PC Hardware compatability question [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

Princess Tracy

2013-01-31, 01:53 PM

Hey, I'm trying to update my computer so I can actually use this old Quad Core of mine for gaming, but looking at the specs I'm not entirely sure that my motherboard is compatable. So far I've just been using the integrated graphics.

Here's my motherboard
http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=427#spec

And the desired card
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/160893902696

The card says it has PCI-3.0, while my motherboard seems to say it only has 2.0. Does this mean I'll have to get a new motherboard in order to upgrade my video card/settle for a lesser video card? Or do you think it can still run, just in a sort of 'not 100% efficient' way? Is there a fix, at all?

Grinner

2013-01-31, 03:03 PM

According to the Intel website, PCI Express 3.0 is backwards-compatible with PCI Express 2.0, so you should be able to at least use it, if not fully.

tyckspoon

2013-01-31, 03:17 PM

Video card buses are one of the areas where the interface tech is often ahead of the actual hardware; PCI-Express became popular while AGP still had some room to expand, PCI-E 2 became the standard before PCI-E 1 was fully maxed out, and PCI-E 3 is replacing 2 while most cards still don't really tap out 2. It shouldn't be a problem unless you're looking at using a really top-end card or installing 2-3 upper-mid cards.

Princess Tracy

2013-01-31, 03:34 PM

@Grinner: Sweet, thanks for the tip, I'll look into it a little more but that's cool.

@spoon: Well, does that mean you advise I get a 2.0 card instead then? I'm not much of a super-awesome-PC Gamer with 3 crossfire cards or whatever, I can just about organise numbers in Excel:smalltongue:

Erloas

2013-01-31, 03:59 PM

As stated before, PCI-E is backwards and forwards compatible, you can mix and match them freely. Pretty much any new video card is going to have PCI-E 3.0 because it really doesn't cost them much, if anything, do to 3.0 instead of 2.0 and it looks better on the spec sheets, even if there is no practical difference between them.

That is a pretty good choice for a video card series, but that particular card only has GDDR 3 instead of GDDR 5, and that chance shouldn't change the price very much. I've also never heard of that brand and I would personally never buy anything like that from Ebay. But that series of cards would probably be a good match for your system in terms of ability.

The only thing you would want to check for compatibility though is to make sure your power supply is powerful enough. I'm going to assume you're using an OEM system and they tend to use power supplies not much bigger then they have to be, and since the video card will be pulling a lot more power then the onboard video you might run into issues. The 7750 is good in terms of power, and it doesn't require an additional power cable, but I would still think you would need about a 400-450W power supply (from a reputable company, which should be the case if your computer is OEM, not so much if you bought it from a local place). And with that I would also mention that I would *never* put one of the 500W PSUs listed with that Ebay listing in a computer I had any interest in keeping long term. A cheap PSU of unknown manufacturer and absolutely no real information about it is probably the easiest and most consistent way to guarantee you'll be replacing your entire computer shortly, when it goes out and toasts everything else.

Princess Tracy

2013-01-31, 04:15 PM

Grinner

2013-01-31, 04:40 PM

Got a recommendation for good power supplies then? I don't know if I have any easy way to check my power source, but I'll upgrade it if needed I suppose. I could have sworn I saw a status screen telling me the supply once, but I don't know where to find it. My Dad MIGHT have a mulimeter I can borrow if it comes down to it. Maybe I could check the cable itself, but I'd have to unplug my PC

It should be on the PSU's casing. Either that, or look up the brand name and model number (which should also be on the PSU).

Erloas

2013-01-31, 04:45 PM

As for the 4GB of video RAM.... I thought they got away from doing that, because at that point it has more then it is going to use, the company just put that much on there because DDR3 is dirt cheap and it looks good to consumers that don't know any better. Practically speaking, for that video card 1GB of VRAM is plenty because it doesn't have enough power to run at resolutions that would require that much VRAM, even the high end cards don't generally have more then 2GB.

