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Should I run 3 GB or 2 GB (2 x 1GB pair + 2 x 512MB pair)

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douglasb

Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2005
Location
Texas, U.S.A.
Would I be better off with the extra GB and lose 1T command rate? I plan on putting 1.5 GB in each channel so I can keep dual channel, but I will have to resort to 2T command rate, if I'm not mistaken. What would be the best thing for me to do with 2 x 512 PC3200 and 2 x 1 GB PC3200? Both brands are Micron chips, I believe they are 5B-C.
 
I used 2X1gig for many many years (before it was popular to do so) and was pretty happy with it , till I went with 3gigs (2X1gig/2X512) with my past Opty rig . With 3gigs installed things were slightly faster (but not earth shattering) , so dont expect miracles in speeding up you "entire" system . Where 3gigs does shine , is in gaming and muti-tasks . Everything is abit smoother , faster in that respect as many newer games will use up to 1.5gbs during game play (BF2 is a prime example) . One thing I like to do is ALT-TAB out of a game (while the game is running) and maybe talk to someone on Xfire ,etc without having to close down my current running game . Ever try to ALT-TAB out of BF2 with 2GIGS ...IT TAKES FOREVER ; with 3gigs its instantaneous (no waiting at all) !!!

I guess it all comes down to WHAT or HOW you use your pc , but for me the added 1gig (3gig total) was definitly worth it to me , even at a cost of using lower mem timings . More memory is ALWAYS a good thing .Personaly from my point of view the loss of T1 to T2 is a small price to pay (maybe a 1-2% performance loss) that out wieghs the benfit of having that 3rd gig (with a possible 5-10-15% performance increase) . ;)
 
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