A SUPER DUPER question about ram, really good question

[aalizard]

Alright here's the super duper question: Would it make a performance difference if you used 2 sticks of 256 mb DDR instead of just a single 512MB stick? That's the question. I'm gonna buy my comp soon and I want to get the two sticks of 256 because it would be cheaper (saves me $55 CDN). I don't know if there's a performance decrease thouhgh and I won't be upgrading my RAM ever, especially with 512!!!

If you read this and think you know plz reply to this message.

 

[Ben50]

Here's my super duper answer. There is no performance difference between the two. If you aren't going to upgrade, save the money and go with the two sticks.

 

[aalizard]

Are you saying none at ALL!!!! Not even a nano second!!!???

 

[Mavrick007]

If you aren't going to overclock to high speeds you shouldn't have any problems with running two sticks. Just make sure that they are quality sticks of ram cause the "cheaper" sticks generally are cheap for a reason.

 

[RSMemphis]

The memory bus is tailored to have a bandwidth that one memory module can match, so no, no nanoseconds for you.

Advantage of 2 module
If one breaks, you can play while you wait for a replacement

Advantage of 1 module
You can upgrade more.

 

[aalizard]

Well buy the time I'll want to upgrade my RAM, DDR will probably outdated and so will my computer, so now I won't be upgrading my RAM. Also, I don't overclock and both pieces of RAM are from Micron and are CAS 2.5 PC 2100 DDR. So stick with the 2 sticks right? Is this what you would do if you were in my position?

 

[Mavrick007]

Sure, that sounds like a plan. I would stick with the two sticks you have. They should be fine for what you're doing.

 

[aalizard]

Does having 2 sticks increase the chances of stability problems???

 

[AmdEmAll]

2 sticks are a safer then having 1 512 stick. If the 1 512 stick dies, your screwed. Get the 2 sticks! and no it doesnt have any more stability problems then with a single stick.

 

[CZroe]

But isn't the nForce's Dual-Channel DDR bus ONLY with 2 sticks of DDR (Like Intel's Dual-Channel Rambus requirement)?
You guys must forget stuff easily or I'm just retarded and wrong...

 

[CZroe]

Of course, the extra bandwidth it primarily gobbled up by the SMA GeForce2 MX core but the Athlon doesn't use all that anyway.

 

[aalizard]

I will be getting a Gigabyte GA-8IRXP mobo. So what should I do anyone else??? The two sticks of 256 are cheaper...

 

[elekid]

i say wait for the ASUS P4B533-V and dump the GigaByte, should be out anyday now!

 

[pillage2001]

Go with a Corsair PC2700 512Mb if you can afford it.

 

[Maggotry]

aalizard, did your brother tell you 1 stick of 512M was faster than 2 sticks of 256M?

 

[Ben50]

Originally posted by: CZroe
But isn't the nForce's Dual-Channel DDR bus ONLY with 2 sticks of DDR (Like Intel's Dual-Channel Rambus requirement)?
You guys must forget stuff easily or I'm just retarded and wrong...

You are right about the nForce needing 2 sticks of DDR to obtain the benefit of the dual channel ddr capability, but I don't think aalizard has mentioned anything about getting an nForce so it doesn't really matter in this case.

 

[Barrei]

Go with "original" Samsung 2700 it is the best overclocker and cheaper then Corsair but better then Micron .

 

[Zak326]

 

[Zak326]

 

[Zak326]

Interestingly enough I just spent about an hour trying to figure out what to do about upgrading the memory on an older hp8595c 733 pentium3. Of course HP is of no helpo at all. The mother board has 3slots for ram and on the mushkin site, I picked this up. they said that if you had a choice of spreading 256mg ram over two slots or one to go for the one because your machine would run faster if you has fewer actual chips. i don't know enough to agree or disagree but that's what they saiod. you might go to the site and pkeee around. I got ther through Google. You miight also plug keywords oif your question and see what happend. I find about 75% of my answers that way.

 

[Agent004]

Actually having two sticks will have more page open than 1 stick, so the throughput maybe better than a single stick. But having more sticks means signal degration, so make sure you have a good mother board/ram for it, for maximum stability

 

[Sunner]

and I won't be upgrading my RAM ever, especially with 512!!!

"Noone should ever need more than 640 kilobytes of RAM" - Bill Gates, long time ago, can't remember the exact year.