PC 2100 mixed with PC 2700

[blupupher]

OK, my sister has a computer with 256 mb of PC 2700 memory. I have a 256 stick of PC 2100. I know the 2700 will only operate at the 2100 speed, but is 512 mb of pc2100 better than 256 of pc 2700?

And yes, the MB supports it.

THI

 

[Hermann]

Youi will probably never notice a difference.

 

[sxg6]

I think 512mb of ram operating at pc2100 is better than 256 @ pc2700.

 

[blupupher]

OK, that is what I thought. It's not like she uses it for gaming and such, mainly just internet, e-mail, and listening to music. I just know it gets slow with a few windows open and the resources show only 12-15 mb available.
I just wanted to double check before I messed with it.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

Advice I've heard in regards to mixing RAM speeds is to put the slower RAM chip at DIMM-0, and the faster one at DIMM-1. I remember reading something about that a few years back.

 

[unDummy]

Its OK to mix. It also depends on mobo's compatibility with various brands and memory densitys.

More memory at any 'reasonable' speed is always better. 256mb is just enough for OS and some safety programs running in the background. Extra ram, even if slower, should reduce the harddrive activity bogging down feeling.

Most computers I've work on have memory speeds that are slower since normal settings are not performance oriented.
Unless you verified the speed of the current memory, don't assume its running at 100%. And, depending on how aggressive the timings are, and the quality of the memory, some 2100 sticks might run fine at 2700.

I would want the best ram closest to the CPU or the 1st slot. Depending on bios, some will automatically set memory speed to the 1st slot. Other bios's will look at all memory and set to the slowest as default for reliability. If running DDR, I'll assume that the bios is capable of looking at all sticks before setting default memory speed.