Will "PIII Ram" work in a P IV?

Factual Questions
1

I understand that there is difference between Ram chips made for P3 and P4 PC’s. If I am not mistaken I think that they run on different bus speeds.(I am talkin SDRam here).

I have a PIV system with a 1.7GHZ processor and Intel 845 Motherboard, I currently have 256 MB SDRAM and a 80GB HDD running Win XP Pro. A friend recently gave me 2X 64 MB SDram sticks because he upgraded from his old P3 and now uses DDR ram for his new AMD.

My question is, will using those 2 64meg sticks in addition to my stick of 256megs cause any problem to my PC? Will I be able to use them together? Any known problems?

Thanks in advance.

2

Here’s what Intel has to say about memory compatibility for the 845. What you can use depends on your actual chipset (i.e. is it 845, or 845E, or …). Some of the 845 lines are listed under Performance/Mainstream Desktop Chipsets.

According to this info, the slowest memory that will work in an 845 is PC-133, and not all models of 845 will accept PC-133. If the memory you got is PC-133, it might work, check the chart. If the memory is PC-100, it won’t work.

If you want to buy an upgrade, I’d switch to DDR memory. You could eBay your PC-133 memory and get back much of your money.

3

The worst you can do is try it, and your computer won’t boot, or will boot and not recognise the RAM.

4

Thanks for all the prompt info guys. I tried using the ram but unfortunately the ram wont work in my PC and it wont go beyond the BIOS screen.

5cents I would love to use DDR ram but unfortunately my mo-bo wont support DDR and I dont think changing the entire mo-bo is an option now. And thanks for the link.