I'm thinking of upgrading my PC and have been advised to upgrade my memory to DDR RAM. Will changing from 640MB SDRAM PC-133 to 512MB of DDR memory make much of a difference? I'd posted my original question on the wrong board, but it's here if you have any advice on that... http://www.computing.net/windowsxp/wwwboard/forum/93308.html Thanks

You cannot install DDR RAM in your board, it simply will not fit, the chips are a totally different size.

Your motherboard, ABIT-KT7-RAID will not support DDR memory. It will only support the Athlon XP if it is version 1.3 and then only with the latest BIOS update. The 1.2 version will only support Duron and Athlon CPUs upto 1.4 Ghz. Stuart

If you're talking about upgrading, but keeping the same mobo, you can't install DDR RAM, as stated by the others. If you plan on installing a new mobo, you'll have no choice but to go with DDR RAM. I'm a big fan of KT133A based boards. As I see it, you still have some life left in the system you have now, provided it's the proper board revision (1.3)...however, it will only support of to a 2100+ Palomino or 2000+ Tbred. From my experience though, the KT133A runs better with the Athlon Tbird than the Athlon XP. http://fae.abit.com.tw/eng/faq/generic/checkcpu.htm If money's not a problem, bite the bullet, get a board based on the nForce2 400 (single channel), a 2500+ Barton, 512mb PC3200, & a decent 8x video card. If money's tight, you could upgrade to the max CPU your board can handle (depending on board revison) & overclock it, keep your PC133 RAM, & get a decent 4x video card. Your current video card is probaly the biggest bottleneck to your gaming performance right now.

Jam There are MBs out there that still use Sdram. I am not necessarily promoting that, but it is an option. The ECS K7S5A pro will accept either Sdram or DDR and will run virtually any duron/athlon 266 chip. This is a good budget board.

OtheHill, Yea, I realize there are a few boards out there that support both SDRAM & DDR RAM...& the ECS K7S5A Pro is probably the most popular (it reminds me of the old FIC 503+). It's a great board for someone on a budget or "transitioning" to DDR, but it's really not that much of an upgrade. The overclocking settings are limited unless you go with the Cheepoman BIOS. I think the max CPU supported is the 2600+, so that's a plus, but it only supports 266DDR RAM (PC2100) & 4x video.

Jam Thats true but that Abit board is old. I have first hand knowledge of that MB. There were higher than normal failure rates with it. Any older MB is at risk of failure. I just thought if richie is on a tight budget he could have a new MB with USB 2, NIC, Sound, that will accept a faster processor, for about an extra $40/45. Additionally, that particular MB has some nice boot options. Especially for USB devices. If the budget permits, I agree that a MB using DDR and 333FSB would be the way to go. I personally like the nForce2 solution.