pc2700 or pc3200

[kuszmania9999]

last day i go to a computer shop, i want to buy a 1gb pc2700 RAM,but the man said they don't have it that time, so he suggest me to use pc3200 and he said it is suitable with my motherboard.
My question are, HOW ON EARTH HE KNOW THAT WITHOUT ASKING MY MOTHERBOARD?
can i trust him?
i know my motherboard use pc2700, but not sure if it can take pc3200..clues please
(i will post my motherboard info the next day because now I'm on a different computer, i don't remember it)

[contrex]

usually it's OK to use faster memory than you need. 3200 is faster than 2700. That's why the shop guy could be so sure.

memory needed: 2700 memory used: 3200 ----> OK

memory needed: 3200 memory used: 2700 ----> BAD

[nickc1976]

You should also check whether you need DDR or DDR2

[soybean]

You could visit http://www.crucial.com/ and use their Memory Advisor Tool to confirm the types of memory you can use.  I believe it will confirm what contrex said.

[kuszmania9999]

owh, now i got it.Thanks Guys!

[mx2702]

usually it's OK to use faster memory than you need. 3200 is faster than 2700. That's why the shop guy could be so sure.

memory needed: 2700 memory used: 3200 ----> OK

memory needed: 3200 memory used: 2700 ----> BAD

It really depends on what your motherboard can handle. You can use PC3200 ram sticks if your motherboard is guaranteed compatible with PC2700, as faster speeds are compatible with the slower speed as long as you have same category (DDR or DDR2).

My computer came with PC3200 ram sticks preinstalled. I inserted a PC2700 of same type and my computer is happy with it. But if you play games or do more memory intensive stuff, faster speed obviously is better.

If you have PC3200 and PC2700 rams installed, your computer will run ONLY at the PC2700 speed.