5-5-5-15 vs. 5-5-5-18

[boohoo]

I currently have 4X1gb Gskill 800mhz ram. I've been given 2x2gb 800mhz ram from Adata.

Now the Gskill memory according to newegg is 5-5-5-15 and the Adata is 5-5-5-18

Will I gain a perf benefit or loss by going to Adata? I see the benefit that it's just a bigger single stick than 4 smaller sticks, does that mean anything?

Is it possible to use 6GB Of RAM? OR is best to just to get another 2X2gb Adata, if this is faster?

Thanks!

 

[AmberClad]

You won't notice any difference whatsoever in everyday use. Even when comparing 5-5-5-18 and 4-4-4-12 in gaming, the difference is a matter of a couple of frames per seconds at most, in the articles I've read about this subject.

Yes it's possible to use 6GB of RAM. I used to run a mixed config of 2x2GB of 5-5-5-18 and my old pair of 2x1GB 5-5-5-15, for a total of 6GB. In practice, it seemed like 4GB was enough, so I eventually sold my old 2x1GB kit.

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

There will be no difference at all.

If you are running a 32-bit OS, your OS won't even seem more then 4Gig of RAM, so it's pointless to run 6Gig unless you are running Vista-64 or XP-64 (or a 64-bit Linux/BSD system, of course)