What kind of DDR for me?

[joedemagio]

I have a Intel 845PE Chipset based motherboard and a 2.53ghz Pentium 4 Northwood on a 533mhz FSB. Currently I have one stick of Nanya 256mb DDR SDRAM PC2700 (DDR333). My motherboard has wo RAM slots and I belive it does not support Dual-Channel unfortunately. I was wondering what speed of DDR for me-----DDR333 again? or DDR400? (DDR500 is out of my price range). What speed of RAM would have my CPU and memory running at a 1:1 ratio? Should I get two sticks or one? ( I am planning on either 512mb or 1gb depending on price).

[metallicat666]

its best to match the ram even if not using dual channel so anther stick of nanya pc2700 would be best. unless you sell the stick you already have and get 2 sticks of PC 3200 or 3500 which would be useful if oyu upgrade hte processor.
1 to 1 ration would be DDR266 with that processor. it wouldnt be a good idea to get memory that slow though as it will limit upgrading

[joedemagio]

Thanks, but just wondering, would faster RAM like PC3200 or 3500 really benefit me, or will the difference be negigible? Just trying to get the right RAM for the best price.

[Yawgm0th]

The difference should be huge with PC3200 if your board supports it. PC3500 is great for overclocking, but stick with PC3200 if your on a budget.