does dimm slot matter?

i've only got one 512 meg double sided ddr stick, and it's in slot 1 (closest to cpu)
i noticed that a bunch of hot air from teh heatsink on the cpu is hitting one sdie of the memory... which probably isn't optimal
if i put it into slot 3 or 4, ie further from cpu, will i notice a difference in performance/oc'ability?
i know it's hard to ask for a definitive answer since all systems are different... but just curious for people's experiences

i've searched through the forums... someone said slots 1/3 are good, 2/4 are bad... someone else said they've got one stick in slot 4 and it's great... etc

i suppose i should just go try it myself too

btw i have an abit kx7-333

thanks!

As far as I know, it doesn't matter what slot the ram is in. On old computers it used to matter, but I've seen ram all over the place in new computers without any problem.

You are right: best to try it yourself

I have seen info that talks about exactly this issue on various motherboards, although it usually concerns multiple sticks of ram not singles.

I have found that all 3 of my Epox 8KHA+ boards get a few mhz more of FSB with a single stick in slot 1 or 3 than if the ram is in slot 2. Small difference, and it only matters when overclocking, but it is a fact on my boards.

To get the absolute best performance and oc from a system takes me a long time: I try just about every combination possible of everything. And bench each one. It never seems to add up to a huge difference, but there is always some improvement when I am done.

Of course 5 mhz of extra fsb may not be worth the 20 or 30 hours it takes to get it sometimes

well how hot is the hot air? Do you feel it is hot enough to be heating the ram significintly? cos I should imagine it would have to be hot enough to be uncomfortable for your hand to be there for it to have any substantial effect on performance

thanks for hte replies guys

nin, it's definitely not uncomfortable for my hand, but it's noticeably warmer than the rest of the case temp. also, the side of the ram facing the cpu is definitley warmer than the side facing the front of the case. unfortunately, i don't have any actual numbers, just qualitative observations

also, the heat concern is not really about performance, but stability... and possibly life of the memory?
i'm wondering if swtiching slots will affect performance

on Abit AT7-Max's it is reccomended in the user manual that you fill up the ram from the 4th slot first. it dosn't really matter to me, so I just went along with it in good faith. it's suspoed to increase stability, maybe?

well for my case it DOES matter:

when i tried plugging in my Samsung ddr 333 ram into slots 1,2,3 it shows BSOD ...
Then at slot 0 , It boots perfectly fine

On the other hand , my 256 pc2100 crucial sits comfortably @ slots 1,2 and 3 ... at slot 0 , it wouldn't boot