Motherboard and RAM compatibility

C

Coons

New Member
I'm running on a Motherboard that's about a year and a half old. Right now, i'm using 256 mbs of PC2100 RAM. A week ago, I threw 2 sticks of 256 mb PC3200 RAM. My computer ran FAST (compared to what i'm used to) for about 20 mins. My test was World of Warcraft, and it ran fine, no lag or anything. About 20 minutes in, I crashed. After the crash, the computer ran significantly slower. To see about the RAM, I checked my system information menu, and it read only 256 megs under physical memory instead of 512, what it should have been.

So what i'm getting at is, is it possible for my motherboard to support PC2100 and not PC3200? If so, why did it run while reading one of hte sticks. Just let me know what you'd do, because I'm about to buy some more RAM within the next few days. Thanks!
 
Honestly, I could probably solve this problem myself if I knew my motherboards exact specs. Is there a way I can find out the exact model name of my motherboard w/o opening up my PC? Just lemme know if you guys know of a way. thanks!
 
I'm running on a Motherboard that's about a year and a half old.
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Whats the make and model ... if you dont know, see the Mainboard Tab when running CPUz (you can get that from www.cpuid.com)

Right now, i'm using 256 mbs of PC2100 RAM. A week ago, I threw 2 sticks of 256 mb PC3200 RAM.
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Does this mea 1x256 + 2x256?

To see about the RAM, I checked my system information menu, and it read only 256 megs under physical memory instead of 512, what it should have been.
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Yeah that would definitely be a problem ... try booting the system with one stick of memory at a time ... does it boot ok for both sticks?

So what i'm getting at is, is it possible for my motherboard to support PC2100 and not PC3200?
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Boards supporting PC3200 should support PC2100 -- not the other way around (not without overclocking at least)

Maybe its running slower now beacuse one of your sticks overheated and isn;t working or something.
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1. RAM doesnt overheat until you punch like 3.0+ volts through it (and if you are doing that then your RAM is able to handle that heat)
2. RAM doesnt throttle down due to heat it generates (now it might be related to a CPU throttle but thats cuz the CPU overheats not the RAM)
 
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