What speed of memory can i use?

[seanm]

Have just bought a replacement mobo, had not planned to change processor or memory. BUT! didnt think to check what type of memory it supported. I have SDRAM but it only accepts DDR. My processor is an Athalon 1.2. If possible I want to keep the 1.2 for now. The mobo -AS Rock K7S8XE. Instruction manual cautions 'cpu at fsb 200mhz will not support ddr400, cpu at fsb333mhz will not support ddr200.Not sure what this infers,and I'm now totaly confused as to what type of ddr ram i should buy. Can anyone tell me what i should get, bearing in mind that I do plan to upgrade the cpu at a later date. Thanks SeanM

[sft42]

You should be looking to use the fastest fbs speed that you can and the processor is well capable of matching that....as for the actual memory to use the best bet for getting proper compatibility is to use a site like the following which use a set of menus to guide you to the best option for your motherboard.

http://www.crucial.com/uk/index.asp

http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/components/memorya
ndaccessories/

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/colin.bartlett3/

[j2buttonsw]

I guess your old AMD CPU is of the "palamino" type which had a front side bus (fsb) of 266 MHz. These have a restriction as to which type of DDR memory it could use ie the DDR200 memory. However, if you buy this slower memory if you ever upgrade your processor (to the "thoroughbred" <2700 +> or "barton" < 3200 +> CPUs which run on a 333 or 400 MHz fsb) your memory will be useless. I would be inclined to upgrade your old 1.2 CPU to a top "thouroghbred" CPU or slower "barton" (upto 3000 +) CPU which both have the 333 MHz fsb (as it suggests that the mainboard will not take the newer 400 MHz "barton" CPUs). see http://139.95.253.213/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/?S
t=58,E=0000000000128830908,K=847,Sxi=11,Case=obj(1224) for general AMD specs