As for how much of a difference GDDR3 vs GDDR5 makes, its hard to say exactly, but any site that makes recommendations always says the 5 is worth the slight increase in price.

I know there are some UK people around that know more about your market specifically, and can probably recommend a better place to shop and what prices should be. Because I know what the US prices are but I know the cost there is a lot more complex then just the exchange rate.

As for the power supply, there is nothing in the OS that will tell you. The only way to find out is to take the side off your computer and look on the side. There are 2 important pieces of information, the total power (something like 300W, 400W, 500W) and then there is the Amps available on the 12V line, which should be in a nice little grid box on the side of the PSU.
As for a brand, I know some brands change names in Europe compared to the US, and there are a lot of good brands, there are also a lot of poor brands, basically too many to just list either way. As a general guideline any good power supply will make the specs easy to find because they have nothing to hide and you can tell a decent amount about it based on the specs, and a good 400-500W power supply generally can't be found for less then about $40, so those $10-20 supplies can be ruled out for being cheap (rather then inexpensive). And given the aforementioned issues with computer component prices and the exchange rate, I'm going to guess that £30-35 is probably the low end for a reasonable supply for you, but that is sort of just a guess.

tyckspoon

2013-01-31, 05:03 PM

Man, there's a lot of factors that go into video cards...

Is there that big a difference between GDDR 3 and 5? I'll look for another card then. The one I linked there was just the best that my meagre understanding could detect Probably because it boasted 4GB, which seems to be at least a little impressive. I mean, I only have 4GB of RAM, so that's gotta be fairly significant on a video card, is what i assumed... Though for all i know there's a processing bottle neck there.

DDR 5 is significantly faster than DDR3, especially lower-grade DDR3 which appears to be what's on that card. Faster memory is often a more relevant improvement on video cards than more memory, especially once you get past 2GB or so. (Quick lesson: Generally speaking, increased memory amounts allow you to more efficiently handle more stuff, while faster memory allows you to exchange new elements into play more quickly. 4GB is the kind of space you need for full-detail 1920 x 1080 8x Anti-Aliased graphics.. which would probably make your older CPU roll over and scream anyway. So chances are you wouldn't make much use of it, and would do better with a GDDR5 model carrying less memory.)

Got a recommendation for good power supplies then? I don't know if I have any easy way to check my power source, but I'll upgrade it if needed I suppose. I could have sworn I saw a status screen telling me the supply once, but I don't know where to find it. My Dad MIGHT have a mulimeter I can borrow if it comes down to it. Maybe I could check the cable itself, but I'd have to unplug my PC

Not sure on this. I know who is reliable in the US market, but product lines and manufacturers can be very different in their European lines, so those recommendations wouldn't necessarily be any good. If you do wind up having to upgrade your PSU (you might not have to- most OEM box systems I've done the math on have enough headroom to handle a 7750 easily on a ~300W PSU, assuming said unit is actually good for 300W), just remember it's very much a get what you pay for segment of the market. In US items, a suitable basic 4-500W PSU would run about US $40-50 before any sales or other promotions. If you're looking at something that is cheaper than that, research it carefully before you buy it.

Don Julio Anejo

2013-01-31, 05:18 PM

4GB is the kind of space you need for full-detail 1920 x 1080 8x Anti-Aliased graphics.. which would probably make your older CPU roll over and scream anyway. So chances are you wouldn't make much use of it, and would do better with a GDDR5 model carrying less memory.)
Actually, that won't even use 2GB, and for a card like 7750, 1GB is more than enough unless you're planning to use a 2 monitor gaming setup, but unlikely the card will handle that anyway except at low quality.

But yes, paying extra for GDDR5 is a good idea.

Also, 7750 eats about 50-60W of power, so whether you need to upgrade your PSU depends on what CPU you have running and how much stuff you're going to have attached. In general, you want to run your calculations somewhere like here (http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp) and then give yourself at least 20-30% headroom for stability. A quick calculation (using Phenom X4 with highest TDP I could find), a 7200 RPM hard drive, AMD 7750, DVD writer and 2 fans gives me 244W minimum PSU and 294 recommended.

