Upgrading to more Ram ?

[dfgasner]

I know that I need more Ram, or so my Dad says because when I turn are corner in a game and it renders a new room or scene my hard drive goes crazy and my Dad says that I don't have enough memory so it is using too much of my Swap file for Memory and my hard drive obviously can't keep up.

So my system specs are below and right now I have 4 slots on my mobo PC3200. I have the 2 x 256MB in the their right now running in Dual Channel mode and 2 open slots. I was going to just get another Dual Channel set of 2x 512 of the exact same Ram and just fill up all the slots. But then I wondered how much impact the Dual Channel has on my performance.

Should I get the 2 x 512MB and have 4 slots full running Dual Channel
Or
Should I get a 1Gb stick and have 3 slots full running all single Channel mode.

Thanks a lot for you advice
Davey

[pop pop]

Get another Dual Channel set of 2x 512 of the exact same Ram and just fill up all the slots. One gig is probably the "sweet spot" for now and I would want to maintain the dual channel capability.

[PCrasher]

Doesnt 2 different memory capacities effect the stability? i know you cant use different speeds, but i thought different sizes made some kind of bad effect, or am i worng?

[pop pop]

You bring up a good point that I forgot to mention. You would have to check the mobo manual for the exact information but with the Asus boards I've used you can mix but you have to do it right. Normally, the four DIMM slots will be two alternating colors. Let's use the Asus P5LD2 in my new Linux build as an example. The slots are alternating black and yellow in color. The first two slots are also "A1" and "A2" (one black, the next one yellow). The next two sots are "B1" and "B2" (one black, the next one yellow). For proper dual channel operation, the total size of the memory modules installed per channel must be the same. Like this: A1+A2=B1+B2. So I would need one 256MB stick and one 512MB stick per channel for my total of 1.5MB...which is what I have.

When in doubt, read the manual.

PCrasher, thanks for reminding me that I forgot something important.

[jlreich]

Yeah pop pop is right. Each "dual channel" is independent of the other. As long as the each channel has matching ram there shouldn't be any problems. The manual should have a diagram on how the ram should be installed.

[dfgasner]

Yea thanks I see that now it's just like Pop Pop's but mine is Black and Blue. I'm giong to go ahead and get the 2 x 512mb and make fill up the slots with dual channel and hope that it helps my performance.

Thanks a lot
Davey