[newbie] Kernels

[JK]

I have mandrake 6.0 venus running on my machine with the 2.2.9-27mdk kernel. I
was reading about the 2.2.13 kernels that you can get from cassini and
cooker.... Will this affect my machine in any way? 'cause I am going to use a
kernel from a newer version?

Or it  does that not matter?

Thank you in advance
JK