Anybody know which of these two memory are better?

I currently have a crappy 256mb card that's  DDR PC2700 whatever that means.</p>

Crucial reccomends either of these two, both at £64. Which would anybody reccomend because im clueless.</p>[*]Crucial Part Number: CT12864Z335 [*]Module Size: 1GB [*]Package: 184-pin DIMM [*]Feature: DDR PC2700 [*]Specs: DDR PC2700 • CL=2.5 • UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR333 • 2.5V • 128Meg x 64

or</p>[*]Crucial Part Number: CT12864Z40B [*]Module Size: 1GB [*]Package: 184-pin DIMM [*]Feature: DDR PC3200 [*]Specs: DDR PC3200 • CL=3 • UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR400 • 2.6V • 128Meg x 64

Ta</p>

 

If your system takes it then the DDR400 PC3200

 

Hmm. The top one has lower CAS (CL=2.5, not 3) latency, which makes it a bit faster.
The bottom one has higher bus speed which makes it much faster. (PC2700 runs at 333MHz, PC3200 runs at 400)

Really it depends on your system - if the highest bus speed the motherboard supports is 333MHz, then it will run the PC3200 RAM at the slower bus speed. If that is the case, the CL2.5 would be faster. If the board will support 400MHx bus speed the PC3200 RAM is better.

If you decide on that one, maybe this is of interest:
CLICK! and find
<span style="letter-spacing: -1px;" class="lb">1GB 4-Layer A-Data PC3200 DDR SDRAM retail boxed Lifetime warranty £49.29 inc VAT

<font size="3">EDIT  - meantime, system specs would help decide for the best - Model if a branded PC, Motherboard model if it's a custom build.
Processor type and speed would also be handy.
</font></span>

 

erm rightieo

I did a system scan on crucial and it came up with this. No idea if it is of any use or not</p>

<table class="boxborder" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"><tbody><tr><td class="topic_header">

