Lowered RAM speed with same speed memory upgrade

[Clealiness]

I'm hoping someone knows what the deal is with my computer. In a previous post I stated that I installed 2 512MB DDR 400 sticks in my 4 slots along with the 2 1GB DDR 400 sticks that were already in there. When I powered on I got no video.

Well, I took the suggestion of someone that graciously replied to my post and re-arranged the sticks. I had the 1GB sticks on the blue slots and the 512MB sticks on the black slots. I switched them, and viola! The video worked and the computer booted up! But..... When I looked in the BIOS setup, the speed lowered from what was supposed to be PC 3200 to PC 2700... What gives? All of the sticks are PC 3200!

I tried just the 512MB sticks and it showed up as PC 3200. And the 1 GB sticks the same. Now, the 1GB sticks are CL 3 and the 512MB sticks are CL 2.5.

Is the motherboard decreasing the speed of all the RAM at accomodate the slower CL3?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Desdichado]

It's not to accomodate the lower cas latency. Some motherboards just to it. For reasons I've never understood, certain motherboards only support a certain number of sticks or a certain number of mb at 400, and after that limit is reached they downclock everything to 333.

As far as I know, there is no way around this. My solution would be to run the 2x1gb at 400, as the extra speed will probably be more beneficial than the extra memory.