Will an extra 512 of RAM do any good

[Roland Deschain]

Hi all,

currently I have two 512 sticks of ram, one at 2700 the other at 3200. Is there any point in buying an extra 512 (or 1GB) of ram, or should I just wait for DX10 to come out and then buy two 1GB when I upgrade my computer (new motherboard to house the new DX10 video card ).

Thanks all.

 

[bryanf445]

id say get a stick of 512 pc3200 to match your other stick. Then just run those 2 sticks in dual channel and your set for awhile

 

[giant384]

id say get a stick of 512 pc3200 to match your other stick. Then just run those 2 sticks in dual channel and your set for awhile

i would go for 2x1gb since your going to vista. also dual channel only works with a 939 or a lga775 socket

 

[Revisedsoul]

then why do i have dual channel running on my socket 7?

 

[giant384]

does it tell you you are?

 

[Cole]

If your going to go with Vista, definently upgrade to 2gigs, especially if your getting the 64bit version(Since 2gigs with 64bit = 1 gig of 32bit),

 

[halflifeguy]

agreed........get to 2 gigs if you want to be prepared for the future...

 

[psyno]

also dual channel only works with a 939 or a lga775 socket

Uh oh, better not tell Socket 478 and Socket A about that!

 

[The Hulk]

Uh oh, better not tell Socket 478 and Socket A about that!

I don't know about Intel, but do know Socket A does NOT have dual channel capabilities. With AMD, the only socket CPU that supports dual channel is 939 (not sure about the Opterons - 940) - AMD AM2 however, will support dual channel.

Hulk

 

[psyno]

I don't know about Intel, but do know Socket A does NOT have dual channel capabilities. With AMD, the only socket CPU that supports dual channel is 939 (not sure about the Opterons - 940) - AMD AM2 however, will support dual channel.

Hulk

That so? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NForce2

 

[giant384]

That so? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NForce2

hmm thats odd i have socket 754 and my ram never ran dual channel on an nforce4

 

[Asus]

hmm thats odd i have socket 754 and my ram never ran dual channel on an nforce4

Socket 754 is single channel memory so that is probably why.

 

[Dirk Pitt]

My nforce 2 board is Dual Channel socket A.

 

[dream431ca]

RAM should be cheap (depending on your ram type). Save up a little more and buy a whole gig

 

[Codcommando]

ill second that, Ram is a dime a dozen and always helps :thumbs:

 

[Asus]

Hi all,

currently I have two 512 sticks of ram, one at 2700 the other at 3200. Is there any point in buying an extra 512 (or 1GB) of ram, or should I just wait for DX10 to come out and then buy two 1GB when I upgrade my computer (new motherboard to house the new DX10 video card ).

Thanks all.

If you know it's running single channel memory than just go ahead and add another stick of memory.

What is in your machine?
pentium 4 with a board that supports dual channel memory?
Athlon XP with VIA or nforce2 chipset?
Athlon 64 socket 754/939?

If it supports dual channel memory then you will want to run them in pairs with matching sizes.

On a lot of boards, if you want to run your memory with T1 (faster) and run 3 or more sticks it could slow the memory speed down. It would run multiple sticks fine in T2 (slower) though. Thats something you would have to check with the memory controller. Athlon 64's have them onboard the CPU. You would have to know the revision of the CPU to see what the limitations would be for the AMD64.

Example, with my Athlon 64 Socket 754 (single channel memory) it says I can run memory in any 2 dimms at the full DDR400 PC3200 speed. But if i run with 3 dimms or more then it goes down to PC2700 or PC2100 with T1. My CPU is an earlier version so it has that limitation. I'm looking to upgrade my memory and for my situation it is just better if i buy two new sticks (2x 1gb PC3200) and take out my old ones (2x512 PC2700).

 

[Roland Deschain]

If you know it's running single channel memory than just go ahead and add another stick of memory.

What is in your machine?
pentium 4 with a board that supports dual channel memory?
Athlon XP with VIA or nforce2 chipset?
Athlon 64 socket 754/939?

If it supports dual channel memory then you will want to run them in pairs with matching sizes.

On a lot of boards, if you want to run your memory with T1 (faster) and run 3 or more sticks it could slow the memory speed down. It would run multiple sticks fine in T2 (slower) though. Thats something you would have to check with the memory controller. Athlon 64's have them onboard the CPU. You would have to know the revision of the CPU to see what the limitations would be for the AMD64.

Example, with my Athlon 64 Socket 754 (single channel memory) it says I can run memory in any 2 dimms at the full DDR400 PC3200 speed. But if i run with 3 dimms or more then it goes down to PC2700 or PC2100 with T1. My CPU is an earlier version so it has that limitation. I'm looking to upgrade my memory and for my situation it is just better if i buy two new sticks (2x 1gb PC3200) and take out my old ones (2x512 PC2700).

Wow, so much intricacy. Well I have a Asus P4S800 motherboard, and that's not dual channel. I guess the smartest thing to do is to get two new 1GB sticks, so when I upgrade my motherboard I can use the dual channel. Getting good 2X1GB RAM is also quite expensive, so it also depends if its worth it.

Final note: BAH, never mind, just double checked and my motherboard does not even support PC4000, so what'll happen is I'll wait until I get a good motherboard. On that note, what is a good motherboard . And no overkill, I want SERIAL ATA, 1 PCI-E stot, and so forth, just a basiclly above average gaming motherboard.