too much ram?

[RangerJoe34]

ok, i have 256 ddr kingston ram right now....is there such a thing as TOO much ram???

[xCarne_Asada]

i see no reason of going over 512 megs of ram.

[jbell]

Originally posted by RangerJoe34
ok, i have 256 ddr kingston ram right now....is there such a thing as TOO much ram???

hehehe I could twist this in a sick manner but straight up - no not really usually between 512 and 1G is a good amount

[UnseenMenace]

technically speaking depending upon the operating system there can effectively be TOO much ram, for example Windows 98 will not recognize or use more than 512 mb without modifications and as reports memory errors is this situation, and as such the answer to your question is YES but it depends upon the OS

[RangerJoe34]

well i use windows 2k pro. .....

my next question is...should i go out and buy ECC registered ram...and what is that anyway..i hear it is faster

[Slurgi]

ecc just means it corrects errors.

It should go the same speed as any other ram (assuming they are both the same speed to begin with), but it is more expensive. Maybe twice as expensive, even.

I have never heard of RAM having errors, anyway...

[dugans]

I don't remember the full details but: ecc ram is needed by most, if not all mobos, when you exceed 512mb.
Also, I believe it is slightly slower due to the overhead of error correction- which pretty much guarantees that data is correct after going through memory.

I have also heard that it is no good at all for overclocking!

As to the original question: it has been covered here a few months ago, but in my opinion 128mb is the absolute minimum for a pc, and none of mine have less than 256mb.

Win9x usually shows very little improvement between above 256 and almost none between 384 and 512mb.

NT 4.0, and Win2K both do fine with 256, and have a slow but steady decline in how much more ram helps from there.

I have gotten the impression that fewer sticks are better for ocing as well, although I haven't tested this out myself.

[trey_w]

ECC is a little slower

because it has to send an extra 2 bits

but, is great for servers especially

[RangerJoe34]

ok, next question, if i buy another 256 of ram, do i need to buy the same brand?.....and if so, im gonna just buy 512mb of corsair

[fearless]

Originally posted by RangerJoe34
ok, next question, if i buy another 256 of ram, do i need to buy the same brand?.....and if so, im gonna just buy 512mb of corsair

Personally, I would go w/ Corsair. It's good quality stuff and from what I've hear and read is o/c friendly:D

[trey_w]

as long as the RAM is the same quality and both are either nonECC or ECC it will be fine

i agree, go with the 512 of corsair

especially since prices are down

[RangerJoe34]

thanks dudes, im gonna go order myself some corsair. just to make sure, ive heard that on some DDR boards, you cant have more than one stick of RAM in at once...is this so on my board?