4 GB of DDR2 - 2 sticks vs 4 sticks

[v3rax1tas]

I have 2gb of the OZC Crossfire PC6400 Ram and I want to upgrade to 4 GB now that I am switching to VISTA.

My question is this: Should I just buy 2 more sticks of the type of ram I already have so that I have 4Gb with 4 one GB sticks OR Should I sell the 2 gb I have and buy 2, two GB sticks of something different?

Basically, will 4 (1gb) sticks work just as well as 2 (2gb) sticks?

I plan to upgrade to an X38 motherboard soon. Right now I have an ASUS P5K Deluxe.

Thanks for any input.

 

[Cutthroat]

I went through the same dilemma a few weeks ago, I decided to go with 4 sticks because of the price. It's working just fine, I can't overclock my fsb quite as high with tight timings but that's no big deal.

 

[firewolfsm]

Your max FSB will be limited because the memory controller will be worked harder and there's a higher chance of getting a bad stick, but as long as you have a new P35 chipset and decent ram you should still be able to hit at least 400MHz.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Good MB and RAMs should be able to hit 550MHz or higher with four sticks. Maximum RAM speed may drop 10-15MHz when you run four sticks.

 

[Blazer7]

I agree with SerpentRoyal. More to this, you will be forced to use 2T with 4 sticks no matter what and this will cost you a bit. It is also harder to oc your mem with 4 sticks. The rest are up to your mem controller and mem.

I'm using Gigabyte's GA-N680SLI-DQ6 rev 1 board with 2 sets of G.Skill F2-8500PHU2-2GBHZ (4x1GB) @1066 4-3-3-5-2T@2.275V (+ OCZ XTC Cooler). Needless to say I'm more than pleased.

One thing to have in mind though is that you may run into compatibility issues with 4 sticks. Before upgrading it would be wise to have a look at your mobo's mem QVL list.

PS
This thread belongs to the System Memory and NVRAM section