I checked various sites and they all say the RAM I have to buy is PC3200, but when I open up my computer the little tag on the existing RAM say PC2700. So which is it? What would happen if I use the wrong one? And is there a way to see what my PSU outtage is w/o having to open it up? It's a store bought computer.
You can use the pc3200 ram in your computer,it is backward compatable with what you are using now and will run at that speed so go for it.As for the psu try a google search for the make/model or unplug it and take a look the wattage is usually printed on the tag. Good Luck
if can't find the psu info off the net than have to look on 1 of the psu sides were there is a lable stating wattage & amperage for each voltage as in +5v, +12v & whatever.
My friend had this problem. I was wondering, would it work the other way around? So WhoFriend looked at sites and they tell him PC3200, but what if they told him PC2700 and on the computer was a PC3200. So my question is, is it forward compatible as well as backward?
actually it is, however, the RAM will be the "bottleneck" in terms of system performance, if the mobo used only supports MAXIMUM of pc2700, the pc3200 will be "tuned down" to pc2700 speeds~ the reason i KNOW this to be true is my old system had this particular configuration, the mobo only supported pc2700 as it's MAXIMUM speed for ddr memory, i only had pc3200 sticks available, yes, they DID work, but swapping the sticks out onto a newer mobo that allowed faster timings proved to be much faster~ docTY~