So a good 300W PSU (with full power available on 12V rails) should barely be enough, but a bad one may cause your system to be unstable and crash.

Princess Tracy

2013-02-01, 08:33 AM

If my power supply isn't sufficient, does that just mean it won't work at maximum effectiveness or will it be an actual detriment?

I have a Quad Core, so I heard Direct X 11 should make use of that.

As per the advice I've been given, I think I'll go with this card

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130837108620

Would I be better stretching for 2GB on that or should this do fine?

Here, have a rambling essay on my potential computer gaming habits. I got a LOT of computer games in the Xmas sales, and a few of these I already had, so don't judge my gaming gluttony too hard :smallbiggrin:

Games I have but can't play yet: Mass Effect (1 and 2), Witcher 2, Spec Ops: The Line, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Arkham Asylum, Assassin's Creed II, Metro 2033, Cryostasis, Giana Sisters, Pid, Mark of the Ninja (the last few don't seem TOO high spec but aren't well optimised for my system I guess, most embarassing I know)

Games I can run just fine: Portal (1 and 2), Half Life 2, Painkiller, Oblivion, plus a lot of older games. I don't think I'm breaking the mould when I say I can play Thief II just fine

Games I can workably run (at low specs and with a bit of lag): Trine, Back to the Future

Games I'm interested in: Fallout NV, Walking Dead, DmC (though could probably more workably get that on console)

Games I feel I must own at some point: Guild Wars 2

Since I can basically play Obliion, d'ya think I could handle the Fallout Games?

factotum

2013-02-01, 10:27 AM

If my power supply isn't sufficient, does that just mean it won't work at maximum effectiveness or will it be an actual detriment?

It will mean that you won't be able to play games because your machine will either crash when you try to play one and the graphics card starts drawing max power, or, in extreme cases, the machine might not boot at all! I'd consider either of those to be detriments, certainly... :smallsmile:

Don Julio Anejo

2013-02-01, 12:52 PM

If my power supply isn't sufficient, does that just mean it won't work at maximum effectiveness or will it be an actual detriment?
A PSU is THE one component you never want to be insufficient. If there isn't enough power, absolutely everything can and will crash for no discernible reason whatsoever. The less stable (i.e. lower quality) your PSU is, the more often it's going to drop below the required power drain and cause parts to crash.

As per the advice I've been given, I think I'll go with this card

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130837108620

1 GB is fine. But if you're going to spend that and are upgrading your PSU, go for this card (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Asus-AMD-Radeon-7770-HD-1GHz-1GB-Graphics-Card-PCI-Express-3-0-HDMI-/360581768498?pt=UK_Computing_Computer_Components_G raphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item53f4592532) instead. 10 pounds cheaper and a better card to boot. Uses more power by about 20w, but use the 10 pounds, add another 15 and get yourself a better PSU.

Would I be better stretching for 2GB on that or should this do fine?

Don't. Main memory draws are large textures and antialiasing. Oblivion, you won't even be able to enable AA if you use HDR at the same time. Other than that, you won't have enough video processing power to run out of memory.

Fallout you should be able to play fine on your current setup, they're not particularly more demanding than Oblivion, but they do stutter a lot. 7750/70 should be able to play them just fine at least at medium/high settings with 2x AA, potentially better. Don't know till you try.

Erloas

2013-02-01, 01:15 PM

If my power supply isn't sufficient, does that just mean it won't work at maximum effectiveness or will it be an actual detriment?Mostly repeating what Factotum said, but it is a major issue. The best you could expect from the power supply being insufficient is random crashes, generally during high power usage. The worst would be it causing the power supply to fail catastrophically and take out other parts of your computer with it. Also, by staying in the "sweet spot" on the power supplies you get better efficiency out of them. If you run at 40% load or 90% load you loose a lot of power to inefficiency then if you stay in the 60-80% range, you also get better life out of the power supply.

