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Paired Memory

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andy7t

Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2004
Hi,

I currently have a 512Mb PC3200 stick of RAM.

I've always been told that you should always put RAM in with the same size of memory (i.e 512 and 512, not 512 and 1024 etc).

However, i was wondering what affect doing this would have.
PC3200 512Mb +
PC3200 1024Mb Sticks

What does not having pairs of RAM do?
 
ddr is double data rate. that just means that the memory operates on both the upstroke and the downstroke of the clock. makes it twice as fast.

dual-channel is different. dual-channel stripes information back and forth between RAM sticks, kind of like raid 0. it ups your bandwidth a bit. if you're running dual-channel, you MUST have the same size in both slots. with different sizes in the slots it will run just fine, but won't get any dual-channel capabilities. it's ok though. if you aren't running an nforce4 board, then you won't have any dual-channel for that athlon 64. so putting a 1024 MB stick would be ok, albeit a waste of money.

(compare the prices for another 512MB stick to a 1024 MB stick. and 1 gig is really all you need. just get another 512 and use the money you save towards a new video card. that's more important with your current setup.)
 
1024Mb was just an example.
I was probabally going to get a 256Mb.
 
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