A couple of RAM ?'s

[valpospe]

I have a couple related RAM ?'s and I thought I would pick the brains of people far more computer savy than myself. My current board is the ASUS P4SD-LA Stingray (HP OEM).
It's specs are:
Memory Type --- DDR SDRAM (Supports duel channel)
Memory Speed --- PC3200 (400 MHz),
--- PC2700 (333 MHz),
--- PC2100 (266 MHz)
Memory Sockets --- Four DDR DIMM (184-pin)
Single or Dual Channel --- Dual System Memory
Maximum Memory Supported --- 4GB (4 x 512MB) unbuffered

I currently have 512 DDR(256x2)/PC3200. I'm running a P4(HT) 2.6 and XP.

I just bought a 1G DDR RAM kit (512x2)/PC3200, so on to the questions:


1)I thought I read somewhere that having 4 sticks installed is actually slower than just having two large sticks, TRUE or FALSE?
2)Upon installing my new RAM (2X512mb) should I just ditch my current sticks or switch them to the 1 and 3 slots while having the new sticks being in the 0 and 2 position? (will this kill my DDR if ALL the sticks aren't pairs, or is it okay if there are two different sets of pairs?)


Thanks in advance for your time and any advice.

 

[Philippine Mango]

1. Don't go over 1GB of ram otherwise performance WILL suffer
2. Be sure its in dual channel (1 and 3 or 2 and 4)
3. you decide what you do with your ram, so in this case you might want to sell your (256X2) set.

 

[ts3433]

Performance doesn't suffer by having more than 1GB, but it does when you use 4 DIMMs. Do make sure you run in dual channel. You can probably sell your current set, because you don't really need more than 1GB.

 

[Philippine Mango]

There was a recent test I think done by anand showing that there is a 20-25% performance hit when going over 1GB of ram. You can't even utilize more than 2GB in any program because how 32bit processors and operating systems are setup.

 

[TheGreenGoblin]

Originally posted by: Philippine Mango
There was a recent test I think done by anand showing that there is a 20-25% performance hit when going over 1GB of ram. You can't even utilize more than 2GB in any program because how 32bit processors and operating systems are setup.

Would you have a link to an article with this supposed test? I find this really hard to believe.

 

[amol]

what about an athlon64? i'm thinking of getting a 1GB stick now, then maybe, in a few months, getting another 1GB stick

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: Philippine Mango
There was a recent test I think done by anand showing that there is a 20-25% performance hit when going over 1GB of ram. You can't even utilize more than 2GB in any program because how 32bit processors and operating systems are setup.

Post a link or stop spouting nonsense.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: Philippine Mango
There was a recent test I think done by anand showing that there is a 20-25% performance hit when going over 1GB of ram...

Give me a Link!!! :shocked:

 

[Blain]

>> I found some reviews benchmarking RAM amounts <<

* Firing Squad: Building the Ultimate High-End Gaming Workstation: Stage 2 (tests AMD and Intel CPU setups)
* Lost Circuits: Increased Memory Density --- Performance Hit? (tests Intel setup)

Anyone find any others like these?

 

[Cerb]

One thing to note is that they used 4x512MB for 2GB (I assume 2x512 for the A64 1.5GB is a typo). I'd like to see the same tests done w/ 2x1GB sticks, which can be had for $150 (generic) to $200 (brand).

Also, I agree with Firing Squad, and was hoping my next mobo could be a consumer type w/ registered RAM support, but only a couple early A64 boards had such support, and now none do (that I know of), and it looks like on the P4 side, the consumer chipsets also lack such support.

 

[Blain]

Me too

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: Philippine Mango
There was a recent test I think done by anand showing that there is a 20-25% performance hit when going over 1GB of ram. You can't even utilize more than 2GB in any program because how 32bit processors and operating systems are setup.

Funny, I gained a decent amount of performance gain encoding video when going form 1 gig to 1.5 gig of ram, didn't loose it. I also was using 6x256mb sticks...