I have a Quad Core, so I heard Direct X 11 should make use of that.

As per the advice I've been given, I think I'll go with this card

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130837108620

Would I be better stretching for 2GB on that or should this do fine?
It is actually how the game is written, and not the version of DX that determines how many of your cores are used. Although the newer the game (base code for the engine at least) the more likely the game is to use multiple cores better and the more likely it is to use DX11. They aren't directly linked but they are commonly together.

As for that card, 1GB is fine and that is a perfectly fine card. It is however passively cooled, which means it costs a little bit more and it is more dependent on how good your case cooling is. It shouldn't be an issue, but you could save a little bit and get a normally cooled card, such as these (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sapphire-AMD-Radeon-HD-7750-1GB-Graphics-Card-11202-00-20G-/130745677041?pt=UK_Computing_Computer_Components_G raphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item1e710cb4f1) two (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ASUS-AMD-Radeon-HD-7750-1GB-GDDR5-PCI-E-DisplayPort-DVI-I-HDMI-/150983643678?pt=UK_Computing_Computer_Components_G raphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item232753921e).

edit: just saw Don Julio Anejo's post, his video card suggestion I would recommend as well. I didn't even think to look at the 7770's because I figured they would have to be more expensive, rather then less. So yes... the UK ends up with some weird PC component pricing. /edit

Here, have a rambling essay on my potential computer gaming habits. I got a LOT of computer games in the Xmas sales, and a few of these I already had, so don't judge my gaming gluttony too hard
Short answer, your new definition of "the game runs fine" is going to change drastically with the new card. That card will easily run any game on the market. Maybe not on the highest settings, but at least with most things turned up most of the way on many games. At least if you are running 1920x1080 (aka 1080P), if you are running anything less then that, then it should run every game pretty much maxed out. I'm assuming you aren't running a multiple monitor setup or some of the high end monitors and much higher resolution (if you were then I would recommend a more powerful card, since you're currently running onboard video, I highly doubt that is the case).

tyckspoon

2013-02-01, 01:31 PM

edit: just saw Don Julio Anejo's post, his video card suggestion I would recommend as well. I didn't even think to look at the 7770's because I figured they would have to be more expensive, rather then less. So yes... the UK ends up with some weird PC component pricing. /edit

The 7750 has a premium on it as a gaming-quality card that does not draw external power. You can use it as a drop-in upgrade on many systems with 300-350W of available power, which makes it highly desirable in situations where the consumer is not capable of or does not want to change the PSU, so the most basic scheme of 'more powerful card= more money' doesn't directly apply. It's pretty easy to get greater computing muscle at a lower price; you just slap extra processors in there, give them an accordingly higher power requirement, and don't bother with the engineering optimization that lets the 7750 do what it does. Putting it under that power constraint, tho, makes for a very different cost-benefit analysis.

Don Julio Anejo

2013-02-01, 06:57 PM

AMD HD 7770 is a legit gaming card and can play anything you throw at it. 7750 is about 20-30% worse in a lot of tests/benchmarks/games, so yes, the entire point is that it's a low-power card that doesn't need a separate PSU connection and can also be passively cooled (to eliminate noise from a fan) for a home theatre PC.

7750 is a little better (+5-10%) than my old card (HD 4870), and I had no problem running Bethesda games at near max (usually I prefer highest possible textures and detail, 4xAA/8xAF but shadows at low). 7770 would let you turn them up to ultra. Doubt you'd be able to play Metro 2033 or Far Cry 3 anywhere near that though, but you'd still be able to play them just fine at something like medium and 2x AA/8x AF.

Princess Tracy

2013-02-01, 07:38 PM

Alright... So 7750 is technically inferior, but 7770 means it's more likely I'll have to upgrade my power supply.

Is this one any good for our purposes?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pulse-650W-Computer-Power-Supply-PSU-PFC-12CM-Fan-PPS-650BR-/140903967308?pt=UK_Computing_PowerSupplies_EH&hash=item20ce87ea4c&_uhb=1

Don Julio Anejo

2013-02-01, 07:55 PM

NO, DON'T BUY IT!!!11!!(one one!)

