upgrading memory

[cottonvibes]

ok guys, i'm going to order some new memory in a little bit.

i have two questions.

1) if i get 2x 2GB sticks, will i have any problems running XP 32 bit?
i know it won't support the extra 1GB, but will it show up as 3GB? or will it disable the extra 2GB stick completely?
and will i have any other errors/ or problems if i add the memory?


2) I already have 2x 512mb sticks of ram, if i just get 1x 2GB stick of ram and add it to my mobo, will i have to get the same brand of memory?
or does it not really matter if they're not the same brands?



i always read about people having problems with memory.. so i just want to make sure its ok b4 i buy the RAM

[refraction]

1) Correct, it should work fine and will only show as 3Gb

2) ok rewriting answer 2 now as i missread yours I wouldnt really recommend mixing and matching like that, it can be hazardous to your stability. If you are upgrading, its best to go the whole hog, unless you can get the same brand/model/pcb that you already have, which is unlikely

[cottonvibes]

Originally Posted by refraction

1) Correct, it should work fine and will only show as 3Gb

2) ok rewriting answer 2 now as i missread yours I wouldnt really recommend mixing and matching like that, it can be hazardous to your stability. If you are upgrading, its best to go the whole hog, unless you can get the same brand/model/pcb that you already have, which is unlikely

damn i was thinking i should just save some money and go with option #2, but it might cause problems like you mentioned.

now i have to think more about it...

i'm thinking now, if i do go with option #2 and i have problems, i can just take out the 1GB ram i had b4, and i still have an extra 1GB.
and i can just buy another 2GB stick the following week if i want more RAM..

hmm..

[PCXL-Fan]

you wanna get 2 of any stick instead just a single stick with double the amount of ram. That way you can enable dualchanneling.

Whether dualchanneling actually offers any performance advantages in anything other than benchmarks is something thats in the air as far as I'm aware.

[cottonvibes]

Originally Posted by PCXL-Fan

you wanna get 2 of any stick instead just a single stick with double the amount of ram. That way you can enable dualchanneling.

Whether dualchanneling actually offers any performance advantages in anything other than benchmarks is something thats in the air as far as I'm aware.

yeah i was thinking about that too.

i think i'm going to get 2x 2GB.

which brings me to my final question.

if i'm on XP which will only use 3GB of my 4GB, will i be able to Dual-channel my ram?
since the mobo does it automatically, i'm guessing i can.

[PCXL-Fan]

yes absolutely.

Even if you were running DOS with its 640k mem limit (sans extended mem) you'd still be dualchanneling your 2x2gb of mem. Only you'd have access to far less.

Dual channeling is hardware based and is not potentially software limited unlike usable memory which is limited because you are using a 32bit OS thus the OS can only address 2^32bits of memory which roughly equates to 3.5gb.

[cottonvibes]

Originally Posted by PCXL-Fan

yes absolutely.

Even if you were running DOS with its 640k mem limit (sans extended mem) you'd still be dualchanneling your 2x2gb of mem. Only you'd have access to far less.

Dual channeling is hardware based and is not potentially software limited unlike usable memory which is limited because you are using a 32bit OS thus the OS can only address 2^32bits of memory which roughly equates to 3.5gb.

ok sounds good.
i'm definitely getting the 4gb then.
just have to find a good deal now.

edit:

ok i ordered my memory,
i ended up getting some OCZ 2x 2GB memory from newegg.com
thanks guys for the help!

[Phil]

OCZ?? ive never really looked into them (exept for theyre Cryo-Z phase change unit) but i wish you luck.

[PCXL-Fan]

I got some OCZ Platinum XTC rev2 PC-6400 ram. Sounds badass eh?

its not. Only goes stable to 910mhz.

But then OCZ does have its kickass topend D9G based DDR2 memory sticks that can go to 1200mhz. Of course you pay up the yingyang for those though.

The OCZ I have you can get sometimes on sale for $20 so obviously they cannot be great.

[Phil]

I'm a die hard Corsair man. i stick with the best....but that pesky SuperTalent is catching up

[PCXL-Fan]

All the mem manufacturers have awesome topend mem sticks if your willing to pay a boatload.

[Phil]

not all are the same though....ive yet to see a kingston hyperX dethrone a dominator

[cottonvibes]

this is the 3rd time i'm buying OCZ, i've never had a problem with their memory.

PCXL-Fan,
i'm currently running on 2x 512 OCZ Platinums.
yeah they can't OC past 900 mhz, but at least they're able to OC enough so they don't limit me on my CPU OC.

the ones i just ordered, people comment that they can get to 1000mhz.
i hope i'm lucky and mine are able to do that... but i don't really mind, as long as they can hit ~835 like I currently have.

[refraction]

I had OCZ before, very good memory actually

[Phil]

Well some mobo's have trouble with them (mostly the one with an nforce chipset) on the QVL
but hey, OCZ has the price right.

[cottonvibes]

Originally Posted by Phil

Well some mobo's have trouble with them (mostly the one with an nforce chipset) on the QVL
but hey, OCZ has the price right.

i'm getting OCZ SLI memory, so these should be supported with my nForce mobo.

[runawayprisoner]

Yep. Those are kind of guaranteed. And here's a secret to buying RAM:
Get modules that are 800MHz with 4-4-4-12 timings or 667MHz with 3-3-3-9 timings. Those tend to be quite cheap, and when you relax the timing to 5-5-5-15, you can get quite amazing results... maybe up to 1000MHz 5-5-5-15. If you are extremely lucky, you can even get to 1200MHz 5-5-5-18.

[Phil]

5-5-5-15 1066 is the sweetspot. hmmm rap have you ran ram coupled? some sites says it faster. coupling means having the ram speed match the fsb speed.

[cottonvibes]

Originally Posted by runawayprisoner

Yep. Those are kind of guaranteed. And here's a secret to buying RAM:
Get modules that are 800MHz with 4-4-4-12 timings or 667MHz with 3-3-3-9 timings. Those tend to be quite cheap, and when you relax the timing to 5-5-5-15, you can get quite amazing results... maybe up to 1000MHz 5-5-5-15. If you are extremely lucky, you can even get to 1200MHz 5-5-5-18.

that was my plan.

i got 5-4-4 timings @ 800, so maybe at 5-5-5 i can make it to 1000

[runawayprisoner]

Originally Posted by Phil

5-5-5-15 1066 is the sweetspot. hmmm rap have you ran ram coupled? some sites says it faster. coupling means having the ram speed match the fsb speed.

Coupling is only possible for CPUs at stock... or for DDR3 modules. Imagine... you'll need the RAM running at 2000MHz in dual-channel for my overclock, which not so many DDR3 modules can do for a long time. Or if you mean the sync mode (1:1 one-on-one) which takes the real FSB frequency as the real RAM frequency then... yes, it's kind of more efficient than the other modes, since your NB doesn't have to work too hard to keep everything in sync. But that doesn't mean everything will be faster... or at least that's what my experience has been.

Oh yeah, and like you said, dual-channel is a bogus feature. Personally, I think it offers as much of a performance boost... as installing a native 3.0GHz CPU to a system that had an overclocked 3.0GHz CPU.