You might want to check and see what CAS (column access strobe) latency your motherboard supports. You can check the manual or the BIOS settings. You definitely want to get decent memory. I have an AMD Athlon XP 3000+ and I got CL 3 memory and I must say that I think that the performance suffers because of it.

You might want to google CAS Latency and read a bit about it.

Of course, they way that they sell memory by harping on CAS latency is considered a farce by some, namely because it is just one of many specifications that make or break quality memory.

Looks like the memory you found on ebay there is CL3. You might head over to newegg and see what they have there.. sometimes I have found ebay auctions to be more expensive than newegg!!!

you lost me there...

simple yes or no please

What cpu and motherboard did you buy.

After two hours of research on the subject, my answer is: Yes.

Here'* why

Personally I would not reccomend memory any slower than 2.5-3-3-7. Since your system is an Athlon XP 3000+ (right?) you will be running at 166Mhz (well, DDR bus is theoretically 333Mhz since it is Double Data Rate... both rising and falling edge of the clock). Next step: we need to see what types of memory your motherboard supports and how many slots.

Well, looking around, it appears to support PC2100, PC2700, and PC3200. Someone correct me if I am wrong, here is the way that I see it. If this memory has timimg of 3-3-3 ("tras" or cycle time unknown, let'* assume no worse than 7 since Samsung is reputable), then you should be able to run 2.5-3-3-6 or so @ 166 Mhz. Fast enough in my book.

heres what i got so far....

processor
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWN%3AIT&rd=1

motherboard
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWN%3AIT&rd=1

pick me out a link for 1gb of ram to buy

ok pretty pissed right now...

now that im starting over here... should i still get this exact board?

i am looking to pay about $75

u dont have to get the exact board, but i do reccomend that you stick with gigabyte as the brand

http://cgi.ebay.com/GIGABYTE-7N400-P...QQcmdZViewItem

that seems good, very similar to what i have, but mine is just a L not a pro2

got it...

must find ram now

how am i doing so far??

so-far.gif

Not bad. Your first good step was using newegg. Ditch the thermaltake PSU though, get an Antec or Enermax. You should get one in the same price range that'* more efficient, cooler, and quieter, also more reliable.