Dual Channel Dilemma

I recently purchased a MSI K7N2 motherboard and it supports Dual Channel. Having never had the chance to run in dual channel before, i was delighted at the possibilities. However, i have only 1 stick of generic PC3200 made by SpekTek (the timings provided by spektek of 5-2-2-2.5 don't work... so i leave it at motherboard default). I went to the local PC Hardware shop, and asked about what they had that would be good for a Dual Channel Setup. I was told by one of thier in house techs that since i already had 1 stick of 512Mb... that i would need only 1 more, and to set them up in dual channel at the speed of the slower stick. Is that correct?

When he told me that, i got one of those 'spidey sense' tingles that something was wrong there. Was I told right? I am holding off the purchase because I want to make sure I was told right, and because my funds are a bit low now.... (30 cents in checking!!!! OMG)...

mixing manufacturers and running in dual channel is a gamble. What they told you was half true, that 512mb would be fine to go along with your other. No guarantees that they will run together in dual channel mode though. there is a chance.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it too much. DC on the Athlon XP is not a big deal. I think it's more important to have 1gb of memory, even if it was in single channel.

If you want to upgrade to 1gig and dual channel, and since money is a factor, I would get another stick of pc3200, but not the expensive stuff since it will only run as good as your other stick.

thank you for your time! i'll keep that in mind.... but it seems the memory will have to wait.... am being given a car (a good friend of mine died in a car wreck a few months ago...and his car has sat in his driveway for 5 months now... and his grandparents, whose name is on the car, decided to give it to me... so when i get it... i'm puttin' all my money into repairs, and a killer sound system..)