How important is RAM going to be for HL2

[iamaelephant]

Matching memory doesn't make a huge difference. While he would be better off to buy two 512mb sticks, he will still notice a significant increase in performance with the 2x256mb and 1x512mb.

 

[Dead-Inside]

I am planning too on buying a new rig...So I have some questions too :
Is there a huge difference between Single and Dual channel ram? Also :
I think I'll buy 3x256 instead of 2x512 (or 1x 1024 ) Mb ram...would there be a huge difference between those 2? I am thinking of getting Kingston Hyper X btw...

Dual channel is twice the speed. Work out the rest yourself.

Matching memory doesn't make a huge difference. While he would be better off to buy two 512mb sticks, he will still notice a significant increase in performance with the 2x256mb and 1x512mb.

Indeed.