New to Corsair... finding the right module

[ELB-III]

G'day to everyone. This is my first post so please be gentle. I just started looking at Corsair memory as it seems to be a top choice for gamers. After having to rebuild my system practically from the ground up (that's a whole other story in itself!), I find myself looking to get some decent upgrades and this is probably next on my list. My problem is that after looking at Corsair's and Asus' website, I can't seem to find the proper cross-reference to be sure I'm looking at the right stuff. I can get close but I'm not sure that's going to fly with my luck. For instance, Corsair's memory guide doesn't show my mobo listed. In the XMS buyer's guide, it doesn't show the chipset I have. I'd rather try and get this right the first time and having stumbled across the site and doing some digging, you guys know your stuff so I thought I'd register and ask. My system specs are as follows (please let me know if I'm missing anything as I'm a bit of a noob this deep in the weeds): Asus A7V8X-X w/KT400 chipset AMD Athlon XP 2200+ BFG nvidia GeForce 5500 FX OC w/256mb (it says this comes out of the box overclocked although I have yet to see any evidence of that... not that I know what to look for) Antec TruePower 430W power supply 2x512 mb PC2100 DDR 266 (don't laugh... part of that story I mentioned earlier and that's why I'm here) So, I'm looking to dump my 2 modules I have now and go with something hearty from Corsair. Now, I understand that I can put up to 2 modules of PC3200 memory into this mobo and, if I do so, I can't use my 3rd slot. No worries at this point. Where I get turned around is the FSB compatability with the processor and memory. I thought I remembered reading something about the 2200+ being 266 mhz but I'm not sure what that means when looking at memory. Any guidance you can provide would be sincerely appreciated. I'm a bit lost as you can probably tell. If there's any other info required to help sort this out, please let me know. Cheers! - Ed.

[RAM GUY]

Unless you plan on over clocking, I would suggest CMX1024-2700 with this MB as it a single channel chipset and you may have to run the memory at DDR333 with more than one module installed. This module is a 1.0 Gig stick and would have less loading on the chipset and would run best with your CPU. If you try to run DDR400 with the CPU you have the performance would be about that of DDR266 and you may need to set the memory at a slower speed to get the best performance. If you plan one over clocking I would suggest CMX1024-3200 or Twinx1024-3200.

[ELB-III]

Thanks for the reply, RAM GUY. You lost me a little bit so let me ask some clarifying questions. I don't plan on overclocking. With my luck, I'd cook something. Also, I had it set in my mind that I'd go with 2x512mb modules but am a little confused by what you said regarding 1 stick vs. 2. I just want to be sure I'm getting the fastest stuff possible given my existing specs, etc. So, what I think you're saying is to get the CMX1024-2700 and that this is a single stick of RAM. But then you mention running the memory at DDR333 with more than one module. That's what's got me confused. Sorry. Can you please clarify? Thanks and Cheers! - Ed.

[RAM GUY]

If the FSB of your CPU is 400 For Intel and 100 MHz for AMD, the memory speed supports only DDR 266. If the FSB of your CPU is 533 For Intel and 133 MHz for AMD, the memory speed supports DDR 266/333 If the FSB of your CPU is 800 MHz for Intel and 200 MHz for AMD, the memory speed supports DDR 333/400 So unless you plan on over clocking I would suggest you go qwith XMS2700