2x512 or 1gb stick

[love2skate824]

well i cant afford 2gb now so should i get 2x512 sticks and run them in dual channel or get 1 1gb stick and save up for another?

 

[orangat]

Without a doubt, a 2 or 2.5ns 1Gb stick.

 

[GamerExpress]

Originally posted by: orangat
Without a doubt, a 2 or 2.5ns 1Gb stick.

Yep, especially if you are going to upgrade to 2GB in the future. You don't want to end up with 4x512 sticks in your machine.....not worth it.

Go with some Corsair Value Select, then when you get another $100 for memory buy another one, you will be set then with 2x1GB sticks or great value memory.

 

[Nocturnal]

Hands down without a doubt 1GB stick if you can afford it. Well......... if you plan to run dual channel then I guess I'd go with the 512x2 but if you can afford the 2x1GB then all the better.

 

[WobbleWobble]

If you're going socket 939, it depends how soon you will be getting your other stick. You lose out on dual channel by only getting a 1GB stick, but you don't lose that much performance. If it's within weeks, I'd go with 1x1GB. If it's going to be in a few months or longer, I'd go 2x512MB.

 

[FlyingPenguin]

If the mobo supports dual channel you'd be foolish to buy a single stick unless you plan on buying another one in the near future. You'll lose the performance benefit of dual channel. I disagree with Wobble - it's a substantial performance penalty that you'll definately notice in RAM intensive apps like Photoshop and 3D games.

On the other hand, you don't want to put two sticks of 512 in it now and then add 2 more 512 sticks later. Modern mobos are very fussy about timing and generally run more stable with 2 versus 4 sticks unless the sticks are all matched, and even then you can have hassles.

Get 2 sticks of 512 if you don't exect to upgrade to 2Gb for a year. If you think you'll be able to afford the upgrade to 2Gb in a few months then put 1Gb in it now and live with the performance hit.

The other issue is if you buy a 1Gb stick now, in 3 months that same brand and model stick may not be available. Modern dual channel mobos are very fussy about dual channel timing and you'll likely have issues unless you buy matched sticks.

My bottom line recommendation: If you're not sure when you can afford to upgrade to 2Gb then buy 2 512Mb sticks now and then when you're ready to upgrade to 2Gb, buy 2 1Gb sticks and sell your old memory. Less hassles.

Also, please don't make the mistake that dozens of others here have made (just read all the posts about RAM timing issues). Buy memory that's guaranteed to work with YOUR specific mobo. Buy from Crucial or Corsair or any other RAM vendor that has an online database that will give you the memory that's an exact match for your mobo. Don't just buy whatever good RAM is on sale at NewEgg.

Hope this helps...

 

[orangat]

Its not a substantial penalty from dual channel to single channel. Ram intensive benchmarks show a penalty of 5%.

 

[love2skate824]

thanks for quick replies, will probobly get one 1gb stick for now

 

[spiritwalker2223]

Originally posted by: orangat
Without a doubt, a 2 or 2.5ns 1Gb stick.

Too bad you don't know what your talking about, that's 2 or 2.5 cycles. Which is equivalent to ~ 5.0 to 6.2 ns.

 

[CraigRT]

1GB DIMM......