Confused about the correct DIMM for this motherboard...

Greetings,

I've got an eMachine T2692 desktop with 512 megs of ram that I want to upgrade to 2 gigs - the maximum allowed. eMachine states it takes DDR 266MHz, PC2100 DIMMs. I installed two, 1-Gig PC2100 ECC DIMM sticks, but the computer gave me a number of beeps and failed to boot up.

I looked more carefully at the existing memory. It currently has two 256MB DDR PC2700 (M368L3223FTN-CB3) sticks in it. This is the ram that came when new, installed with the original Imperial GV motherboard (socket 478). I'm confused because I thought it required PC2100, not PC2700.

Did the DIMM I ordered not work because it is ECC instead of non-ECC? Will either PC2100 or PC2700 ram work?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Brian

 

I think it's because your motherboard doesn't' support ECC ram.

Would also be helpful to know which motherboard you have.

 

Hey, thanks for replying. The motherboard is an Imperial_GV 20030812. Specs say that it takes PC2100, but doesn't mention ECC or non-ECC.

Brian

 

I've done some more searching online. It looks like you're right. The motherboard won't support ECC.

Do you think I would get much more performance from PC2700 vs. PC2100?

Brian

 

I can't answer the performance question but crucial.com has a few FAQ answers about your memory and they also state that it won't support ECC. http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=T2692

 

Thanks for that link to Crucial. It didn't answer the performance question either, but I did learn that I can mix sizes. My $ are limited, so instead of buying two 512MB sticks, I can buy one 1GB stick and leave one of my 256MB sticks in with it. More memory, less money, and the ability to upgrade to 2GB later by buying just one more 1GB.

Thanks again,
Brian

 

My guess is the speed won't make a huge difference. You will see a big improvement from going to 1.25gb from 512mb. If you are just using the internet and things like Office you'll rarely be using more than 800mb of the total.

And if you are going to keep your old one in there get whatever speed is cheapest because the new stick will be clocked down to match the old stick.

 

I'm learning a lot tonight about memory and motherboards. I just ordered a single PC2700 1GB stick. My existing 256MB DIMM's are PC2700's, too. My motherboard has a FSB of 400 MHz and should be able to take advantage of the faster ram, so maybe I'll get a small performance boost.

I'm using some inventory software with an ever-growing database. I've noticed performance really slow down over time as the database has increased, and it's often requiring use of virtual memory. Hopefully 1.25 GB will do the trick.

Thanks,
Brian

 

Oh, you'll see a real big performance increase with that inventory program for sure! :cool