4 gig or 2 gig

[The Borg]

Please advise:

I have a AMD 939 machine. Just upgraded it to a X2 4800+ (from a 3500+). the motherboard is very good. I am planning to use it in the future as a server machine (can plug in 8 S-ATA drives!!! Maybe 2 -3 years time.

At present I have 2 x 512 DDR400 memory. Via another post I am interested in using DDR500 memory - because of the overclocking ability - less problems running it over 200MHz.

The question is: for the long term, and to get matched memory now, should I go for 2 gig (2 x 1) or fill the board with 4 gig (4 x 1)?

 

[lamere]

What kind of motherboard? I didn't know you could use anything other than DDR3200 in socket 939 mobos.
Overclocking that ram anyway you might see a 5% performance gain, not really worth the cost difference IMHO.

 

[FreedomGUNDAM]

what motherboard? Some mobo don't take well to having all their DIMM slots full

 

[savvy]

2 gig.

 

[The Borg]

The mobo is a gigabyte GA-K8NXP-9.

 

[akshayt]

2GB X 2

 

[Bill Brasky]

Originally posted by: savvy
2 gig.

I second that.

 

[The Borg]

Reasons please?

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: The Borg
Please advise:

I have a AMD 939 machine. Just upgraded it to a X2 4800+ (from a 3500+). the motherboard is very good. I am planning to use it in the future as a server machine (can plug in 8 S-ATA drives!!! Maybe 2 -3 years time.

At present I have 2 x 512 DDR400 memory. Via another post I am interested in using DDR500 memory - because of the overclocking ability - less problems running it over 200MHz.

The question is: for the long term, and to get matched memory now, should I go for 2 gig (2 x 1) or fill the board with 4 gig (4 x 1)?

When you say server, what are you talking about? A file server? A mail server?
How many users are you planning on? 5? 500? 5000?

You should really only get 4GB of memory if you really need it. Since you won't be using it as a server for a few years, I'd wait and buy the memory then, assuming you really need it.

 

[alimoalem]

2x1gb ftw

 

[Trizik]

4 filled slots = slower performance

2 x 1GB should be more than enough, but depending on what it's used for you may want to go with 2 x 2GB

 

[The Borg]

'Home server' - File server, maybe a web server with a broadband connection.

Number of users would be my crack-rack - 10 machines at the moment but probably more like 20+ in a few years.

Why will the performance be slower with all the slots filled? Is the board not designed for that?

The 2 x 512 has to go to another machine soon, so I need to get replacement memory. Want to go for the 2 x 1 gig - DDR500. Was just thinking that it may be a good idea to get the other 2 x 1 gig at the same time. But comments noted - thanks. Makes the decision more difficult...