No, but seriously, that's the kind of PSU you generally don't want to get: lots of watts, very dubious build quality, chance to fry your (much more expensive) components.

Good brands are generally Corsair, Antec and XFX (maybe a few others but I'm not aware of them since we don't carry them here). Look for something with 80+ bronze certification or higher.

Something like this (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Antec-EarthWatts-EA-500-500W-PSU-Power-Supply-New-/230919463998?pt=UK_Computing_PowerSupplies_EH&hash=item35c3df643e) is much better and will likely support higher loads than the no-name 650W PoS. 500-550W is likely all you will ever need at this point if you want to keep upgrading stuff unless you're going to run two high-end video cards in SLI/CrossFire.

Princess Tracy

2013-02-01, 08:55 PM

Ah, that one looks nice... Okay, I'll try and find out in the morning what power supply I currently have and after that I'll finally place my orders I guess

Princess Tracy

2013-02-03, 04:36 PM

Don Julio Anejo

2013-02-03, 06:17 PM

Right then, one more thing to check before I order. Is there really a big enough difference between these two cards to justify such a large price difference?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/360581768498

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ASUS-1GB-AMD-Radeon-HD-7770-DirectCU-Top-Graphics-Video-Card-GDDR5-PCI-Express-/310524386014?pt=UK_Computing_Computer_Components_G raphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item484cb21ade&_uhb=1

Anyway... I think I may have remembered where we keep the multimeter so I'll try checking what the power supply unit's rating is manually if possible, and if that fails, well, I'm gonna just go the extra 10 yards and go for the 7770 card and a new PSU rather than the 7750
Short answer: get the first one. Second one is just a factory overclocked card with a good heatsink, but 7770 doesn't OC very much, so you're getting at most, 6-10% better performance. If you're willing to spend this much, get this card instead:

XFX 7850 Double D. (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1GB-XFX-Radeon-HD-7850-DD-Core-Edition-with-Ghost-Thermal-4800MHz-GDDR5-28nm-/360571063903?pt=UK_Computing_Computer_Components_G raphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item53f3b5ce5f)

If you're curious, read this review. (http://www.legitreviews.com/article/2048/1/) The cards are virtually identical, except the one I gave you a link to has a dual-fan setup which means you can overclock it quite a bit with a lot less heat.

Why do I know so much about this stuff? I upgraded my computer recently (and spent like a month reading reviews and specs cause I'm a geek like that). Went with a similar 7850. Originally considered the cheaper 1 GB XFX 7850 in the review, but decided to go with a better one (Gigabyte Windforce 2 GB 7850) because for me it was only a $20 difference. Since then, I've overclocked it around 20% compared to the stock card and that's nowhere near the maximum. Will get you about double the performance of a 7770, but you will 1) need a good power supply and 2) your CPU will likely become a major bottleneck.

So either go for the cheaper 7770, or the 2-fan 7850. If you go with the 7850, go for the one I linked as it seems to be a very good deal compared to prices on UK eBay (10-15% higher than here.. but I guess you don't pay sales tax on top).

tyckspoon

2013-02-03, 06:23 PM

Right then, one more thing to check before I order. Is there really a big enough difference between these two cards to justify such a large price difference?

More effective cooling solution and a factory-set overclock so it runs faster. Shouldn't make that much of a practical difference, definitely not a 40-pound value.

factotum

2013-02-04, 02:53 AM

Anyway... I think I may have remembered where we keep the multimeter so I'll try checking what the power supply unit's rating is manually if possible

It isn't possible to do that, no. You're trying to measure the maximum power output of the thing, and all a multimeter will give you is volts and amps--the volts should be pretty much constant and the amps will depend on what sort of load you've put on the PSU, so you would only notice anything amiss in those measurements after you've put the new card in (and even then, only when it's working hard).

