What does the number mean in PC2100

emkay

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I wen to ebay some RAM but there are many standard RAM modules at different rates such as PC2100 or 3200. Does it really matter which one I get and should I get a higher rate?

Here is my system specs:

Windows XP Home Edition
Dell Dimension 4600i
512MB RAM (Dual channel)
3.06 GHz Pentium 4
nVidia GeForce FX5200
 
Yes, it does matter. But your motherboard supports only some types of memory. The higher the better. For yours I think you need to get PC2700. Try going onto crucial.com/maxpcspecial. It'll scan your system and give you a list of compatible upgrades.
 
Well nobody really knows what the pc2100 or pc3200 really mean. It doesn't relate to anything dealing with the speed of the ram. I would just use the ddr-400 (pc3200) or ddr-333 (pc2700) numbers. I guess the pc numbers are just a way to differentiate the ram speeds.
 
What does PC3200 stand for?

For DDR SDRAM in the PCxxxx designation the xxxx is the memory bandwidth in MB/s i.e. PC3200 is 3200MB/s. This corresponds to a 200MHz clock (400MHz "data rate"). Since DDR SDRAM uses a 64-bit wide bus (8 bytes wide), 8 bytes * 400 MHz = 3200MB/s.
 
Atomic Rooster said:
What does PC3200 stand for?

For DDR SDRAM in the PCxxxx designation the xxxx is the memory bandwidth in MB/s i.e. PC3200 is 3200MB/s. This corresponds to a 200MHz clock (400MHz "data rate"). Since DDR SDRAM uses a 64-bit wide bus (8 bytes wide), 8 bytes * 400 MHz = 3200MB/s.
hmm...never heard that before, but I stand corrected.
 
Taken from a scan of my system running PC3200 ram.
Memory Bus Properties:
Bus Type DDR SDRAM
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 200 MHz (DDR)
Effective Clock 400 MHz
Bandwidth 3200 MB/s
 
Could always check what the ram says on it. Normally it'll hav ea sticker on the ram stick itself telling you the speed try taking the ram stick out and reading it.
 
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