</td></tr></tbody></table></p>



And here is information on the AZ30-EL (which i think is the motherboard?)</p>

<table cellspacing="0" bordercolordark="#999999" cellpadding="5" width="100%" bgcolor="#cccccc" bordercolorlight="#efefef" border="1"><tbody><tr><td class="13t_w" bgcolor="#999999">Specification</td></tr><tr><td align="left"><div align="center"><link href="../CSS/word.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><script language="JavaScript" type="text/JavaScript"></script><script language="JavaScript" src="mm_menu.js"></script><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="578" bgcolor="#cccccc" border="0"><tbody><tr><td width="587"><table bordercolor="#95cde8" height="43" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="583" bgcolor="#cccccc" border="0"><tbody><tr valign="top" align="left"><td bgcolor="#95cde8" colspan="3"><span class="11t_b">  </span><span class="11w_black">CPU</span></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td width="15"></td><td width="278"><pre class="11w_black">AMD Athlon XP 266 MHz FSB (1500+ to 2200+)AMD Athlon 200/266 MHz FSB (up to 1.4GHz)AMD Duron 200 MHz FSB (500MHz to 1.3GHz)</pre></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td bgcolor="#cccccc" colspan="2" height="10"></td></tr><tr valign="top" align="left"><td bgcolor="#95cde8" colspan="3"><span class="11t_b">  </span><span class="11w_black">CPU Socket</span></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td width="15"></td><td width="278"><pre class="11w_black">Socket A</pre></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td bgcolor="#cccccc" colspan="2" height="10"></td></tr><tr valign="top" align="left"><td bgcolor="#95cde8" colspan="3"><span class="11t_b">  </span><span class="11w_black">Chipset</span></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td width="15"></td><td width="278"><pre class="11w_black">VIA KM266/8233ACD</pre></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td bgcolor="#cccccc" colspan="2" height="10"></td></tr><tr valign="top" align="left"><td bgcolor="#95cde8" colspan="3"><span class="11t_b">  </span><span class="11w_black">Memory</span></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td width="15"></td><td width="278"><pre class="11w_black">2 DDR SDRAM DIMM Socketsmax. 2 GB memorySupports PC2100 (DDR266) / PC1600 (DDR200) DDR SDRAM</pre></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td bgcolor="#cccccc" colspan="2" height="10"></td></tr><tr valign="top" align="left"><td bgcolor="#95cde8" colspan="3"><span class="11t_b">  </span><span class="11w_black">BIOS </span></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td width="15"></td><td width="278"><pre class="11w_black">Award / 2Mbit</pre></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td bgcolor="#cccccc" colspan="2" height="10"></td></tr><tr valign="top" align="left"><td bgcolor="#95cde8" colspan="3"><span class="11t_b">  </span><span class="11w_black">Power Management</span></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td width="15"></td><td width="278"><pre class="11w_black">ACPI and OS Directed Power ManagementWake-on-Events : RTC / Modem / LAN</pre></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td bgcolor="#cccccc" colspan="2" height="10"></td></tr><tr valign="top" align="left"><td bgcolor="#95cde8" colspan="3"><span class="11t_b">  </span><span class="11w_black">Hardware Monitor</span></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td width="15"></td><td width="278"><pre class="11w_black">System, processor temperature, voltage and fan speed</pre></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td bgcolor="#cccccc" colspan="2" height="10"></td></tr><tr valign="top" align="left"><td bgcolor="#95cde8" colspan="3"><span class="11t_b">  </span><span class="11w_black">Graphics</span></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td width="15"></td><td width="278"><pre class="11w_black">Integrated ProSavage8 2D/3D/Video accelerator</pre></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td bgcolor="#cccccc" colspan="2" height="10"></td></tr><tr valign="top" align="left"><td bgcolor="#95cde8" colspan="3"><span class="11t_b">  </span><span class="11w_black">Audio</span></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td width="15"></td><td width="278"><pre class="11w_black">AC'97 Audio codec </pre></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td bgcolor="#cccccc" colspan="2" height="10"></td></tr><tr valign="top" align="left"><td bgcolor="#95cde8" colspan="3"><span class="11t_b">  </span><span class="11w_black">LAN</span></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td width="15"></td><td width="278"><pre class="11w_black">ADMtek AN983B LAN</pre></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td bgcolor="#cccccc" colspan="2" height="10"></td></tr><tr valign="top" align="left"><td bgcolor="#95cde8" colspan="3"><span class="11t_b">  </span><span class="11w_black">Super I/O</span></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td width="15"></td><td width="278"><pre class="11w_black">2 x NS16C550A-compatible UARTs1 x SPP/ECP/EPP parallel port</pre></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td bgcolor="#cccccc" colspan="2" height="10"></td></tr><tr valign="top" align="left"><td bgcolor="#95cde8" colspan="3"><span class="11t_b">  </span><span class="11w_black">IDE</span></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td width="15"></td><td width="278"><pre class="11w_black">Dual PIO mode 3/4/5/6 EIDE channels up to 4 IDE devicesUltraDMA/ 133 transfer rate up to 133 MB/s</pre></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td bgcolor="#cccccc" colspan="2" height="10"></td></tr><tr valign="top" align="left"><td bgcolor="#95cde8" colspan="3"><span class="11t_b">  </span><span class="11w_black">Rear Panel I/O Ports</span></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td width="15"></td><td width="278"><pre class="11w_black">2 x USB, 1 x DB-9, 1 x DB-15, 1 x DB-25, 1 x PS/2 Mouse,1 x PS/2 Keyboard, 1x Game/MIDI, 3 x audio jacks</pre></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td bgcolor="#cccccc" colspan="2" height="10"></td></tr><tr valign="top" align="left"><td bgcolor="#95cde8" colspan="3"><span class="11t_b">  </span><span class="11w_black">I/O Connectors</span></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td width="15"></td><td width="278"><pre class="11w_black">1 x connector for 2 additional external USB, 1 x external serial port,1 x internal audio, 1 x S/PDIF-out, 1 x IrDA, 2 x IDE, 1x Floppy,1 x ATX power, 3 x fan, 1 x WOR, 1 x WOL</pre></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td bgcolor="#cccccc" colspan="2" height="10"></td></tr><tr valign="top" align="left"><td bgcolor="#95cde8" colspan="3"><span class="11t_b">  </span><span class="11w_black">Expansion Slots</span></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td width="15"></td><td width="278"><pre class="11w_black">1 x AGP slot supports 4x / 2x AGP3 PCI slots1 CNR slot</pre></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td bgcolor="#cccccc" colspan="2" height="10"></td></tr><tr valign="top" align="left"><td bgcolor="#95cde8" colspan="3"><span class="11t_b">  </span><span class="11w_black">PCB</span></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td width="15"></td><td width="278"><pre class="11w_black">microATX, 4 layers24.4cm x 22cm9.6 inch. x 8.66 inch.</pre></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div></td></tr></tbody></table></p>



All in all a pretty crap computer lol</p>

Thanks for taking your time to offer advice. its much appreciated </p>

 

thanks for the advice

and in reply, i've no idea what it takes

 

Wow! That's pretty comprehensive

By the sounds of that, your mainboard will only support 266MHz, so even the PC2700(333MHz) RAM which is in will be being underclocked. (=run at a lower bus speed than it is capable of)

On that note, you'd get marginally more performance from the PC2700 but I'm not sure it would be noticeable.
However, if you have any plans to upgrade the motherboard and CPU at a later date, the PC3200 stuff is more future proof.