You would be best off looking for the sticker on the PSU that gives you its rating--if you have to remove it to find it, do so; there's generally only four screws holding it in, and if all you're going to do is read a rating sticker, you shouldn't need to unplug anything apart from the mains lead.

Princess Tracy

2013-02-04, 08:57 AM

Okay, I finally got my act together and popped the case open.

So I have:
-4GB RAM
-Athlon II X4 635
-450W PSU (new to my knowledge)

Is 450W enough? I get the gut feeling i should go ahead and upgrade anyway in case I blow out something in my computer, ya know?

factotum

2013-02-04, 11:34 AM

Make and model of the PSU is quite important too. A decent 450W supply will probably actually give you 450W, whereas a cheapo no-name one might flag before it gets close to its rated output.

Princess Tracy

2013-02-04, 11:45 AM

Make and model of the PSU is quite important too. A decent 450W supply will probably actually give you 450W, whereas a cheapo no-name one might flag before it gets close to its rated output.

...I didn't note down the make when I busted the thing open, just the power rating. The side of my case is mostly transparent so i can see some of its specs I suppose.

It's the power supply that came built into my PC, but I've never had to push it that hard.

Alright, level with me. Are these good?

500W - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230919463998?_trksid=p5197.c0.m619

550W - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230919963745

I've decided to just go ahead an upgrade the PSU while I'm at it in case I want to add any upgrades to my system beyond this or my 450W does crap out on me. What do you think - is 450W enough (assuming it can really go that high)? Is 550W overkill? For some reason the 550 is cheaper, not sure why. Think I should go with that?

Erloas

2013-02-04, 12:30 PM

Anything in the 450-550W range would be fine, it isn't that precise at this point (once you've got a good quality supply, which Antec is).
As for the two specific supplies listed, the Earthwatts is just a higher end supply. It has a few more safety circuits, it has a 3 year warranty instead of 2 year, it has a higher efficiency rating and it is ROHS compliant (meaning it doesn't use certain chemicals in the manufacturing process).
You would be fine with either of them.

Don Julio Anejo

2013-02-04, 04:37 PM

450W PSU you have should be fine for any of the graphics cards you might want to go with (7750, 7770 or 7850), but it depends on the number of components you have, i.e. a single DVD writer is around 40 watts, so if you have two of them, that's 80 watts right there. I assumed a fairly normal configuration: 4 USB devices, DVD-RW, 2 hard drives (SSD's use barely any power) and 4 large fans. 430W is physically the largest number I got out of online calculators (off the newegg site), and most of the ones that measure peak utilization put it around 350W.

tl;dr: you're fine with the PSU you have. If you start getting random crashes for no reason, change it, that's the PSU. Otherwise, save the money.

Princess Tracy

2013-02-07, 05:21 AM

tl;dr: you're fine with the PSU you have. If you start getting random crashes for no reason, change it, that's the PSU. Otherwise, save the money.

Bit late now...

I also ordered RAM, so that'll be fun. Two different sticks of 4GB since the motherboard said it had two slots for a potential total of 8GB. ...That and I wasn't sure if the right one would work. The motherboard specifications said it was designed for 1066-licenced cards and the first one i bought was at 1666MHz, so after realising what that might mean I bought another at 1066MHz. It'll be cool if they both work.

Currently racking two chips of 2GB (total 4, of course) at a mere 333MHz, so i thought an upgrade would do me good

factotum

2013-02-07, 07:23 AM

You would actually have been better off buying two identical sticks of RAM--it's entirely possible you'll find either of the sticks you've ordered works fine on its own, but they won't work when you plug them in together. Depends how picky your motherboard is about these things, and it's why you'll often see RAM sold in pairs.

Princess Tracy

2013-02-07, 07:39 AM

it's why you'll often see RAM sold in pairs.

Ah. ...Well, don't I feel stupid. Well, we'll just see how it goes when it all arrives

I really should consult with people who know what the hell they're doing before sapping down £20 on a potentially useless computer part. i could have bought a pretty decent dinner with that money.:smallannoyed: Ah well, spilled milk and all that. On the plus side, there's no way for it to get lower specs from my tampering.

