Some noob questions about a ram upgrade.

stang8118 said:

Right now i have generic PC3200 512mb ram i took out of my old HP computer. It's working fine and all, but i really want 1gig of memory. So my questions are this...

1) can i buy a duel channel ram kit with 256x2 ram and run it in duel channel with my other 512 stick in the other channel? (i have 4 ram slots in my mobo)

2) or should i just pick up another 512mb stick and just run it in single channel with my old stick of ram?

3) Just get a new set of 256x2 duel channel memory and get rid of my old 512 stick??

Any help would be great, and gimme your reasonings on why i should do what you recommend.

EDIT: I don't have the funds to upgrade to 512x2 atm, but i really wanna upgrade the memory. If i decide on the 256x2 i am just going to get a matching pair later of another set of 256x2 to up my total memory to 1gig.

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Myhre said:

1. No you can't run two 256's and one 512. The memory has to be run in pairs. I've only run two dimms at a time, but the one time I tried 3 sticks of 512, it went back to single channel. I assume that if I had, had 4 dimms of 512 then it would have run dual channel.

2. It is possible to run dual channel without matched sticks. As long as you get the same brand, and try for the same revision and part number you shouldn't have any problems. I don't personally know anyone that runs two different brands or part numbers of dimms in dual channel so I can't say whether or not you would have problems.


3. Well if you can get a mate for your 512 stick then I would do that, because most games that are starting to come out run a lot more smoothly with 1gb of ram. I personally wouldn't go down to 2x256 if I were you, and I wouldn't fill up all four banks with 256 ram either. I've always had better benches and results with just running 2x512mb dimms. I busted 5900 in Sandra with pc3200 ram....the specs are in the Orange Sig.

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nafdaos said:

whats an IC type?

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