 (3.2 prescott >_<)
ATI X700 pro
2 Seagate sata 7,200 rpm 500 gig drives
2 Seagate sata 7,200 rpm 160 drives in raid 0
1 Maxtor 200 gig drive EIDE

 

[djgandy]

It'll be fine
What they said is true, you'll be able to get "lower latencies" at 533mhz.

You got a good deal 4gb of ram

 

[Mondoman]

.....so I don't know how much the downgrade in quality ram would effect me. But the increase in actual memory space I think should help though.

Yes, on balance I think you should be happy with the deal.

...?..Also will windows xp pro 32bit even support 4 gigs?..I know my motherboard does but I heard a few times windows xp supports only 3 gigs of 3.5 confirmation?

Depending on your exact hardware config, 32bit Win XP or 32bit Vista should be able to access about 3-3.5GB of the 4GB. Once you upgrade to 64-bit Vista, it'll all be accessable.
Now all you need to do is upgrade to a dual-core CPU.

 

[Kamrooz]

sweetness ^_^..I have to admit I love the OCZ warranty. Dumping down 450 per kit was worth it..lol..It gave me a damn nice overclock on my prescott cpu also even though I went back to normal clocks because I forgot to lock my pci bus and damaged some hardware...lol..

But yea...Wrapping everything up. They even said they'll send the replacement modules before my package arrives! All I have to do is give them the tracking number when I ship and they'll send out the replacement modules so I can actually have a computer to work with. overall...Great service...loving it ^_^.

Can't wait to get the ram. Now I can multitask even more ^.^...Mwhahahah..

Thanks for the info guys ^_^...But just out of curiosity...Do other companies such as corsair and crucial have the same service?..All the big top notch memory manufacturers that is.