Brother Oni

2013-02-07, 07:46 AM

I also ordered RAM, so that'll be fun. Two different sticks of 4GB since the motherboard said it had two slots for a potential total of 8GB.

Just to potentially add insult to injury, you are running a 64bit Operating System?

32bit OSs can't make use of that much RAM so you may not see a performance upgrade.

Don Julio Anejo

2013-02-08, 05:17 AM

With RAM, if your sticks are identical, you can run it in dual-channel mode. That is, they're used in parallel (both fill up at the same time), meaning information can be written and accessed faster.

Since it says your memory is running at 333 MHz, it means it's 667 MHz RAM (aka PC5300) in dual-channel mode. It's also most likely DDR2. The stick you bought that's 1066? Most likely it'll work fine at 333. But! Your RAM will no longer be in dual channel. So the end result: you'll have more RAM, but it'll run slower. If you're playing games, 4 GB will be fine and it's better to have it run faster. If you're doing stuff like Photoshop that eats up a lot of RAM, it's better to have more even if it's slower.

So unfortnately, you might actually end up with lower specs if you plug in the 1066 stick. And the 1600 one will be DDR3, so it physically won't work.

Ideally you'd want either 2x4/2x8 (a set of two identical sticks of 4 or 8 GB each) to replace the ones you have, or a set of 2 DDR 667 sticks with (important!) exactly the same timings. You might see something like 2x4GB DDR2-667 (PC5300) CAS 5-5-5-15. You can look up your RAM specifications on the memory tab of CPU-Z (it's a tiny specifications lookup program you can download).

DRAM Frequency is the actual speed. You'll see 333 MHz, double it to get the speed you need to buy (in your case, 667 MHz). Then look for 4 lines that have some form of CAS or RAS in the description and clocks in the value. I.e. (from my tab): CAS# Latency (CL): 10.0 clocks. You want the 4 numbers (in my case, 10-10-10-27). These are your timings.

tl; dr: see if you can return/cancel the RAM you bought. Especially the 1600 MHz stick.

factotum

2013-02-08, 07:31 AM

Since it says your memory is running at 333 MHz, it means it's 667 MHz RAM (aka PC5300) in dual-channel mode. It's also most likely DDR2. The stick you bought that's 1066? Most likely it'll work fine at 333. But! Your RAM will no longer be in dual channel.

I'd have to disagree there. If using two dissimilar memory sticks works at all, what the motherboard will usually do is use the slowest timings between the two sticks and run them both at that speed--it certainly shouldn't affect their ability to run in dual channel mode.

Erloas

2013-02-08, 10:45 AM

I think Don Julio Anejo went a bit more technical then is necessary in this case.... Especially as the timings can be manually set and the motherboard will just match to the lowest specs of the sticks installed anyway. (it isn't possible to run them at different timings).

Can you link to the specific memory you purchased? Your motherboard takes DDR2 memory. 1066MHz can come in both DDR2 and DDR3. So it is possible both sets of memory you purchased are going to be DDR3, as DDR3 tends to be cheapest because it is much more common and in higher supply at this point in time.

Don Julio Anejo

2013-02-08, 11:03 AM

I'd have to disagree there. If using two dissimilar memory sticks works at all, what the motherboard will usually do is use the slowest timings between the two sticks and run them both at that speed--it certainly shouldn't affect their ability to run in dual channel mode.
Yes, but he's got 4 sticks as follows: 2x2GB DDR2 667, 1x4GB DDR2 1066 and 1x4GB DDR3 1600 (or at least I assume it to be.. I've never seen DDR2 sticks at 1600).

So.. I read OP's post wrong. Apparently he's only got 2 slots for RAM (or seems like it). So only two scenarios are possible: 1x2 and 1x4. In which case they're different size so no dual channel even if you set the timings manually. And 1x4 and 1x4 won't fit because the other one isn't even the same type.